The Deadly Water at Clover Creek
For years, the city has ignored the dangerous, contaminated state of the municipal water supply, preferring half-measures over a permanent solution.
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.
Many years have passed since the people of Tacoma purchased the abomination known as the Clover Creek water system. They have used the filthy waters of this creek for drinking, cooking and all domestic purposes. Officers of the city, whose duty it was to guard the public health, kept silent through successive administrations. Their only excuse was 'Tacoma cannot afford to pay for new water systems.' The grim hand of disease reached out from the pestilential waters and claimed its victims, one after the other. Typhoid reaped its harvest among the unsuspecting who failed to boil their drinking water. The health authorities did not tell how drinking water in offices and other public places was to be boiled or made safe to drink. The feeble effort to do something fell by the wayside. Isn't it time that this do-nothing policy was dropped? Tacoma must have a complete new waterworks system. It must discard most of the iron service pipes and mains now used in the city. The Times will tomorrow point out the way in which an adequate supply of pure water can be secured.
“The grim hand of disease reached out from the pestilential waters and claimed its victims, one after the other.”
This editorial highlights the tension between municipal infrastructure costs and public health—a conflict that remains central to modern civic governance. Even a century later, Tacoma continues to balance the legacy of aging water systems against the health needs of a growing population.
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