Typhoid outbreak led to Sault's first chlorinated water

From the archives of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library:

Water quality and chlorination has been a recent concern for Sault Ste. Marie, especially with the switch from chloramine to free chlorine in 2011.  However, the issue stretches back much further than that – all the way to a public health crisis and chlorination debate that spanned the 1910s.

It started in July of 1913 when, as reported in the Sault Daily Star, the water intake pipe for the city was temporarily changed. 

The Tagona Water and Light Company, owned by F.H. Clergue, usually drew its water from the area below the steel plant. However, as part of an attempt to widen the area approaching the power canal, dredges were working in the water nearby. 

This had the effect of disturbing the water, which meant that “a certain amount of sewage [had] necessarily [been] thrown into the river,” released from dredgers.

The water company opted to shift their intake pipe to another area near the canal to improve the water supply.  The Medical Health Officer, Dr. A.S. McCaig, additionally recommended that Saultites boil their drinking water as a precaution.

In early August, water quality had become more of a concern, with the Provincial Officer of Health instructing the Tagona Light and Water Company to begin chlorinating its water.  Dr. McCaig reiterated his advice that citizens should boil drinking water – and, he suggested, any for “domestic use” as well.

And it soon came to light as to why.

Six people had developed typhoid in the month of August, as of the 16th. Officials feared that this was due to the water intake pipe being moved – while McCaig shied away from blaming the new water intake location, he did comment that the intake was directly downriver from the dredgers, and he noted that there had been no recent cases of typhoid prior to the location being changed.

Typhoid, or typhoid fever, is a bacterial infection caused by a specific variety of salmonella.  Spread largely by contaminated food or water, it can cause serious illness and even death, particularly in developing countries or prior to the use of antibiotics and vaccines in medicine.

By Aug. 18, the number of typhoid cases in Sault Ste. Marie had gone up to 10; by the 19th, that number was at 15, with more suspected cases.

The Sault Daily Star ran instructions on how the general public could chlorinate their own water, along with a large ad proclaiming, “Boil the water! Water above upper gates of canal cannot escape contamination by sewage from the boats.” 

Dr. McCaig was also quoted on the advertisement, saying, “We are certainly threatened with an epidemic of typhoid which will mean a number of deaths from the disease.”

The Star further proclaimed that “the public [owed] not only to themselves but to their neighbours and friends to treat the water in some way to protect themselves and the community from a further spread of the epidemic.” 

Headlines instructed the public to “boil the water and keep on boiling it.”

Local government became involved, with City Council pushing the Tagona Water and Light Company to complete its chlorination plant faster.  The chlorination plant had not opened yet, pending supplies that were waiting for clearance at customs. Once those supplies were delivered, a chemist from the steel plant was brought in to help get the plant up and running.

Even once chlorine began to enter the water supply, citizens were instructed to boil their water for, at ideally ten additional days, “until all dead water . . . has been removed.”

By the time the chlorination plant was fully functional, there were at least 23 cases of typhoid directly linked to the contaminated water supply resulting in one death. It was almost three weeks since the plant was initially told to chlorinate the water.

Sault Ste. Marie was also concerned about the bigger medical repercussions: secondary infections posed a risk to people, boiled and chlorinated water or not. 

Any typhoid patients who did not have sewers in their home were moved to hospital; their outhouses were “made absolutely fly proof” to reduce further spread. A shipment of typhoid vaccine was brought in from Toronto and made available for only the cost of having a medical professional administer it.

The typhoid epidemic was brought under control.  However, there was a new public enemy as far as water quality was concerned: chlorine.  

People strongly disliked the taste and smell of chlorine in their water – especially when levels increased even further in October of 1913, mere months after the typhoid outbreak.

One of the local milk vendors announced that he would be selling water at a price of ten cents per gallon. The water was obtained from a spring at Great Northern Road and was “unadulterated with milk or chloride of lime.”  It was his customers who gave him the idea, with many of them finding it “impossible to make good tea” and saying that they wanted another source of drinking water.  However, it wasn’t as easy as that, with Dr. McCaig telling the Star that there would still have to be testing and quality measures in place.

One gentleman appeared before City Council to complain about the state of the water, saying, “If I continue to drink the city water . . . I’ll likely be dead in another week.” 

He wasn’t referring to any sort of water-borne pathogen, but instead to the high chlorine levels.

One of the aldermen weighed in, saying that “the operator must have fallen asleep at the switch.”

However, it came to light during the meeting that the chlorine levels were higher than normal, by order of the District Officer of Health.  The strong chlorine taste should go away in a few days, but there would always be a bit of a taste – a statement which proved unpopular with at least once citizen there, who told City Council, “I don’t want any taste . . . I am paying for pure water.”

The issues of water quality were enough to make City Council consider options for a water supply that could ultimately circumvent the need for added chlorine: a well, or an intake pipe at Gros Cap or Moore’s Point.  But that process of searching for alternatives would stretch out for years. In 1916 through 1919, there were attempts to drum up support for a water supply scheme that would see water brought in from the Coldwater Creek area.

And in 1919, the chlorination issue came up again, when an engineer brought in to inspect the pumping station declared that “too much chlorine [was] being used in the water, more than necessary.” 

Dr. McCaig, the medical health officer who decided the amount of chlorine in the water, raised the spectre of the 1913 typhoid outbreak in response, saying that in his opinion, the lack of recent typhoid cases could be directly attributed to chlorination.

Since the 1913 typhoid outbreak, much has changed in the city.  The Tagona Water and Light Company was taken over by the city, and eventually became the Public Utilities Commission. The sources for drinking water changed over the years, including, in 1981, water from Gros Cap. But one thing that has stayed constant is how engaged the citizens of Sault Ste. Marie are with the quality of their water.

Each week, the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library and its Archives provides SooToday readers with a glimpse of the city’s past.

Find out more of what the Public Library has to offer at www.ssmpl.ca and look for more Remember This? columns here