In 1912, another reorganization act shortened the name of the PH-MHS to Public Health Service, the name by which the organization is known today. In that brief act, the Hygienic Laboratory’s mission was expanded to include noncontagious diseases and the pollution of waterways. Growth of river cities produced much sewage pollution that caused epidemics, especially of typhoid, in downriver cities. Lawsuits between cities exposed the lack of scientific knowledge about how sewage affected rivers, how long bacteria could persist in rivers in quantities sufficient to cause disease, and similar questions. The Hygienic Laboratory launched studies on many of these matters.