The Portland daily press., 1877-07-27

Il nun Is necessary IOr Il0 passage OF
i.s normal stream dminishes the velocity Of
| Tue now: and by just so much favors the depo-
1 sition OF sold matters which will obstruct the
tu1si 10 otner words, given amount of LIQUID
wiz move more rapidly In small stream than
IN large one and will be less likely To leave
settings. The shape of the sewers ia ahont
what IL should be in most cases. As the land
| is quite high on the central ridge of the city
and slopes rapidly to the water in two dIreo-
tions there is no natural obstacle to an amnIa
and continuous fall, and the sewers are believed
TO be suitable in this respect. Up to this point
our criticisms may well be favorable or only
mildly adverse; but they must be decidedly
otnerwise IN discussing the ventilation, the
Inspection and flushing, and the outlets
Inere IS no principle with regard to sewers
upon which sanitarians, both physicians and
engineers, are more strenuous than this that
sewers should be thoroughly ventilated, and
tnere Is pone more generally and systematically
disreo arded. Mr.. Chesbrough, the well known
City Engineer of Chicago, says in a recent ar
ticle, 1.-The more freely air is allowed to escape
from the sewers at all spoints excepting the in
terror OF houses and other buildings occupied
bysmen, the better it will be for the public
health; and this is the universal voice If san
tarlans. But our sewers are first-class Illus
trations otn the opposite principles. Ventila-
tion in the middle of the street is unknown;
great pains have been taken to prevent the lib
eration Oh gas from the culverts; and toe foul
air OF the sewers, under the necessity of escap-
ing somewhere, and being mostly unable TO
flow downward with the liquid sewage on ac-
count OF its lightness rushes into the house
drains and thence into our cellars, kitchens,
water closets and worst of all, our bed cham
bers. Thus the only real ventilation which our
sewers have is into our houses. This statement
will undoubtedly appear extravagant and i'm
probable to most householders, but it is never
tneless literally true. When sit is remembered
that the gas from sewers SUCH as it will Ures-
emily be seen we have is one of the most pro-
lho agents IN the production of sickness, il
will no longer be a matter of surprise THAT
typhoid and similar diseases are found crop
ping out all ov, the town.
But the lack of proper ventilation ia not the
only defect in our sewerage. There is no reg
ular system OF inspection, the facilities for this
work and for flushing are meagre, and, worse
than all the rest, there is a profound ignorance
OF the necessity for such procedures. There
are at certain places man-hoes which can be
reached by digging down a couple OF feet, but
they are not used for systematic inspection
Only when an obstruction occurs and com
plant is made which is of sufficient magni-
tude to compel the belief that something is
wrong, is the sewer opened or viewed. There
are no lamp holes between the neighboring
man-holes, as there should be. The culverts
are at intervals emptied of the mud which in
evltaDly accumulates in them from the wash of
the street, and also whenever they have be-
come 80 foulb from the decomposition of the
garbage which indolent and lawsss people
have cast into them that they are formally de-
nounced as nuisances. 1t is not to be much
wondered at that citizens regard the catch-pits
as proper receptacles for spoiled brine, the car
casses OF animals, rOtting vegetables and 9TH
er refuse, when the authorities act on the same
principle and treat the sewers as if they were
in good condition as long as they do not offend
our senses of sight and smell As for flushing
nobody thinks of it until an obstruction has
occurred and needs to be swept away. Then
the nearest hydrant is opened and allowed to
pour a volame of water into the gutter and so
into the culvert and sewer until the tube seems
TO be cleared; or, in cases of extreme need a
steam fire engine Is detailed for the purpose of
driving stream more forcibly through the
pipes. The effect of such inefficient admins
tration OF the sewer department upon the pub
lie health may easily be imagined
Next, the outlets of the sewers need atten-
tion. The most of the sewers run from Con-
gress street, which occupies the central ridge
OF the city, to the harbor on the south and
Back Cove on the north. Each carries the sew
age from comparatively limited area. There
are, therefore, very many outlets close to the
places OF business of our commercial men on
the front side, and very near the dwelling
houses on the back. There has been much
murmuring at the fetid odors which come from
the docks into which the sewers discharge, but
the difficulty has ibeen lately mitgated to a
slight extent by the construction of one or two
