Chemistry in the Industries 279
pound which might be called, “Bacterium Chloride”—BCl
—a chemical compound and no longer a bacterium. Some
two to five pounds of chlorine are added per million gallons.
An excess is added to maintain a residual chlorine content
of around o.2 part per million in order to maintain sterile
conditions. By adding ammonia along with the chlorine the
destruction of bacteria may be made just as certain but
much less rapid. This means a greater penetration down the
mains and protection even to the very end of the lines. This
“chloramine” treatment was started in Houston in 1933.
We are sending our soldiers, sailors, marines, and aviators
away from the safest drinking water in the world. Swamp
water of the South Pacific islands, polluted streams of Eu-
rope, drainage ditches of Northern Africa—all may be en-
dured by the natives, but they are not good enough for our
men. Even during peace times travelers tell us that wines and
boiled beverages are the only safe liquids that can be used
to satisfy thirst when in some of these countries. There may
be some difference of opinion as to whether this may or may
not have been serious, but enormous amounts of good water
must be furnished to our fighting men. The Army and Navy
health engineers have redoubled their efforts to safeguard
every drop of water which our expeditionary forces drink.
As the armed forces can transport only an infinitesimal
amount of the water they use, modern purification units
must be on, or near, the battle lines. Chemicals are, as usual,
in there battling not only to make water safe from harmful
bacteria, but clear, colorless, tasteless, and odorless. Chlorine
and aluminum sulphate are two of the principal chemicals
employed in these light portable water-treating units.
An Army Quartermaster Corps sends out mobile laundries
with our troops to all parts of the world. Each of these laun-
dries has to keep some 15,000 soldiers’ clothes clean, no