The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-11-11 00:00:00

SANITARY ENGINEERS AND
SURVEYORS.

A meeting of the Association of Sanitary Engineers
and Surveyors has been held at Kidderminster, under
the presidency of Mr. J. Lemon, C.E. (Southampton),
and members attended from Warwick, Salford, Great
IVlalvern, Hereford, Stratford-on-Avon, Dewsbury,
Bmingstoke, BiLston, Hanley, Wednesbury, and other
places. Mr. Radford (Mayor of Kidderminster) and
other visitors were present.

Mr. Comber, borough surveyor of Kidderminster,
read a paper on the sanitary works of that town, which
had been carr!e I out at a cost of £99,41Q,
,including
purchase of sewage farm.
Mr. G. Cole, of Hereford, contributed a paper on
the sanitary works of Hereford. There was scarcely a
a house in the city which was not connected with the
sewerage, and all had water-closets. Earth closets had
been tried, but the inspector had been obliged to report
them nuisances and tad caused water7closets to be
substituted. Ventilation of the sewers VMS by open
gratinge in the centre of the streets, and rain
water pipes and other pipes were also wed. Mr. Cole
insisted on the thorough ventilation of drains, and said
no house drain should be connected with a sewer with-
out carrying up from it a perfectly jointed ventilator.
Re also advocated that water-closets should be outside
the external wa4ls of houses, or at any rate adjoining
them, so that there might be a free ventilation, not
only of the closets, but of the soil pipes below the
trees. The better class of society run more danger in
this respect than the poor. The drawback to the
drainage of Hereford was the direct discharge into the
river Wye. Mr. Cole called attention to the great
waste of water, and advocated that the water meters
should be brought into geneirel use. People left their
twatpms l
dr u nfinnisubg under h
their
r drains,te mistaken m
banke n
t drains
couldimpression tohet
nly thisbe
effectually flushed by pouring a quantity of water sud-
denly into them.
A discussion followed, which was principally directed
to the question of the ventilation of sewers aid the
prevention of the waste of water. Mr. Lobley (Han-
ley) said the adoption of the meter system would re-
quire great consideration; it would be very unsatis-
lectors,. to do anything which would Cause poor people
to use as little water as possible. Waste of water
could be most effectually checked by the system car-
ried out by Mr. Deacon, of Liverpool.
Mr. Pritchard (Warwick) spoke in favour of the ven-
tilation of sewers by open gratings AS at Kidder-
rniuster. He believed that to he the beat mode.
There Was a general cry of the waste of water, and he
agreed with the adoption of meters so far as it could
be done without limiting the supply to the peer. The
consumption of water varied very greatly, as much as
from seven and nine gallons per head per day to 50
(at Glasgow). Peking the °oat at 61 per 1,000 gallons,
great waste of water meant great loss to the rate-
payers.
Councillor Dixon (Kidderminster) stated that there
was a great prejudice against the open grating venti-
lators in the streets at Kidderminster, and it was
difficult to prevent people stopping them up. He was
glad of an expression of opinion from a representative
body like that in their favour.
The President said at Leeds 14,000 ventilators had
been put in the sewers, and he had not heard any
complaint about it. It was better to have smells in
the streets than the houses. When he went to
Southampton he • found all the sewer ventilators
stopped up, and he had great trouble in bringing
about a change. Local bodies ought not to neglect
the question of reducing the waste of water, and he
knew no better system than that of Mr. Deacon, of
Liverpool, for doing so. With regard to the value of
sewage, the notion that money could be made by it
was exploded. If they could make a sewage farm pay
its expenses they were doing a groat deal.
The discussion was further continued, and the
members afterwards went to inspect the Kiddermin-
ster Sanitary Works and on their return there was a
criticism on details Of the sewage system.

The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the
Mayor and Corporation. .