ventilated cess-pools. Much more work of a
similar description remains to be done before
even the most reasonable demands will be sat-
the sewer outlets amounts to a downright nui-
sance. At low tide the bottom of the Cove is
almost completely exposed, and the sewage be-
ing discharged directly onto the flats, spreads
out In numberless rivUets, until the surface Is
covered with the vile fluid, which, under the
influence OF the suns rays, develops a putrid
stencil OF the most revolving character. When
there is coincidence of low tide and north
erly wind, as is frequently the case, the nau-
seating gases are driven against the exposed
el0D0. and. DV means of the m fhad aAur
ers, into the houses, even those upon the high
est point which is drained into the Cove 1t
often happens that residents in this vicinity
are Obliged to close their windows on hot sum-
mer nights IN order to shut out the overpower-
ing fetor. Physicians are all the time observ-
ing cases OF blood-poisoning of various kinds
in this region, which are attribnted--and ap-
parently with reason-to the wretched condi-
ton OF the sewerage. Families which are
constantly in a debtated condition as long
as they live in the vicinity Of the sewer outlets,
Immediately and permanently recover en- re-
moving to other parts of the town. The relation
between cause and effect in such instances is
too striking to need further mention.
The worse feature, however, in our sewerage
system is theiDeering's Bridge mill-poud and its
tributary sewers. The most of The north
westerly part of the city discharges its refuse
into this basin, to which the tide has not access
on account of the mill at the bridge The Mel
len street sewer empties into field south of
(above) Portland street, cuG tho sewage runs
thence by alnatural channel ints DeeriDg's Oaks
Ia favorite place of resort for the children, by
the way) where it has assisted in making
most filthy morass, the sewers from Grove and
Portland streets contributing TO the result
When the tide is out the bottom of the pond is
seen to be covered with a thick, green slime,
which emits an appalling stencil A more
shocking Illustration of unsanitary sewerage it
would be hard TO find in any country, however
unenlightened.
Although the sewers must bear good share
of the blame which belongs to oui method of
disposlng OF excreta, part OF it should fall up
on our house drains which open into the sew
ers. If the majority of them had been devised
by Ingenious malice, they could hardly more
perfectly fulfill their deadly design than they
now do in their semblance of beuefcence.
They connect directly with the sewers without
traps; they are not ventilated except by acct
dent, and then directly into our houses; the
water valves which are depended on to keep
out the foul gases are in many cases worse
than useless, because they give sense of se-
curity which does not exist; the pipes are care
fully concealed from sight and their defects are
thus often unobserved until sickness calls at.
tention to them; in short, they are generally
just what they should not be. If the sewers
were perfect, we should continue to have filth
diseases as long as our house-drains remained
as at present.
The disposal of excreta in a city by means of
public sewers which are properly constructed
and cared for is, and probably for long time
will be. the best of all methods yet proposed.
Portland had an extensive system of sewers
many years before it had suff cient supply of
water to keep them decently clean, land doubt
less had to pay dearly by high death-rate, for
its ill-advised effort to promote sanitation.
Unfortunately. though we have now the means
for the rapid removal of the refnse of life, all
our citizens do not avail themselves of these
privileges, and there are yet immense nun bers
of old fashioned privy-vaults in all quarters,
DR. Simon, the great English sanitarian, says
"Of all the filth influences which prevail
against human lite in this country (England)
privies of the accumulative sort operate un-
doubtedly to far the largest extent" The same
is equally true in America. The danger con-
sists in allowing huge quantities of excremeDt
to undergo putrefacLive changes in the immedi
ate neighborhood of human habitatons, send
ing forth volatile efluvia which polute the air,
and all that is in il, and soaking into the ground
and poisoning the water of wells and springs.
So long has this method prevailed in Portland
that it is doubtful if there is in the city score
of wells which furnish water fit to drink. 1t is
difficult to convince people who have never
known any other method of disposng of excre-
ia, that this privy system is other than it should
be. They even come to ignore the offensive
ness of it. Houses can be pointed out where
the air is noticeably impure with the mephitic
odors from decomposing ordure Untrapped