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Streams usually carry mud and sand along with them; this is particularly well seen after a storm when rivers and brooks are muddy. The puddles which collect at the foot of a hill after a storm are muddy because of the particles of soil gathered by the water as it runs down the hill. The particles are not dissolved in the water, but are held there in suspension, as we call it technically. The river made muddy after a storm by suspended particles usually becomes clear and transparent after it has traveled onward for miles, because, as it travels, the particles drop to the bottom and are deposited there. Hence, materials suspended in the water are borne along and deposited at various places (Fig. 34). The amount of deposition by large rivers is so great that in some places channels fill up and must be dredged annually, and vessels are sometimes caught in the deposit and have to be towed away.

Our drinking water comes from far and near, and as it moves from place to place, it carries with it in solution or suspension anything which it can find, whether it be animal, vegetable, or mineral matter. The power of water to gather up matter is so great that the average drinking water contains 20 to 90 grains of solid matter per gallon; that is, if a gallon of ordinary drinking water is left to evaporate, a residue of 20 to 90 grains will be left. (See Laboratory Manual.) As water runs down a hill slope (Fig. 37), it carries with it the filth gathered from acres of land; carries with it the refuse of stable, barn, and kitchen; and too often this impure surface water joins the streams which supply our cities. Lakes and rivers which furnish drinking water should be carefully protected from surface draining; that is, from water which has flowed over the land and has thus accumulated the waste of pasture and stable and, it may be, of dumping ground.

• Nicholas Bredimus or Nick Bredimus - Bredimus
• Nicholas Bredimus or Nick Bredimus - Bredimus
• Nicholas Bredimus or Nick Bredimus - Bredimus
• Nicholas Bredimus or Nick Bredimus - Bredimus
• Nicholas Bredimus or Nick Bredimus - Bredimus

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