Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-08-04
THE SEWER FARM
Inspected by the State Board
Of Health.
ADVICE OF THE INSPECTOR.
In His Opinion the Sewage Should
Be Carried in Pipes to
the Ocean.

DR.. Ruggles of Stockton, member of
the State Board OF Health, accompanied
by DR.. Orme, its President, inspected the
sewer farm yesterday by order of Gov
ernor Waterman. 1t was not this alone
which brought him to Southern Califor-
mia as he is engagedin visiting all the prin.s
ciple cities in this section and will leave
for San Diego to-day. He was seen by
HERALD man yesterday evening as to
the result of his observations, and when
asked what he thought about the system
of using the sewage for fertilizing pur-
poses replied: 81 am in favor
OF it if it can be done with
out detriment to the health of
the residents of the surrounding country
but this is not possible in district set
tied up as thickly as this is. 1 think
there is no alternative but to run it to
the ocean and shall express myself ac-
cordingly in my report to headquarters.
There is, of course, no doubt but that it
is great pity to waste such valuable
fertilizer, but it must be done if it is going
to invade the atmosphere in manner,
that is to say the least, not pleasant. AT
the place we visited to-day / ate some If
the finest peaches that can be produced
in the State, but, at the same time, do
you think that if 1 had 70
established my home in South
ern California, taking the supposition that
am farmer, that / would elect to live
where would get Whit of the air that
blows over that district. No, sir. If
there were any large tract to which it
could be diverted and there be attended
to it would of course be advisable to
make such use of the matter, but do
not imagine that it could be permanently
disposed of in this manner down here.
At Pullman, ILL.,, the sewage is all di-
verted to the prairies outside of that city,
being accumulated in large works
and pumped out by the mann
moth engine that all visitors to
the Centennial Exhibition in 1876
will remember. The result has been
very satisfactory, but this is on account
of the conditions, the place of the de-
posit of the matter being far from any
settlements. / understand that plans
have already been accepted by your
Council for the conveyance of this sew
age to the sea, and if so why do they not
go ahead With the work. Even if they
only build block or two a year some
thing should be done, for the question ia
becoming one Of grave import and
should not be carelessly talked Of and
laid aside in the regular routine style.
"Do , ou think that sewage poisons the
atmosphere ?" asked the scribe.
"Well, there are great dangers attend
ing it, as you can see by the typhoid
fever records, that complaint being gen.
orally caused by defective drainage. The
typhoid germ is very hard to kill; it can
be run miles through the earth and be
years dormant and yet it will seize an
individual as quickly as if it had iust
been formed. Now there is always that
danger where sewage is exposed, and for
this reason l favor piping the waste to
the ocean and thus effectually getting rid
OF it. AS to the manner of taking it
to the sea l have nothing to say
as simply report on the sanitary effects
of it's remaining here, but I certainly
think that the sewers should be flushed
if you have the water to do it with. As
to the i'll effects of the exposure of tho
matter your local doctors can we'll Judge
by the results. And I understand that
by the health reports from the district
where the farm is located the experiment
has not proved very successful.