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.)

    25/272
    lation, and under conditions which are hardly excep- tional, one acre per thousand of population may suffice, i This was frequently reached in the Intermittent Down- , ward Filtration Works of J. Bailey Denton, in England. At Lawrence, volumes of sewage equal to over 100,- I 000 gallons per acre per day were continuously made • purer than the best drinking-water supplies.1 When, as is usual, it is only a question of making the effluent as pure as the water of ordinary streams, much larger vol- umes may be constantly taken care of. The practical results of broad irrigation in works of long standing show that the process, when well carried on, is devoid of all offence, and may be made to yield agricultural returns, which will go far toward paying the cost of maintenance. At Gennevilliers, where irrigation and filtration are combined, and where the soil is gravelly, the sewage of Paris is made purer than the best drinking-water of that city. Prosperity has been brought into the district, which was originally a poor one. Land that was formerly of trifling value now sells for nearly $1000 per acre, and its rental value has quadrupled. The population has increased one-half, and general prosperity has taken the place of comparative penury. The health of the people is excellent, and even in 1882, when there was a cruel 1 Varying quantities of sewage were applied to this tank during 1890. At the end of the third year the tank was filtering about twice as much as at the end of the second year, with a rather purer effluent. The amount was about 102,000 gallons per acre per day. The better result is attributed to raking over the surface to a depth of one inch once a week. — Mass. Report.