Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-17

- 5T the animal and
vegetable matter in pits, using the material
so treated to filter and purify the fluid ele-
ments in the waste. The advantages of this
treatment consist in the following features:
The process OF burning rids the solid part
of the fluid of its noxious quality, and
affords at the same time in the burnt waste
an admirable substance through which TO
filter the contaminated waters. Further
more, the ashy material becomes an excel
lent manure through the materials which it
takes up in the filtering process, and can be
delivered to the farmer in shape fit for use
in his fields, the water of the waste going
forth, it is thought, in condition free from
all poisonous properties.
The comparative purity of the water is
shown by the fact that fishes will live in it
for weeks. 1t is much to be hoped that this
treatment of the sewage waste Of cities may
prove as successful in a large way as it has
claimed to have been in the preliminary
experiments. Although the modern system
of domestic water supply diminishes the
dangers which beset towns, its effect is to
contaminate the river system whence the
water of other places must be drawn. Even
in the case of seaboard towns which dis
charge their efiux directly into the sea, it
is not easy to escape the evils which the
sewage matter brings to the neighboring
shores. Thus, in the case of the London
system, which 20 years ago was deemed one
of the greatest triumphs OF engineering skill,
the best authorities now condemn it, for the
reason that it is bringing great and
apparently irremediable evil upon the coast
line district of the lower Thames.
The problem of sewage treatment is more
serious in the valley of the Mississippi sys-
TEN of waters than elsewhere in this coun-
try, for the reason that, during the summer
season. even, great streams like the Ohio
frequently have but little movement or vol
ume. The towns built about their banks
will, as they grow larger and have a better
water supply, pour a great tide of filth into
the main channels. The effect of this poi
soning is already marked in certain seasons
of drought throughout the length of the
Ohio river, and in another generation it will
be necessary to deal with the problem in an
effective manner.
The great advantage of the system now on
trlal In Leeds is to be found In the fact that
it gives promise of retaining for use on the
soil the invaluable elements of fertility
which are now poured forth by sewage
channels to the rivers and the sea. Refer
ence has already been made TO the fact that
the search for phosphates and other mineral
manures has become necessary through the
exhaustion of our soils. The reason for this
exhaustion is found in the loss of the ex-
r. i -
in the treatment OF the sewage this material
can be returned to the agrieulturist, we may
to great extent stop the waste which now
bids fair in another thousand years to ruin
a large part of the titled fields of the earth.
Great as is the store of our mineral manures,
that supply probably cannot stand the grow
ing tax upon it for many centuries to come.
Therefore we see that the sewage problem is
not matter of convenience or of health
alone, but one which touches the most per-
manent interests of man.