We pretty much take for granted that the municipal water that comes out of the faucets in our homes is safe to drink. But it wasn’t always that way. A dramatic example is the nation’s first water filtration system in Lawrence, Massachusetts, which began operating on this date in 1893. The system was a sand filter of nearly three acres, designed by Hiram Francis Mills, which trapped typhoid fever-causing bacteria from water piped from the polluted Merrimack River. In the four years after the filter was in operation, the town’s death rate from typhoid fever had fallen almost 78 percent from what it was in the four years preceding filtration. Across the U.S., there are nearly 52,000 community water systems, serving a vast majority of the nation’s population. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at <www.census.gov>.
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Brown v Simmons
Brown is the only incumbent candidate among the four incumbents to trumpet city council accomplishments; although he speaks as though they are his accomplishments. That should be expected since the role of a referee is individualist where a council is a team effort. He is correct to say the city is lost in time. Does he understand that the central business district moved 20 years ago from Garnett to Dabney and I85? Simmons is another city council candidate with a misconception of city council’s role and the school board’s role. As a listening council member who is obviously focused only on her neighborhood is she able and willing to hear the voices not in her neighborhood. She states the obvious responsibility of the council while leaving a mystery how to finance the increase in police presence in one area of the city. As much as I would like to see the entire council out in this situation Brown has the better understanding of the city council’s role.