Water Quality Tools
Pocket Sight Level
Hand levels (or sight levels) were standard issue for sanitarians, particularly those who worked in rural areas. Sanitarians use a sight level to get a rough idea of where the grading is on a particular site. This type of sight level is handy for doing preliminary land survey work and distance estimation of septic systems and drainage swales. They are an easy way to develop 鈥渃ut and fill鈥� plans for grading of a site. It is also used to easily determine if a specific area of land is generally level. Once the instrument is level (guided by the spirit level), the user looks through the telescope to compare different points against the same reference point.
Sight levels were first created around 1661, when Melchis茅dech Th茅venot, a French scientist, attached a spirit level to a telescope. The one pictured above is an early tubular design from 1930.
Sanitarian鈥檚 Kit
The Millipore Bacteriological Potable Water Testing Unit, also called the Millipore Sanitarian's Kit, is used for conducting bacteriological assays on potable water. It was a popular field kit from the 1960s through the 1980s. The basic kit was also sold in a complete and portable field kit that had a self-contained incubator and storage for all testing components.
The apparatuses shown above include a polished, graduated stainless steel cup and a pump syringe. A measured amount of water was drawn through the pump syringe and forced through a proprietary graph-lined, microporous filter cassette containing an absorbent disc. A nutrient solution was added to the obverse side of the cassette onto the absorbent pad. The cassette was then sealed and placed in an incubator for analysis. The Sanitarian鈥檚 Kit made field sampling of well water easy, accurate, and timely.
These kits have since been replaced by much more rapid and simpler testing methods.
Water Pressure and Flow Gauge Assembly
The water pressure and flow test gauge assembly pictured above was a home-built unit from the early 1980s. Modern units are now readily available, inexpensive, and commonly used.
The flow-restrictor endcap pictured on the extreme left side of the unit was originally a simple flow regulator orifice plate placed into a drilled-out 3/4-in. endcap. The remaining components were stock items from a local hardware store.
The unit was originally designed and used to evaluate the adequacy of plumbing systems in correctional facilities prior to installing ware washers, washing machines, and wash-down stations. It has since become standard field equipment for the institutional sanitarian.
To use gauge assembly, the unit is attached to a standard 3/4-in. sill cock, the assembly is bled, and the assembly valve is closed to measure line pressure. After the pressure is recorded, the assembly valve is opened and flow can be measured.
Water Sampler Mailer
This water sample mailer is from the Alabama Department of Health. Alabama was one of the first states to have a rural environmental health initiative, with an emphasis on safe drinking water. These samplers were primarily available to well owners for laboratory analysis of fecal bacteria.
The sample container is dated 1955.