Modern methods of sewage disposal : for towns, public institutions, and isolated houses / by Geo. E. Waring, Jr.

  • Waring, George E., Jr. (George Edwin), 1833-1898.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Modern methods of sewage disposal : for towns, public institutions, and isolated houses / by Geo. E. Waring, Jr. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    In our own country, New York City and the towns on the Mississippi, and on other very large rivers, have such tidal and flood conditions as to secure satisfactory disposal by dilution and removal. At Boston, Phila- delphia, and Chicago, the needed relief can, under the methods adopted, be secured only by works of the greatest magnitude and cost, while the smaller towns have, as a rule, yet to devise methods by which, unless they are exceptionally well placed, they can destroy their wastes at a practicable cost. The importance of relief is being more and more realized, but the means of relief are little understood by the people. A wider appreciation of the efficiency of these means is a necessary condition precedent to general improve- ment. Systematic works, chiefly by removal through inter- cepting sewers, have, until recently, been confined to cities. Smaller towns are now perfecting their methods of removal, and there is a growing desire to find means for purifying the outflow which will not cost more than can be afforded. Interest is also growing among house- holders, who are becoming convinced of the dangers of cesspools, with their retention of putrefying wastes within contaminating reach of houses and of their sources of water-supply. In its progress thus far, the art of disposal has worked itself out mainly by progressive practice. It began in the instinctive desire to get offensive matters out of sight. As new difficulties presented themselves, and as the requirements of a better civilization arose,