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Water Woes? Old news in Salem history
What is the answer to the water pollution problem faced by the city of Salem?
Will it require tapping of a new source of supply to insure clean and wholesome drinking water?
No, this is not a modern editorial. This statement was published in 1928, in the midst of another Salem water crisis that rivaled today’s worries. It all started November 27, 1928, when Salem residents started to notice a “disagreeable” taste and smell to water flowing out of their taps. The problem persisted throughout the month of December, with city leadership continuing to receive complaints as late as February 25th of the following year. One columnist quipped that it was as if the water company had mixed up their pipes with the gas company, sending out gas instead of water. A new joke started circulating: “By Golly, nobody can sneak up behind us with a bucket of Salem water and wash our neck and ears when we’re not looking – we’d smell ‘em coming.”
Boiling didn’t help the smell or the taste. Water company officials were quick to assure the customers that the water was safe and that the event was a natural occurrence. The beleaguered spokesman claimed: “The water supply is exactly the same as it has always been and the treatment is carried on in exactly the same manner. It is simply a condition that maintains each season in a varying degree, depending on the previous summer season. This disturbance is perfectly harmless and will not obtain long, as we are daily flushing our mains to get rid of it as rapidly as possible. Daily tests are made and these tests show the water pure and safe, more than meeting both state and United States government health requirement.”
Assurances of the water’s safety didn’t make it any easier to drink or bathe with. Some editorialists suggested going out to the country and taking a jug along to help supply daily use needs. Alternative water markets began to spring up. Enterprising individuals sold water from springs at Eola to thirsty Salemites, even offering delivery. “Hundreds of gallons have been brought to Salem by private parties for home consumption and as no relief has been forthcoming, a new enterprise has sprung up overnight with the commercial delivery of fresh water,” one paper reported while quoting the daily price of a gallon of water at 10 cents. Despite efforts of the Chamber of Commerce to discourage downtown confectioners from advertising spring water (they feared it would cause panic or a bad reputation), sales were brisk.
The smell wasn’t just a problem for daily life. Industry suffered as well. Canning was a huge part of the Salem economy and the foul smell meant they could not put up food for commercial sales. One Capital Journal editorialist satirically suggested that the city start a new industry. Citing many civilizations who used algae as food and for its curative effects he suggested: “…here is a great opportunity for our Chamber of Commerce to foster a new industry, with the raw material delivered by faucet. If our canneries cannot put up fruit, they can can algae as breakfast and health food and so make Salem famous, for the algae supply seems unlimited. If the Water company cannot can the algae, the rest of us can.”
In testimony given in April 1929 to a city committee, officials for the Oregon-Washington Water Company attributed the cause of the smell to natural forces –a long dry summer followed by cold snap and quick rise of water meant an increase in organic matter and organisms which couldn’t be filtered out quick enough and a buildup of crenothrix (defined in his testimony as iron algae) within the iron pipes adding to the problem. Scientific explanations were discredited by some in the community. Comments aired at one public meeting suggested that “the average boy who has slaked his burning thirst from a roadside puddle is just as sure as to what ails the water as your cocksure scientist with his befuddling new words.” Or a little more plainly expressed: “What’s wrong with the water, doggone it, is that it tastes bad and smells bad. We figured that out without any outside help…”
Salem water crisis: Successful tests as full-scale carbon treatment nears
Updated June 29: Full test results of Salem's drinking water
This wasn’t the first occurrence of the problem. Similar smells were reported in 1925, but this was the by far the worst case and it prompted Salemites to reconsider much about the way they got their water. Up until this point in time, water service within the city was principally supplied by a private water company that pulled its water out of the Willamette River by means of a pumping plant located on the southeast corner of Commercial and Trade Streets. Improvements had been made in years past to extend the intake valve across Minto Island to the fresher flowing water beyond the slough and filter cribs were installed to help with water quality, but these were not enough for the present problems.
Cries for improvement
Suggestions for improvements were plentiful – from the serious to the sarcastic. Everything from setting up a new and parallel drinking water system fed by wells in the country hills and keeping the current system for irrigation to forcing the water company to supply every customer with a still to allow them to purify their own water. Some even suggested a boycott until complaints were addressed. Still many others advocated looking to the mountains for a fresh supply of water– and it was this course that would eventually be acted upon, although it would take several more years.
By 1930 the people of Salem were pretty fed up with the water situation, and voted to make the water system public, but the wheels of negotiations would move very slowly. The city did not take over the system until 1935 and the dream of mountain water would not come to fruition until 1937.
I think the citizens of Salem past would be very sympathetic to our current problem. I guess we can consider ourselves lucky -- at least the water doesn’t stink!
Kylie Pine is the curator at the Willamette Heritage Center, a non-profit museum in Salem dedicated to connecting generations by preserving and interpreting the history of the Mid-Willamette Valley.
Yesterdayland: Innovations of the Past
Learn more about Salem’s water system and other utilities at the Willamette Heritage Center’s newest exhibit – Yesterdayland: Innovations of the Past. On view until September 1st.