IV. THE WATER SUPPLY. 2 3 The common cup.-The most interesting point connected with safeguarding the water supply of schools is the spread in the last five years of the revolt against the common drinking cup. For a number of years boards of health waged a campaign in this direction, but it was not until March, 1909, that any State took official action. Kansas was the pioneer, but other States followed rapidly, so that now over half of the entire number have either a law or a regulation regarding drinking cups. Schools may not be provided with common drinking cups without transgressing the law in Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, North Dakota, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The State health authorities have forbidden the public drinking cup in Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. In New York the common drinking cup in "public places or public institutions" is prohibited by regulation 3, Chapter VII, of the sanitary code. Jealous supervision of the powers of the State board of health has resulted in statutes delegating to the board the power to promulgate an order against common cups in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey. Colorado has a law that should practically put it in one of the above lists, the statute forbidding common cups unless sterilized after each use. 5 8 Several provisions that do not abolish the common cup regulate or limit its use. If public drinking cups are used in Texas, they, together with the water buckets or coolers, shall be scoured and sunned daily, or treated with a 2 per cent formaldehyde solution." The Ohio law draws the line against tin cups or tumblers.10 The Indiana" and Louisiana State boards of health require that sanitary fountains shall be installed in towns and cities where there is a public water supply; the same is required of Ohio schools hereafter constructed, without any specification as to water supply. The common pail.-If, however, children were at liberty to dip their individual cups into the common pail, danger still would lurk in the water supply. Hence some attention has been given to the For full text of most laws and regulations in this field up to July 1, 1912, see Common Drinking Cups and Towels, Pub. Health Bull. No. 57, issued by U. S. Pub. Health Service. 1 Laws of 1913, ch. 228. * Laws of 1913. Minnesota State Health Laws and Regulations, May 1, 1912, p. 54. Ch. 61, acts 1913. Eall Dept. Pub. Health, Montana, vol. 6, No. 1. Eule adopted Jan. 22, 1913. Kule adopted Jan. 3, 1913. Rates of State Bd. of health, 1912, p. 19. *&xd laws of Texas, p. 92. Rule State Bd. of health. **ate Building Code, Part 2, title 3, sec. 22. *Ball 1913, No. 52, U. S. Bu. of Ed., p. 15. receptacle for the temporary supply. The Delaware State Board of Health does not permit any open bucket or vessel to be used for storing water in any school. Open receptacles are barred by the State health officers in Idaho, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Minnesota has decreed against the common pail, and the Indiana law calls for covered tanks. In Vermont faucets must be attached to the water tanks.3 If running water can not be had, the Virginia Board of Health allows a dipper to be used only for dipping water from the tank or cooler; the cup or glass used for drinking shall not be dipped into the water. The contents of the receptacle are to be renewed every morning, the receptacle, dipper, and drinking cup washed daily and scalded with boiling water once a week. In Louisiana the containers must be scoured daily. Source of supply, etc.-The source of the water and the disposition of waste are sometimes prescribed. In Indiana the supply of all schoolhouses must come from driven wells, or other sources approved by the health authorities. Water from dug wells can not be used in Minnesota, but the schools must rely on the public supply, tubular or driven wells. Idaho, Indiana, and Oklahoma require that troughs or drains remove waste to a safe distance and that no pools or mudholes be left near wells. The Ohio State building code is very specific. A gutter or drain of concrete or sewer pipe must be constructed to carry all waste water to a distance of 20 feet before discharging it. Pumps and hydrants shall be placed in the center of a concrete or cement platform at least 6 feet in diameter. This platform must be 6 inches above the natural grade line and then graded up to within 2 inches of the top in such a manner as to run all surface water away. Ohio is alone in its effort to standardize the amount of accommodations furnished. Where sewerage system and water supply are available, there shall be one sink and one drinking fountain to every 6,000 square feet of floor area or fraction thereof. Similar equipment will be required in the basement for each 350 or fewer pupils of each sex. V. TOILETS. Location of outbuildings.