A number of the states have lately been much interested in water control, to which reference has already been made, especially the states of Indiana and Illinois. The state alone cannot control its water supply, only in so far as it is produced within the state. Any efficient state control must therefore be in collaboration with adjoining states and with the Government. Pennsylvania is another one of the states that is taking a great interest in the purity of its water supply. Dr. Dixon, the former Commissioner of Health, has emphasized the importance of a pure water supply in the following words:

We can live longer without food than we can without water. It makes up 66 percent of our bodies. In its purity as Nature causes it to fall from the atmosphere it is the most healthful of all liquids and the only one which will satisfy the thirst. Without it our blood could not circulate through the vessels of our anatomy. The infant in embryo is fed by blood of which water is such an important part. It must be fed by blood which is clean and pure in all its parts in order to build up a healthy youngster.

He further calls attention to the fact that the Schuylkill River has become a gigantic sewer and that the Delaware is fast reaching the same condition. As a result of this pollution of the water supply typhoid fever has become in many cases epidemic. In addition to the outbreak at Troy which has already been mentioned, a late outbreak at Nanticoke caused 445 cases of illness with 10 percent of deaths. This epidemic, as was the case in Troy, was traced directly to the water supply. Anthrax is also a disease which is carried by water. Many other diseases may also be water-carried, as, for instance, cholera and smallpox.