WASHINGTON, Sept. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20: PURIFYING WATER

Profile America — Friday, September 20th.  We pretty much take for granted that the municipal water that comes out of the faucets in our homes is safe to drink.  But it wasn't always that way.  A dramatic example is the nation's first water filtration system in Lawrence, Massachusetts, which began operating on this date in 1893.  The system was a sand filter of nearly three acres, designed by Hiram Francis Mills, which trapped typhoid fever-causing bacteria from water piped from the polluted Merrimack River.  In the four years after the filter was in operation, the town's death rate from typhoid fever had fallen almost 78 percent from what it was in the four years preceding filtration.  Across the U.S., there are nearly 52,000 community water systems, serving a vast majority of the nation's population.  You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.

Sources:  Kane's Famous First Facts, 2234 www.tbp.org/pubs/Features/W10Bell.pdf Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012, t. 959

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

RELATED LINKShttp://www.census.gov