ARTESIAN WELLS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LI, Issue 5608, 14 February 1879, Page 7

ARTESIAN WELLS.

(San fVancijco triefcly Call.) The sinking of the artesian well at Appnwsw’s Store, which, it is believed, is capable of furnishing 4000 gallons per hour, or nearly 100,000 gallons per day, has gone still further towards demonstrating the fact that the strata underlying the city have vastly more water than will be required for the inhabitants of San Francisco for a century to come. In sinking the well the following revelations have been made us to the different formations through which it passed The first 40 feet from the surface was through the formation filled in to reclaim the land, then 10 feet of black or dock mud, then nine feet of blue clay and sand lying in strata, then 12 feet of hard yellow clay, then 18 feet of porous sand rock and gravel, from which water was obtained, thence through two feet of cement into bedrock. From the surface down, about 60 feet, a cement pipe has been formed, so as to keep out the water from above, thus drawing the supply entirely from beneath the clay and rocky formations. It is now pretty well established that there is water passing under the city, which comes from the Sierra, and which cannot,he exhausted j and what is more, it is also settled by scientific investigation that no water can be obtained from surface drainage which is equal to that which has; been purified by passing through the. sandy formations for long distances. Investigations have been made which- prove conclusively that where water is collected from the surface of the parth, sweeping over large areas, it takes in animal and vegetable matter, which is most to health. Scientific examinations establish the circumstance without a question, that the seeds of parasites are carried in such water for miles, and when taken into the human stomach are hatched into life. • The last number of the Popular Science quotes authorities, both- in Europe and America, which cannot be questioned. It is claimed that various diseases are propagated in this way, hence exertions are being made to change the water supplies for cities by means of artesian wells. In England an entire change is destined very soon to be brought about in the water supply for large cities, for the reason given. The alarm is gederal- in Europe. In France, notably in Paris,, investigations have been made in re- : speotto sewerage, which have an important bearing upon the water question. The severs in Paris are the most extensive of any in the world, as they collect all the filth from a city of nearly two millions of inhabitants, turning it into the river Seine. In consequence, the water in the Seine becomes so offensive to the j inhabitants who live near its banks on its course to the ocean, that they can scarcely endure its offensive smell, various efforts have been made to deodorise, the water, hut ultimately a proposition was adopted to conduct a portion of the sewage through large pipes, and distribute it on a tract of land some distance from the city, for the cultivation of vegetables. This has been done for several years, and with perfect success. The sewage is distributed in trenches a few feet apart, and used without in any wise ' becoming offensive to the people. Indeed, it is said the land cultivated in this way is { more desirable than that where ordinary j manures are used. But what we wish particularly to draw attention to, is the fact that I upon the land where the sewage has been distributed, shallow wells have been sunk, and the water which leeches through the soil to them is in a far better and purer condition than are the waters of the Seine above the city, portions of which are stiU used bv the Ihatuieearth is the best purifer of water which has yet been discovered, and the authorities of Paris are preparing to utilize all of the sewage upon land in order to purify the Seine. The investigations which have taken place in France have surprised scientific perrons, for it has been a popular opinion, until recently, that the deleterious substances in populous districts passed from the surface into shallow wells, whereas experiments prove that the most filthy of all fluids—sewage from a great city—is almost entirely purified by such a process. The scientific reports state that organic substances are taken from the water and left in the earth.