Creston, Iowa, Solves its Water Problem

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the severe drought of 1934, the water supply of Creston, Iowa, failed completely. Water had to be shipped in tank cars from Council Bluffs, a distance of 100 miles, for a period of six months. For those six months there was hardly enough water available for drinking and cooking purposes, and bathing was severely curtailed unless one was fortunate enough to have an old well in the back yard. Anyone who has found it necessary to get along on five gallons of water a day in a modern house will have some idea of the situation. If ever the citizens of a community came to realize what a water system really means, it was in Creston in 1934. But how did such a catastrophe occur? Whose fault was it? As is usual, when a crisis such as this occurs, the blame had to be placed on someone. The public itself never seems to realize that many times it is its own lack of interest and understanding which must bear a portion of the blame. In this instance, the privately owned water company was charged with the entire responsibility, and feeling against the organization was strong. At the time, the author was not connected with the water company, but was living in Creston, so his observations until the date that ownership changed hands are made from a neutral standpoint. The old company, while far from blameless, could not be charged with the entire responsibility for the fiasco. True, the trouble was caused by insufficient storage, and a warning of possible impending shortage given in 1930 had been ignored when plentiful fall rains and snows again filled the reservoir once the reservoir was full again, all fears quickly subsided and the warning became a memory. Then too, the company's public relations were in a deplorable state, so