—Twelve States have taken some action to regulate the location of outbuildings for toilet purposes. Delaware," Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana," and Montana 10 require that outdoor 1 16th Bien. Rep. (1908-1910), p. 72. 2 2d Bien. Rep. of State Pub. Health Dept., p. 247. 3 Reg. of State Bd. of health, issued May 1, 1911. 4 School Laws, pp. 45-46. School Law, p. 135. 6 16th Bien. Rep., State Bd. of health (1908-1910), p. 72. 7 Reg. State Bd. of health. 8 Bull., 1913, No. 52, U. S. Bu. of Ed., p. 15. 10 Reg. 26 of State Bd. of health. toilets shall be situated not less than 100 feet from the well or cistern. Idaho further provides that no surface drainage from a water-closet shall be permitted to reach any well or cistern; Montana holds up the approval of plans in towns of over 1,000 unless the distance limit set above is observed. In the rural districts of Vermont toilets need be only 20 feet from the building. In three States connection with the sewer system is required: In Louisiana, if the closets are within 1,000 feet of the sewer; in Texas, if the schoolhouse is within 500 feet of the sewer; in Virginia, if water and sewerage are available.3 Mississippi requires that every building used for public school purposes shall be provided with two privies maintained in accordance with the plans and specifications of the State board of health. One of these shall be so located as to be adapted for use of the girls and the other for the boys. Kentucky requires that all schools and other "places of public resort" not already connected with an approved system of sewerage shall construct privies proportioned in size and number to the persons and sex of those likely to use them. These privies are to be located "below the level, or draining away from, or as remote as possible from the well or spring," and are to be modeled after the Kentucky sanitary privy or some other plan approved by the State board of health. All these requirements have been established by State boards of health, but in two States, Nebraska and Ohio, the legislatures have acted. In Nebraska the toilets must be placed on that portion of the site farthest from the main entrance to the building.5 Ohio, on this point as on numerous others, has gone into the greatest detail. All vaults existing on premises accessible to a sewer shall be cleaned to the bottom and filled with ashes or earth, and no such. vaults shall hereafter be constructed where a sewerage system is available. No vault or septic tank shall be placed within 2 feet of any lot line, or 50 feet of any school building, or source of water supply for drinking or cooking purposes. Cesspools may be constructed only with the approval of the local or State board of health and in case no sewerage system is available. No tight cesspools can be placed within 2 feet of any lot line, 20 feet of any building, or 30 feet of any source of water used for drinking purposes; no leaching cesspool can be placed within 100 feet of any dwelling or tight cistern, or within 300 feet of the source of any water supply. Standard equipment for outdoor toilets. Standardization of the equipment of outdoor closets has begun in a number of the States. 1 Rule of State Bd. of health. School Laws, p. 93. * Ibid., p. 46. See bulletin of the State board of health of Kentucky, Vol. III, July, 1914. State building code, part 4, title 18. 7 Ibid., title 16. In Ohio no septic tank or filtration bed can be constructed until the site has been inspected, and the plans and specifications have been approved by the State board of health; and no such tank or bed can be used for the designed purpose until its construction and equipment have been approved by the same body. Absolute central control and the ability to follow up plans and specifications into execution makes an admirable arrangement; it disposes of the particular defect that was found to exist in the law creating the schoolhouse commission of Utah.2 Waterproof receptacles are contemplated by the requirements in several States. The State boards of health in Idaho, Montana, and Vermont demand that boxes for outdoor closets be water-tight, but Montana waives this regulation if the vault is dug in soil approved by the health officer. Virginia compels dry closets to be maintained in a clean and wholesome condition as standardized by the State board of health. Louisiana requires for closets not connected with a sewer system, a Stiles sanitary