City Moves to Protect Water from Clover Creek Pollution
Public Works Commissioner Clark orders the removal of privies and manure heaps threatening Tacoma's water supply.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
H. W. Clark, commissioner of public works, spent yesterday morning inspecting Clover Creek and making arrangements with the abutting property owners to remove all privies and manure heaps from the banks of the creek, in order that the city water would not be exposed to the danger of contamination from such filth. The commissioner found the condition of affairs just as The Times has previously stated, and he assured a reporter that all sources of contamination will be immediately removed. He expects to visit the same locality again in about a week to see that his plans are carefully carried out. The commissioner will send several men out to Parkland the first of next week to assist the people in any manner possible, in order that a more sanitary condition may prevail in that neighborhood.
“The commissioner found the condition of affairs just as The Times has previously stated, and he assured a reporter that all sources of contamination will be immediately removed.”
This early 20th-century effort to clean up Clover Creek highlights the ongoing tension between rapid suburban growth in the Parkland area and the essential need to protect Tacoma’s municipal water sources. Today, watershed protection remains a primary focus of civic policy in Pierce County as development continues to press against sensitive riparian zones.
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