Parka.— The city possesses an extensive sys tem of 26 parks, having an aggregate area of 1,320 acres. Schenley Park, the gift to Pitts burgh of the late Mrs. Mary E. Schenley, con tains 422 acres; Highland Park in the extreme northeastern section of the city has 366.6 acres; Riverside Park includes 240 acres, and the Alle gheny parks in the heart of the North Side. formerly the Allegheny "Commons,° cover 88 acres. All of the parks have been carefully im proved and planted with the advice of the most reputable landscape gardeners in America, and arc a joy to the people. Many of them are adorned near their entrance by beautiful build ings and contain groups of statuary. In High land Park which commands a wide view up the Allegheny Valley to the north are the Zoologi cal Gardens with fine buildings erected by the late C. L. Magee, and here is the statue of Stephen C. Foster, one.of the most noted com posers of ballads in America, who was born, lived and died in Pittsburgh, and whose aOld Folks at Home" and COld Black Joe" are known the world over. At the entrance of Schenley Park are the buildings of the Carnegie Insti tute and Library and monuments commemorat ing Mrs. Mary E. Schenley, the donor of the park, the late E. M. Bigelow, and the late Chris-• topher Magee, public-spirited citizens. Here too is the Phipps Conservatory, rivaling in size the biggest conservatories at Kew Gardens, London. In the Allegheny parks are many monuments and another conservatory, likewise built by Mr. Henry Phipps. At the entrance of Riverview Park is the Allegheny Observa tory. Recreation grounds and bathing pools under municipal control are provided abun dantly and it is said that Pittsburgh per capita surpasses all other American cities in its use of bathing facilities. This is perhaps due to the grimy work in which a large part of the labor ing classes are daily engaged and which leads to a desire for frequent ablutions.
Water Supply and Sanitation.— Pittsburgh was one of the first cities in America to adopt on a large scale the method of slow filtration through sand for the purification of its water supplies. The water is drawn from the Alle gheny River above the city limits, is filtered and the effluent pumped across the river to the Brilliant Pumping Station where it is thrown up to higher levels, or is pumped to the great reservoir on the north side which supplies that section of the city. There are three major and two secondary reservoirs, the largest being on the north side, covering 17 acres, at an eleva tion of 275 feet, and having a capacity of 151, 000,000 gallons. The two Highland reservoirs in Highland Park, No. 1 having an elevation of 363 feet, and No. 2 having an elevation of 276 feet, which is cross-connected with the north side reservoir, have a combined area of 38.8 acres and a combined capacity of 242,000, 000 gallons. The Herron Hill reservoir, having an elevation of 559 feet and an area of two acres, has a capacity of 12,000,000 gallons, and the Bedford Avenue basin of an elevation of 398 feet has an area of 1.1 acres and a capacity of 2,800,000 gallons. Besides these greater reservoirs there are many tanks at high eleva tions on the hills with capacities suited to the localities which they supply. All are filled by pumping engines, the greatest of which are located at Aspinwall and at Brilliant on the Allegheny. There were, in 1918, 945 miles of pipe varying from 4 to 66 inches in diam eter, with 15,386 control valves and 6,996 fire plugs. The city daily consumes 110,000,000 gallons of water, exclusive of the amounts used in the larger manufacturing plants which pump their water directly from the rivers. The sys tem of water-supply has cost the city $33,000, 000, and could not at present be replaced for twice that sum.
Pittsburgh has 669.5 miles of sewers, rang ing in size from 8 to 144 inches in diameter. The sewering is carried on by a number of dis tinct systems, draining certain limited water sheds defined by the topography. The trunk sewers recently constructed are plain concrete.
vitrified brick being used as an invert lining. Owing to the prevailing steep slopes the rate of run-off is large, as it is quickly concentrated. The sewage enters the river below Pittsburgh. The matter of erecting a plant for the concen tration and treatment of the sewage was care fully investigated some years ago, the report being adverse, the cost of installing a plant for this purpose being found to be prohibitive, and because the existing conditions are such from a sanitary standpoint as not to justify the under taking. It is an interesting fact that the water of the Monongahela River, being contaminated by the drainage from the coal-mines along its banks, and receiving acid discharges from the numerous manufacturing establishments throughout its lower course, is highly acid in its reaction and very germicidal, so that the acid contamination serves to counteract the bacterial contamination. So strongly acid is the water below Pittsburgh that in the upper reaches of the Ohio for miles below the city all aquatic life, both animal and vegetable, has been practically destroyed. Both the aquatic flora and fauna of the upper Ohio are now ex tinct.
Extensive provision has been made for the disposal of garbage and rubbish. The Ameri can Reduction Company has a contract for peninsular Pittsburgh, and the rest of the city is served by reduction plants situated beyond the city limits and reached by rail. The gar bage is treated for the extraction of the grease; the residue is used as the basis for a fertilizer; the rubbish after all portions of value have been salvaged, and the paper for rags baled. is incinerated. The garbage collected during the year ending 31 Jan. 1916 amounted to 93, 901 tons, and the rubbish to 50,956 tons. These totals since that date have been increased, but the latest statistics are not available. Practically no collection of ashes is made in the city, natural gas, which produces no ashes, being the prevalent domestic fuel, and the manufacturing establishments dispose of their ashes and cinders by fillage and haulage. Furnace-slag is now very largely utilized in the manufacture of cement, and instead of forming unsightly banks about the furnaces, is a source of profit and disappears in commerce. The fact that natural gas is the prevalent fuel in Pittsburgh, and that it is used in stoves and furnaces which do not as a rule admit of the use of other fuel, accounts for the high per capita amount of rubbish annually re moved. which is in other cities burned in the home. The sanitary conditions in the city are upon the whole very good and compare favorably with those of other cities of the same size in the United States. Prior to 1905 the community had an unenviable reputation on account of the prevalence of typhoid fever, but to-day, as the result of the installation of its new and splendid filtration plant, it has lost that evil reputation, and instead of having the highest mortality from this disease, it has the lowest among American cities. The water sup plied to the inhabitants of the city throughout the year is not only clear and sparkling, but potable and sanitary. As Pittsburgh has suc cessfully combatted typhoid fever, she is also, with a great measure of success, combatting other prevalent diseases, and through an efficient bureau of health and sanitation, has waged war against tuberculosis, and all other infectious diseases. The death rate in Pittsburgh is much less than that in some of the other large cities of the United States, though pneumonia, as in all other cities, seems to be on the increase for reasons which have thus far escaped the scrutiny of the medical profession. Malaria is unknown except through imported cases. This is due to the fact that there are no marshy tracts any where in the region, and the waters for half a century have been treated with coal oil from seepage or waste from the wells. Anopheles, the malarial mosquito, does not appear to exist in western Pennsylvania.