closet, cesspool, or septic tank. New Jersey and Ohio, however, are in advance of most of the others in this regard. The State Board of Education of New Jersey requires that the vaults shall not extend beneath the floor of the closet, and that they shall be built of concrete or brick laid in cement mortar. Ohio's State building code contains similar provisions, but goes further in stating that such a part of the vault as extends beyond the walls of the outbuilding shall be tightly covered. Moreover, the vaults shall be given a half-inch coat of Portland-cement mortar inside and outside, and finally a cement wash, similar to the final step in constructing an ordinary water-tight cistern. The bottom of the vault must be from 6 to 8 inches thick. These tight walls shall extend 1 foot above the ground to prevent surface drainage. The material used for urinals is touched upon in four States. The Indiana law stipulates that all conduits to urinals shall be of galvanized iron, vitrified drain pipe, or other impervious material draining into a sewer or other place approved by health authorities;5 the Ohio law states that all receptacles used for water-closets or urinals, and all troughs or gutters employed for any such purpose, shall be of certain waterproof, noncorrosive materials; while in New York the same end is secured for new buildings through the decision of the commissioner of education to hold up all plans that do not specify nonabsorbent, noncorrosive materials in the construction of urinals.? In New Jersey the latrines must be of metal if plans are to be approved by the State board of education. 1 Ibid., title 17. 2 See p. 6, ante. State Building Code. 4 Part 4, title 18. School Law, p. 136. 6 State Building Code, part 4, title 11. Miscellaneous provisions. Several other provisions applying to outdoor toilets are scarcely capable of classification. In Idaho and Montana the contents of the box must be sprinkled daily with dry earth or lime during the school term and the receptacle emptied when two-thirds full. In Vermont earth closets must be provided with a box of road dust, sawdust, or ashes, and be screened against flies. These regulations are by authority of the State boards of health. But in Utah the law itself specifies the dry-earth system in the care of vaults. The vaults are to be cleaned monthly during the school year and oftener if the local health officer thinks necessary.1 The statutes of Pennsylvania compel vaults to be cleaned or properly disinfected within 30 days after the close of each school year; the outbuilding itself is to be scrubbed, whitewashed on the interior, and the vaults covered with fresh dirt or dry-slacked lime, within 10 days of the opening of each school year. The only other State to mention the scrubbing of the outbuildings is Louisiana, which specifies that this shall be done at intervals of a week. A rule of the Delaware State Board of Health calls for vaults at least 3 feet deep, and will not allow them to be filled nearer than within 1 foot of the surface of the ground. Wisconsin and Minnesota state that the boys' outhouse shall be provided with suitable urinals. Both these States are attempting to improve toilet accommodations in rural schools by making this a point to be considered in the granting of State aid. Indeed, if the electors in a Wisconsin district fail to allow the necessary funds for maintaining a proper condition of the toilets, the town clerk at the request of the school board shall arbitrarily add such amount to the district tax budget. In Indiana the board of health has brought together several of the more valuable miscellaneous regulations of other States, modifying the form in a few cases. Both the vault receptacle and the floor of the closet must be of cement. Dry loamy earth, wood ashes, sifted coal ashes, or slaked lime must be thrown into the vault daily during the school term, and the contents of the vault removed twice per year. The vault itself must be screened against flies. An alternative to such outdoor sanitary closet is the indoor crematory closet, specifications for which are given in still greater detail. Indoor closets. For indoor closets very few regulations exist. Three States only have taken up accessibility of accommodations. The Ohio State building code, the rules of the Indiana State Board of Health, and a circular letter of the commissioner of education of New York, each establishes a standard of one closet for every 15 females 1 School Law, p. 32. 1 Purdon's Digest, p. 698. Laws of Wis. Relating to Com. Schools, pp. 93-94; Bull. No. 40, Minn. dept. pub. inst., "State Aid," p. 5. ⚫ Bull., 1913, No. 52, U. S. Bu. of Ed., pp. 16-17. |