Los Angeles herald., 1890-12-05
SANITARY MATTERS.
DR.. MACGOwAN'S REPORT TO THE
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.
The Sewerage of the City-Sewage Does
Not Answer for Fertilizing Land-The
Garbage Matter.

City Health Officer MacGowan has
made the following report to the state
board of health: The board OF health of
the city OF Los Angeles consists of five
members: Hon. Henry T. Hazard,
mayor; Edward T. Wright, G. E.. Mar
tin Hagan, M. D.; John II. Davisson,
M. D.. Joseph Kurtz, M. D.
The executive force consists of
health officer and four sanitary lnspec-
tors, a Superintendent of street sprink-
ling, police surgeon, and keeper OF
the smallpox hospital. The town has
been free from all epidemic
disease for more than year.
The board has under its immediate
control the sprinkling of the streets, the
removal of the garbage, the removal of
dead animals, and the keeping OF the
receiving hospital and smallpox hospi-
tai. The department has expended di-
rectly for sanitary purposes about $685.
750 from September |, 1889, to Septem-
Der l., 1890, distributed as follows
Street sprinkling, $31, ,550; removal OF
garbage, SIT 800; erection OF receiving
hospital, 500; health office expenses,
$1,000.
The population of the city OF Los An
geles, following the last census report,
is about 81 900. The city covers thirty
six square miles of territory and con-
tains about 240 miles of streets, 80 miles
OF winch are graded, graveied and
curbed, and about nine miles paved
with btumnous rock, granite blocks or
finely broken porphyry. Aligning these
streets are rs miles of paved sidewalks
the material used in laying them con-
sists OF cement, asphaltum and granite.
This work of paving has been princi-
pally done during the past three years,
more than 81 1,000,000.
The first public sewer was laid in
1869, and consisted of wooden drain,
which emptied into the city irrigating
ditch. Soon after, in 1872, a partial in
terror system, on certain of the main
business streets, was planned and laid.
the material used being brick or cement,
as best suited the fancy of the property
owners. Some of these old cement pipe
sewers are still in use, and are in good
condition. This system has been greatly
extended during the past four yeals,
until now twenty-five miles of the
graded streets contain sewers of the
best modern type and construction. All
OF the internal sewers recently laid have
been constructed under the Vrooman
act, the materials used being vitriied
salt-glazed pipe, with manholes of brick
and iron, and the head of each lateral
being provided with one hundred and
fifty-gallon flush tank.
These all connect with the San Pedro
street outfall. At the southeast angle
OF the city limits this water is taken by
the South Side Irrigation company, and
conducted through 22-inch cement
pipe distance of six miles to the sandy
plains below the town of Florence.
Though eagerly taken at first by the
Chinese market gardners for irrigating
and enriching their truck patches, its
prolonged use has been found to be
detriment, lessening the productive
qualities of the land when it becomes
well saturated with the sewage matters.
1t is fact that lands upon which it has
been used constantly for years, have
been abandoned by their cultivators, or
it has been necessary to pipe pure
water upon them to take the place OF
sewage for the purpose of irrigation
1t is eventually intended that each
street shall contain a sewer, and to ex-
pedite their construction within year
the city has voted $374,0OO in bonds for
the purpose of constructing intercepting
sewers to receive the discharge from the
PA miles of internal sewers.
Some of these intercepting sewers are
constructed of salt-glazed vitrifed pipe,
and the others of brick, built egg-shaped.
They center at the southwestern angle of
the city limits, and necessitate the con-
structiOn from this point OF brick out
fall five feet in diameter, whose eventual
point OF discharge will be the ocean in
the neighborhood of the mouth of
Ballona creek, seventeen miles from the
city.
Outside OF the district already severed
the use of cesspOols is universal. In the
majority of instances these have not been
constructed long enough to be offensive
or prejudicial to health. On the plains
the character of the underlying soil,
coarse, loose gravel, is favorable to the
absorption of the waste waters and other
materials discharged into the wells and
vaults. In the hilly sections, however,
considerable difficulty has been met
with, on account OF the closeness of the
bedrock to the surface. The records of
this Office show one remarkable thing,
which is that they contain the report of no
case OF diphtheria originating in house
connected with the public sewer system.
Following the hint derived from our
books, after several careful inspections
of every cesspool, kitchen sink and vault
in the town by the departments in
spectors, and careful direction of the
attention OF the public to these matters,
together with the establishment of
state of quarantine in all reported
cases, we are rewarded by an absolute
eradication of diphtheria in our city, a
case now but rarely being reported to
us.
All streets accepted by the city as
graded streets are sprinkled at the ex-
pense of the city. OF these there are
about eighty miles. In the warmest
weather it is found that this extent of
street surface can be sprinkled twice
day by the use OF about fifty-seven
teams. These teams, with a driver,
are furnished to the city at the rate of
$2.70 for working day of eight hours.
Recently the board of health removed
the sprinkling carts from all streets
paved with bituminous rock, being sat
isfied, after years comparison of the
paving on Broadway, which was left un-
sprinkled, with the rest of the paved
district, that sprinkling this pavement
destroys it by rotting it where the water
nOllaats ifc