Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-07-26
THE SEWERAGE QUESTION.

u
This is a matter now demanding
. IT attention with a peremptory
Immons, and we fear we are far
. Nom being ready forit. The water
! ,orks we have, and but few have
|, elected how necessarily a sewerage |
ystem follows upon water-works.
NE City Council has begun to meet |
he difficulty where it presses on US
most urgently, but measures adj
lressed to a limited locality are
worse than useless, and the City
Council is manifestly incompetent
% the work. We TareEnot writing
n disparagement of them; no mu-
nicipal officers are capable of deal
ing with it; it requires the planning
4Of first-class engineer, and very
few engineers even have the by
gienic knowledge to direct them to
what is needed.
Entirely destitute of engineering
knowledge ourselves, we propose in
this paper not to say how the thing
is to be done 1--WE should only expose
our ignorance were we to attempt
it,, but to give some indication
what ought to be aimed at accord
ing to the light of recent sanitary
science.
NECESSITY OF SEWERAGE.
1t requires but little attention to
see that sewerage is necessary cor
ollary of water-works: that where
the one is adopted the other must
follow. All the different applica-
lions of the latter, the water-closet
and urinal, the bath tub and laundry
arrangements and the kitchen sinks
each of these implies waste-pipe,
the fluids from which are largely
contaminated with organic refuse,
which, wherever it can accumulate
and putrefy, becomes a necessary
source of sickness, a cultured soil in
which the germs of epidemic and
endemic disease find their appropri-
ate nourishment. OF course all this
organic refuse has at all times been
produced in proportion to pOpufa-
ton and its concentration, but in
the village life (Which so many OF
our citizens are unwilling to ex-
change for the mode of living re-
quired by the exigencies of city,,
in days, that is, when lots are large
and dwellings sparsely distributed,
it can be disposed of without much
peril to health or offence to the
senses; it is deposited at a sufficient
distance from the dwelling, and
where there is intelligence sufficient
it is covered with dry earth and
ultimately utilized as a valuable
manure for the garden, but as pOpu'
lation increases and lots get smaller
and houses closer to one another
this simple arrangement becomes
more and more incOnvenient and
finally impossible. As this state o.
things approaches, the temptation
arises for men to get their refuse
filth off their own premises without
enquiring what damage it may dc
elsewhere, and if, at that stage
water-wOrks are introduced the
process is simplified and epitomizeC
by which everything is drained of
into back-alleys, or in any direction
where a man finds ground lowe
than his own lot. The result is the
gradual formation Of miasmatit
swamps in the low-lying districts o
the place, which become fertile
seminaries of disease and pestilence
THE NECESSITY DISCOVERED.
Is it not evident that we have ar
rived at the very stage of city de
velOpment above described? L
needs not further consideration t
answer the question, for the City
Council at its last meeting fOunC
itself face to face with the difficulty
as it already affects the north sid
of Franklin street in the business
part of the city, or, to be more pre-
else, between First and SecOnC
cross streets. We desire here to say
that we are making no attack OF
the City Council we give them tn,
credit of doing their utmost to NEE
the emergency now presenting it
self, and if, as we shalld do, we sugges
their incompetence to deal with tn,
matter unaided. We say no NOR
than we say of all the rest of Clarks
vile, ourselves included; we believ
that no one in GAINESVILLE is compe
tent to the business and that scien
tific advice from abroad is necessary
We return to our subject. Tn
locality in GAINESVILLE above de
scribed has features such az to fore
this emergency on public attention
sooner than any other. 1t is clOsel,
built up with business houses;
can have no drainage in the rea
because Strawberry alley, on whicl
its houses abut, is considerable,
higher than Franklin street, anC
therefore its drainage is necessaril.
towards their front in other words
directly on to Franklin street, anC
then to find lower ground it mus
cross that street, as the street itsel
rises both east and west of the local
ity described. The consequence ha
become manifest to all; the quite
on the north side of Franklin stree
has become offensive and loudl,
demands abatement. Hence tn
action of the City Council in tn
premises. But before .criticiziny
the action of the Board we mus
urge that it is not only in that local
ity that trouble is arising. For in
stance, on the south side of tn,
street, exactly the same thing i
going on, only the offscourings ar,
carried to a point where they are
not offensive to as great a numbe
of people. As affecting the health
of the city there is very little t
choose between the two. Then g