This color educational film is about the importance of Clean Water brought to you by General Electric. This film was made to boost support for new plants to clean our water and keep it clean. There is no copyright at the beginning or end of the film so the date of the production is in the 1950s based on a statistic shown in the film.
A More Power to America Presentation CLEAN WATERS. Technical supervision by GE (GENERAL ELECTRIC) (:17-:44). Water flows, Man’s greatest need is Water. Beautiful water, foliage, trees, water falls, brooks. Lots of footage of bridges, running water and clean water. Homes are built near clean streams and near clean beaches. Water sports, sailing, canoes, swimming, sunbathing, fishing are all done in clean water. Wildlife roam and they need clean water. Deers by water (:45-3:37).
Fishing is successful in clean water. Livestock roam near water. Irrigation needs it as does commercial fishermen. Lots of fishing footage (3:38-4:54). Boat sails along a river. Giant oceanliner. Factories near the water. Our natural water is our drinking water. 75% of USA communities take water from lakes & streams. Wildlife drinks water (4:55-6:02). Waste gets dumped into water. As communities increase, dumping increases and pollution is worse and worse. Many shots of polluted waterways. Water is now contaminated. Effects of pollution is shown. Everything from contaminated waters to people moving to not being able to swim in these waters. Bacteria is in the water, including drinking water. Dead fish, animals. Fumes come from polluted waters, these effects are shown (6:03-9:46) Examples of pollution, bad oysters is shown. Prices double due to this. Salmon in New England is contaminated. Polluted waters don’t allow swimming. West Coast beaches have pollution. East coast resort had beaches closed. 200 million is the cost for pollution annually. Modern treatment systems can help polluted water. Complex sewage processes. What is used to combat pollution is shown (9:47-12:53). Industrial waste can be treated by special plants. The goal is water that can be returned to streams clean (12:54-13:45). Municipal waste disposal shown in a moving diagram in great detail. Mechanical removal of solids. Everything is shown: bar screen, pump, settling tank, digestion tank, drying bed, etc. (13:46-16:18). A review of the disposal. A secondary treatment is discussed and shown. All the dangers of pollution are removed. Drinking water is cleaned and cleaned again (16:19-18:37).
Cleaning filtration plants have continued to grow in size over the years. There were only 60 in 1900, today (1950s) there are over 6600. There is still a need for more plants and 2500 of the current plants are inadequate. If new plants aren’t created, pollution continues – and the effects are shown again (18:38-20:23). Planning by communities is shown. The Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) is an example of this action – every state can learn from these 8 states that banded together for clean water (all of or part of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York). Plants are needed. They will provide employment for workers. the 200 million lost dealing with pollution would very nearly pay for these plants. Clean water can be done. Many shots of people, boats, animals, clean water. Surging beach surf. Cascades of mountain torrents (20:24-23:04). Fish swim in a stream. Brimming river is shown (23:05-23:38). End credits are shown (23:39-23:46).
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
