New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-08-06
BOUsEHoLD BLIND-PITs.

HOUSEHOLD BLIND-PITS.
The dangers arising from suburban systems
of housa-drainage have been practically Illus
trated by two melancholy accidents within
single week. The first occurred III Newark, n. j..
A householder, observing that stenches we're
coming from cesspoo in his yard, suspected
that the trap was out of order, and procuring
ladder went down into the pit. His daughters,
hearing him fall heavily on the bottom o the
cesspoo, procured the assistance of two men.
They went down by tie ladder but were i'm
mediately suffocarei. The three lifeess bodies
WIRE subsequently drawn to the surface by
grappling-hooks. The gases arising from the
cessppol were so foul that lanterns were ex-
tingushed rs soon as they were.lOwered into It.
| The second accident occurred on wednesday
| in the neighboring town of Passaic. Under tie
| surface of the street there were two cesspocls,
which received waste wafer and sewage from
hotel. The pipes connecting the cesspools had
become Distracted, 30 that the outer one ala
| not receive the overflow from the inner receD-
tacle. The hotel proprietor, warned ut the tact
| by the backing up of the waste water indoors,
ompl Dyed laborer TO open the outer cess
pool aud clear ont the connecting pipes
| This workman upon entering the cesspool
was overcome by the mephitic gases and fell
from the ladder. He was rescued from the pit
and resuscitated. but the two men who ef-
fected his deiverance lost their own lives
One of the rescuers who was suffocated by
the stenches of the cesspool was Freebooter
of the County and a most estimable man.
These fatal accidents indicate the peril to
Il IL, in
ground receptacles of this sort and the neces-
sity of adequate precautions to secure then
safety. That is the direct moral to be drawn
from these occurrences. But the indirect in
ferences are even more important. These cess
pools, in which men were sufiocated az soon
as they went into them, were directly con-
nected with the entire system OF drainage IN
doors and this is the case wherever they are
used as substitute for the ordinary system
of street sewerage. If there are no traps either
in the main drain pipe or under each sink and
basin, there are no barriers to the setback OF
these foul gases from the cessp0Ol and their
distribution through the house. Only the best
traps are OF real utility in shutting out me-
phitic air under ordinary circumstances, and even
these can be forced, provided there he suif-
cent pressure in front of them. Ii the main
drain, as is generally the case in suburban
houses, be unIrOvided with q trap and inlet
of fresh air outside the wall, the most elabO-
rate system Of traps and ventilating apparatus
in kitchen, bathroom and chambers will
afford little or no protection against loose
Joints and rents IN the waste-pipe indoors.
The insidious poison. which proved instan-
taneously fatal in the obstructed cess
pools in Newark and Passac. IL denied
egrcss by the stoppa9e of manholes
or the obstruction of connecting pipes, Is car
RED back to tant with its foul breath the
atmosphere of the household. Outside 1t will
do additional harm, if the water IN daily use
comes from well on the premises Cesspools
invariably leak, even If they are warranted to
be alright Too often, indeed, the masons
who construct them provide for constant
leakage into the surrounding soil.
Ii IL not strange that the most sagacous
sanitary engineers have set their faces steruly
against the cessDool system. Well-informed
architects, when requested TO prepare plans
for suburban residences, iDveigh against 1t as
the worst method OF disposing OF sewage that
can be imagined. alt is boxing up nest of
rattlesnakes," they will saw. "and leav-
ing them free to wriggle their way
/: out, indoors as well IA under the
windows Better kill them out OF DOORS"
they will add sententiously. But the only
system which the architects and engineers can
recommend as a substitute cesspools is
expensive, liable 10 ret GU, of order within
few years. and requiring constant supervision.
This Is the system of sub-surface irrigation,
which has received the approval of some OF
the best-informed sanitary engineers in Europe
and the United States. IL substitutes fer cess
pools two, or sometimes three tanks, the con-
tents of which are discharged once in twenty
four AouIs through n ec.ing system of
e-pipes UNDERGROUND, and being distributed
over large area are readily absorbed by the
soil and vegetation. On largo scale its
opera ion is considered remarkably successful.
For single residences 1t is open TO some prac-
teal objections, the monthly clearance of the
tank and the elimination and relaying of the
tile-ppes as often as once in FIVE years being the
principal ones. Probably it is the best system
of drainage for suburban houses yet devised
but il is by no means perfect.