Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-01-28
TIE DRAINAGE QUESTION.

that unless measures are taken to reform /
it disastrous consequences will at no dis I
tant date punish the neglect of the CON-
munity. 1t is apparent that a city built
upon a fat surface, and the sewerage of
which must be at certain times below the
level Of the stream relied upon to carry it
away, cannot be drained by mere gravita-
tion. 1t is found that our sewers, lacking
the necessary fall, do not act effectually
as a rule, but even if they did act it is
clear that they could not relieve the city
80 long as the Drainage Canal constitutes
the only means of discharge, and that out
let is liable to be blocked throughout the
winter. We have not yet experienced the
worst results from this defective arrange
ment, for the reason that we really have
not any real system of drainage. Had an
attempt been made to drain the houses into
the sewers the first consequence
would have been to demonstrate
the inefiiciency of the Drainage
Canal for the performance of its
functions. As it is, however, by far the
larger proportion Of our sewerage is, and
always has been, retained in the city in
several hundreds or thousands of vaults,
and thus the pressure upon the sewers is
hghtened at the expense of the health of
the public, since it is certain that the
vaults, old and new, with which the site
of Sacramento is honeycombed, are gradu-
ally but surely saturating the soil with
sewage matter, and thus preparing the
way for disease. 1t may therefore be as
sumed as incontrovertible, first, that we can
not afford to continue the old method of
draining our houses into vaults instead of
sewers and, second, that we cannot drain
the city by a complete system of sewers
until we have provided better means than
now exist for removing the sewage finally.
DR.. Dwinell suggests that to overcome
this latter difficulty a reservoir or tank
should be constructed outside of the city
limits that it should be sunk deep
enough in the ground to allow for fall in
the sewers sufficient to drain the city !;
and that the contents of the tank
should be raised by pumping, and dis
charged into the river. This is practical
proposal. It would involve extensive al.
terations in the grading of the sewers, but
it must be remembered that we as yet have
no sewerage system, and that we never can
have one unless we are willing to bear the
expense of constructing it, If we cannot
bring ourselves to bear that expense, how.
ever, burdens will be laid upon us from
which we cannot escape, and that is al
ways the outcome of such penny wise and
pound foolish policy. We may neglect our
drainage, but when sickness and death
visit us we cannot avoid them and towns
that have not sense enough to protect their
own health always pay more for their ap-
athy in the end than it would have cost
them to be wise in time
DR.. DwinelPs plan is a sensible and a
practicable one, but whether it is the best
that could be adopted is another question.
The discharge of the sewage into the river
involves the total waste of what might be
converted into valuable manure, and that
is a consideration worth attention. 1t has
always appeared to Us that the pneumatic
system of town drainage invented by Cap
tain Lernur, and which has been intro
daced with complete success in several
cities of Holland, was peculiarly adapted
to she situation Of Sacramento. That sys-
TEN was in fact devised for the express
purpose Of meeting precisely the same diff
culties as those we are confronted with.
It possesses, also, some special advantages,
as, that it absolutely prevents the pollution
of the soil, the generation of sewer gas,
the poisoning of water, ETC., and at the
same time converts the sewage into a
highly useful and valuable kind of manure.
AS we have several times described the
pneumatic system in detail, it is unneces-
sary here to Go more than recall its
salient features. The town is first divided
into drainage sections, each including sew
sral hundred houses. Then a central tank
IS sunk in each of these sections, and into
it all the sewers Of that section empty.
Each sectional tank is connected with a
main reservoir, which receives the entire
drainage of. the town, and from this reser-
voir it is lifted into the receptacles in
which it is converted into what is called
"poudrette." The sectional tanks are filed
from the houses, and the main tank is filled
from the sectional tanks, by creating vacu-
ums in the tanks with a stationary air
pump engine. By system of stop cocks
every house is drained into its proper tank
once day, and when all the tanks are full
they are emptied into the main reservoir.
This system involves no pollution of rivers
and streams, while it provides for the util-
ization of the sewage, and its con-
version into a manure, the sale of
which might sensibly diminish the
cost Of the works. In many respects
we regard it as preferable to any pumping
system, and it is not probable that the mi
tial outlay would be greater. The cost
of operating Captain Liernur's plan is said
to be very small in fact, and it has given
great satisfaction wherever it has been
adopted. It is very certain that this or
some pumping system will have to be in
troduced here before long, if the health Of
the city is to be maintained, and no mat
ter what the cost of such improvements
may be they must be consented to, unless
it is preferred to take the chances of
defamation by disease, followed by a
general and serious decline of property
values. Depend upon it there is no
economy in cultivating typhoid fever and
its congeners, and that is what defec-
tive drainage does.
A WONDERFUL ACT.
Assembly Bill No. pa, introduced by
Mr.. WATSON of Mono, is quite remark
able measure. It is described as an Act to