The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-12
PHASES OF SEWERAGE.

The agitation for municipal improve
ments. leading to a provision in the tax
levy for lettering the condition of sewerage
facilities in this City, seems to have been I'M
affected by the most recent scientific con-
Illusions on this subject. A text with which
to introduce the matter is found in the
the recent experience of Evansville, Ind
This is a town of $4,000 inhabitants, stu
ated on the Ohio River A few months
ago the river was swollen to an unusual ex-
tent by the floods, with the result that the
sewage, which drained into the river, was
backed up into the city and avirulent out
break of typhoid fever ensued. 1t abated
only when the food subsidized. Meanwhile
hundreds of deaths had occurred.
A somewhat similar condition of affairs
exists with regard to the entire lower part
of San Francisco lying between Howard
street on the north and Sixth street on the
west. That is to say, upon The arrival of
the high tides of spring the waters of the
bay back the sewage of that region for
distance OF nearly two miles, with such re-
suits as may be imagined. OF course there
are great differences between this condition
and that of Evansville. The salt in the
water of the bay has some influence for
good, but this cannot extend very far from
the bay shore. Again, the food here is
diurnal, thus giving the sewers a chance
to discharge once day. This was impos-
sible at Evansville, and hence the region
south of Market street in San Francisco has
no such virulent outbreaks of typhoid fever,
diphtheria and similar epidemic diseases,
due to defective drainage. At the same
time a certain peril exists. One of its
manifestations is malaria. 1t was always
a maxim with the physicians employed by
the Southern Pacific Company that when
one of the 600 clerks at Fourth and Town
send streets was taken i'll he should be
given quinine in addition to whatver
remedies were called for by the specific all
ment. 1t was taken for granted, from
long experience, that the men all had
malaria in their systems, and that it had
to be overcome while the specific ailment
other than malaria poisoning was being
treated. And the explanation of it all was
that the tides held the sewage in abey-
ance and enabled it to breed disease.
What was true of the Southern Pacific
clerks was true of all the residents COM
ing under the influence of these conditions.
This brings up the whole question of the
proper disposal of sewage San Fran
cisco, except with regard to the low region
under discussion, is particularly fortunate
in its topography, which insures perfect
drainage. More than that its drainage is
into salt water, which is a most excellent
antiseptlc. Cities like Evansville, draining
into rivers. merely pour into the streams
upon which they face deadly flow of
disease germs, which the fresh water causes
to breed, and which it passes on in an in
creased malignant form to the hundreds
of thousands of settlements lying below.
In the case of towns so situated it is clear
that the sewage should not be turned into
the river and that it is the proper function
of the National Government to prohibit
such a practice, for it is one of interstate
bearing and Importance. But while the
condition of affairs in San Francisco is i'm
measurably better than that of any city
fronting on river, it is still evident that
the emptying of our sewage into the bay is
IN violation of hygienic principles. How
ever beautiful and picturesque our water
front is, the disgusting odors of fermenting
sewage which haunt it deprive it of all its
charm. This would not be so bad were it
not for the knowledge that in the districts
affected by tides the health of the people is
uncertain and that the expense of medical
treatment falls most heavily on those least
able to afford it.
1t would be too much to say that San
Francisco has advanced sufficiently to re-
alize that the emptying of sewage into
water-courses and bays is dangerous under
any circumstances, and that the only
proper disposition of sewage is by fire or
its incorporation with fresh earth. Still,
these are matters upon which the wise
ones among us should think, for he is a
poor citizen indeed who is not anxious to
adopt every means for making San Fran
cisco carry out the reputation of the State
for being the natural sanItarium of the
world.