History
				A Short History of water treatment in general and the history of municipal water treatment in Jay, OK
		Water has played an important role in history. People were more likely to live next to an accessible source of water. They drank it, bathed with it, prepared food with it, watered their livestock with it, and irrigated their crops with water. Sometimes these sources of water ran dry and new alternatives had to be found. Some built dams to divert streams for their use while some dug wells. As early as 3000 B.C cisterns, wells, and dams were utilized. Around 2000 B.C. gravity flow pipes and pressure pipes were in use and public and private bathing facilities were built near the 6th century B.C. Water was broken down into three types: potable, subpotable, and nonpatable, as soon as 600 B.C. The city of Knossos developed a aqueduct system using tubular conduits between 1700 and 1400 B.C. This system supplied water to tens of thousands of inhabitants.      Ephesus in Anatolia, Turkey supplied water for its great fountain by diverting water through a dam and transpoting it through a 6-km-long system of clay pipes.The Roman upper middle class typically had a hole on the roof that let rain run into a cistern under the roof. The Romans also used aqueducts to supply water. These aqueducts were built on elevated platforms to provide gravity flow. They also used lead piping even though they recognized it as a health hazard. The Romans  inserted settling tanks along the aqueducts to remove sediment and other foriegn matter.      After the fall of the Roman Empire there was a thousand year long period known as the Dark Ages. During this time knowledge of water science retrogressed. Unsanitary conditions ensued and epidemics such as the Black Plaque swept through Europe. However, during this time the Islamic culture used highly developed water supplies and adequate sanitation systems as well as high levels of personal hygiene.      After the Dark Ages water sciences were once again utilized. Wooden pipes and wooden pipes with spiraling bands of lhoop-iron were laid down. Lead pipes were also used until they were banned in the U.S. in the 19th century.      Water treatment didn't truely come into effect until the 20th century when chlorine was utlized as a disenfectant. Chlorine has saved countless lives and its utilization was listed as one of the great inventions of the 20th century.
			A history of Jay's water treatment will follow soon!