Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-08-06
THE SEWAGE oF.PARIs
RESULTS OF THE FAMOUS oENNe-
vILuERS EXPERIMENTS.
Nearly xfftcen Hundred Acres Of Irrl-
gated Lsnd-More Territory Vented
-success ef Irrigation ~ . Mode
OF Sewage Disposal
fAmerican Architect

| fAmerican Architect.
For some reason, the results Of tn
Geuneviiliers experiments have been for
long time obscured by . curious inded
niteness, not to say wildness, Of statement
on the part Of those who pretended to have
| examined them, which no impartial person
seemed to think it his business 10 correct
but the city Of Paris has now ds1nitely com.
mittei itself to irrieati1n - unpds Of SOW.
age dispo al. and it has become nscessary Il
obtain exact statistics q what hos been 70
complished, for the benefit Of city engineers,
and incidently for that Of the rest Of thl
world
To begin at the beginning. the sutire Of
dux through the sewers Of Paris b ascer-
tainsd TO amount. on an average. to 1852 900
$4,000, 900 gallons This Is al.
most exactly three-quarten Of ths
total amount Of water furnished by the
aqueducts and the rainfall. the other quarter
being carried Of BY evaporation, absorption
into the soil, or BY flow over the surface
directly into the Seine. An the drainage
fow, before leaving the city, Is collected into
three great interceptinR sewer2 two of
which, conveying 3l8. 000 cubic meters . day.
join into one at Clichy, just above . pump
ing station, where engines Of ], 100 horse
power lift part Of the liquid into the pipes,
which convey it to Gennevilliers, while the
surplus Is allowed to flow into tn Seine.
The remaining intercepting sswsr carries
A, 900 meters a day by gravitatioa to the
Seine at Saint Denis, but branch Is taken
from this early in its course which conducts
q portion Of its flow 70 Gennevi1liers, to sup
plement the main irrigation system.
The main irrigation conduit which leaves
the great double intercepting sewer Al
Cichy, is OF rubbie and Portland cement,
- inches in diameter After reaching the
irrigated field, it gradually diminishss in
size, throwing off branches, formed Of con
crete, and varying from IA to 40 inches In
diameter, until it ends in a small pipe, OK 20
inches diameter, which serves as an over
flow, TO carry the surplus liquid Of storms
into the river. The supplementary irriga-
ton main branches in the same manner over
a different portion of the territory. and the
filtered effiuent is conducted 10 the Seine BY
collecting drains
The present area of irrigated land in the
Gennevilliers peninsula is 1, 40 acres, and
the system is continually being extended to
new land at the request Of the owners The
whole amount Of sewage brought to the PAN
insula by the drains is Is, O00. 900 Of cubic
meters year, or about Il, 900 mstsrs an
nually to the acre-not fur from 500. COO
Of gallons per acre-an amount sufficient, II
delivered at once, to cover it all about nine
feet deep
Experiments have been made to determine
whether a larger flow could be advantage
ously used, and for growing beets it seemi
likely that much more could be absorbed:
but for general purposes the present dow is
we'll proportional to the needs Of the ground
and the annual return from the rops j,
from $3.50 to $500 per acre, and even mors
where a cultivator has made fortunate
choice of a special product The rent paid
for the land has tripled within a few years,
and averages now SIS an aero; while the
population Of tho place increases constantly
by the arrival Of farmers anxious to .hare
in the profits Of sewage cultivation.
Judging from the results obtained hero,
the engineers Of the city have concluded
that lO, 900 acres Of ground will satisfactorily
and probably purify the whole Of the
sewage Of Paris, and have sat about inQuir-
ing for suitable territory to that amount
The districts Of Acheres and Saint German,
which have already been condemned and
taken for the purpose. will furnish only
5000 acres, in addition to the 2, 000 contained
in the Gennevilliers peninsula, 90 that 5, 00O
more must, sooner or later, be found some
where; but there can be no doubt that with
anything like the high rents paid nne-
villiers, the returns from the land taken for
irrigation would make the expense Of taking
it a safe and profitable Investment -or the
Parisians.
1t is rather singular that tho experiment
of sewage irsigation. although rather rudely
tried. should have proved so much more sue
cessful at Paris than in most places in Eng-
land, but something is undoubtedly to be
allo wed for the difference in climate, and the
science Of sewage utilization will not I'D.
vance much furth until careful investiga-
tons are made in regard to this point