www.ca-nv-awwa.org 29
consumption (this was a significant cause
in establishing cross connection control
regulations as well as discouraging pit
wells for domestic use).
California’s cross-connection regu-lations
were first adopted in November
1919 and amended May 12, 1924, follow-ing
the Santa Ana typhoid incident. The
same regulations were rescinded on Feb-ruary
8, 1930, following opposition from
the plumbing industry and reestablished
again on August 28, 1943, following oth-er
cross connection incidents. 1925 was
the advent of a much greater expansion
of drinking water standards, which in-cluded
quantitative chemical standards,
as well as aesthetic and source protection
standards. The 1946 updated drinking
water standards were specifically revised
for applicability to all public water sup-plies
and not just common carriers.
Edward A. Reinke, another of Pro-fessor
Hyde’s graduates from the class of
1917, replaced Chester Gillespie as Direc-tor
in 1947. Mr. Reinke remained in that
role for 15 years until his retirement in
1962. The American Water Works Associ-ation
adopted operator certification stan-dards
in 1948 for water system operators,
and the California Health and Safety Code
required this provision of public water
system operators in the state. On October
1, 1949, the Bureau of Sanitary Engineer-ing
transferred authority of wastewater
treatment works to the newly created
State Water Pollution Control Board, es-tablished
under the Dickey Act. However,
the Bureau still maintained authority over
the use of reclaimed wastewater and pro-vided
significant wastewater treatment
consultation to the state and regional wa-ter
pollution control boards. S
Robert Brownwood is the assistant
deputy director of the Division of
Drinking Water of California’s
State Water Resources Control
Board.
1Elizabeth Bragg was the first woman to receive
an engineering degree from Cal in 1876. More
research is needed to determine if women pur-sued
sanitary engineering degrees during Pro-fessor
Hyde’s tenure (1905 to 1944).
2The BSE office moved into the Life Sciences
building in 1930.
3Other notable names from his graduating
classes include Clyde C. Kennedy (1911) and
Harry N. Jenks (1917) of Kennedy-Jenks,
Gottlieb Luippold (1918) and David H. Cald-well
(1938) of Brown and Caldwell.
4The State Board of Health transferred their
permit authority over water supplies to the
new Bureau of Sanitary Engineering.
5No doubt the reader noticed an obvious dis-crepancy
between the reported deaths of 40
and 13 per 100,000. Both figures were not-ed
in my research and therefore are includ-ed.
This difference seems to confirm Mark
Twain’s famous quote: “There are three kinds
of lies; lies, damn lies and statistics!”
Charles Hyde and Edward Reinke.
MAKING HISTORY
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