Sacramento daily record-union., 1883-10-24
SEWAGE FARMING.

As the subject of introducing a new sys-
tenn OF sewage for Sacramento, and also of
utilizing the sewage for irrigation purposes,k IL
| now under discussion by our city officials and
the public generally, the following remarks
upon the latter question, which recently ap-
peared IN the Philadelphis Ledger, will be of
interest as showing the experience of other
cities similarly situated. The article referred
to says:
Cities that have barren islands or sand
spi.s in their neighborhocd are fortunate in
finding such ready made and profitable places
for the deposit of drainage and sewage
There has been, and not without apparent
reason, considerable prejudice against sewage
farms near enough to the immediate neigh
borhood of city ground TO be readily made
the ds pot for such deposits. They have been
held not 60 be agreeable When the winds blow
over them, and yet the long transportation
of sewage is costly and inconvsDient. Boston
Is constructing a vast system for conveying
its drainage into the harhOr, and prohting By
The experience OF New YORK, which seems to
be running its lower harbor by making it
vast dumping ground, sent o commits
sioner to examine the various systems of
European towns. London, which sends its
sewage 2l miles before emptying into the
maritime Thames, finds that it is being re-
turned alODgshore, above and below the out
let, by the tides. Brighton and Torqusy have
had the same difficulty from their conduits
emptying directly into the sea. Since water
Will not meet the neeer sites of the case util-
izing the land is found to do better. Edin-
| burgh has Sewer farms that are described as
magnificent. Peris has saver farm on the
Plains of Genneviilers, ground that was un-
productive in 1868. Tugt land is now nearly
qusdrupled in renting valuation, and the pop
ulstiOD has increased 81 per cent, bv its at
traction of farmers from other parts OF the
country to q profitable Investment. The
oxidation of anitusl snd vegetable life is said
to be so complete that the water in
wells ia found TO be perfectly pure Some
Gsrmsn towns showed equally good results
f ON sewage irrigation-Berlin. Dantzig,
AMI Breslsu are named A sandy island,
having almost no soil, has been made TO re-
ceive abundant fertilization at the mouths Of
sewers, which are conducted TO the hitherto
improbable territory. Berlin has at one
locality, 2. OBS acres, and at smother ISIS
acres given TO sewer farming, By the Paris
experiment 275 acres were male to receive
last year nineteen million cubic meters of the
citys waste. The proportion that is utilized
and disposed of appears to be relatively
larger than at the beginning Of the expert
ment. FOur-tifshs of the drainage Of Berlin,
a city with over one million inhabitants, are
STATED to require only !, COZ acres TO dispose
of and purify it. This Berlin farming has
been under trial for six years. One hundred
and thirty-four cities and towns in England
are said TO have adopted the system Of sewer
irrigation.
There Is a difference, ss is pointed out, he.
tween purifying water and merely clarifying
it; but NJ Durand- Clsye, Chief Engineer of
Bridges and Streets of Paris. who seems to
have been the great explorer in this line, AYERS
that the water which leaves both the BerliL
and Paris sewer fsrms-th that is, strained from
this experimental soils not only purer than
that which the citizens af Paris drink, but
absolutely clear and pure. / certainly will
be their own fault if American cities long
continue not only TO waste by polluting the
near streams, but absolutely, by the drainage
into tidal rivers to prevent the total clearance
of offensive matters from the sewers, which
these foreign experiments claim to have sue.
cesded in removing entirely and putting into
use. What seems to be needed is the build
ing of sewers that will directly convey the II
rigating materials to the waste lands which
are to be improved. A few added miles of
preventive building in such cases promises to
return not only health but profit.