The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-02-20
WATER AND SEWAGE.
NECESSITY FOR Effective
SEWAGE DISPOSAL.
Startling Figures Of Death Rates
from the Use Of Com
taminated Water.

taminated Water.
A wise Providence, in creating this
earth and placing upon 1t the many
different species of animal and vege-
table life, not only provided the neces-
sary sustenance for the support ana
highest development of each and every
kind, but has very wisely planned Tor
the final disposal Of all wastes, fecal
matters. etc, incident to such life in
all its forms and stages.
The waters of our lakes and rivers,
the rocks and soil of the earth, and the
air, are filled with natures agencies
for disposing of all animal and vege-
table organic wastes or refuse, in such
a manner that it not only becomes
harmless and no longer obnoxious to
the senses, but is converted into sub
stances that may again be assimilated
by animal or vegetable life. All such
wastes. if not properly disposed of, are
sure to become, sooner or later, III
measure injurious to health.
The natural fate of organic matter
is to undergo putrefaction furnishing
food for numerous varieties of micro
organisms or bacteria, and this decom-
position, many of the products OF which
are powerful poisons, emits gases
which, though they may not themselves
contain specific germs of disease, wnen
hreathed into the lungs so lower the
vitality that the body becomes much
more susceptible to Zymotic or conta-
gious diseases.
Yet this putrefactive change can be
controlled. and when allowed to take
place in such manner that the oxygen
Of the air shall have free access to the
particles undergoing decomposition,
may be made the means of entirely re-
moving the noxious character of sew
age before discharging it into it's final
drain
Excrement, both human and animal,
contains, as a rule, many, and under
certain conditions, innumerabie varie-
ties of microscopic life and when i'm
properly or ineffectively disposed Of as
is the rule, rather than the exception,
ultimately finds it way laden with its
death dealing cargO to rivers and lakes.
the natural sources of water supply.
where, if the volume of water is not
adequate to sufficiently dilute it, or the
amount of oxygen contained in the
water and its rate Of flow are not suffi-
Gent for self publication, these micro
organisms having thus found suitable
media for propagation, multiply enor-
mously injecting and rendering posi-
lively dangerous an otherwise potable
water.
Possibly only a few miles below the
sources of pollution may be found the
intake of a municipal water works sys
tenn, pumping millions of gallons OF
this sewage polluted water per day TO
its thousands of inhabitants, every gal
Ion no doubt containing pathogenic
bacteria, or when deposited in the old
fashioned out door vault CONSTRUCTED
for the avowed purpose of retaining the
solid matters as long as possible upon
the premises. they become centers Of
pollution and infection. The liquid
portions escaping, pollute the soil and
neighboring wells; the noxious exhala-
tions arising from their putrefying
contents contaminate the air. Samuel
NJ Gray. -
1t has been pretty well established
that water derived from uninhabited re-
gions is harmless so far as the presence
. of pathogenic bacteria is concerned,
and while all surface waters contain
varying amounts of micro-organism
the ordinary river water bacteria is not
pathogenic. 1t is only water that is in
fected, or liable to infection from too
close proximity to human habitation,
that needs to be feared.
And since it seems to be proven that
the great majority of pathogenic bac-
terra which are likely to be water car
ried are voided from the system with
bowel discharges, and these discharges
are found most commonly in sewage,
1t is sewage polluted water that is most
likely to be the carrier of Infection
T. M. Cheeseman, NJ. D., Common
Causes of the Contamination of Drink
ing Water
Millions of bacteria, mostly colon ba-
cilli. always exist in the alimentary
canal, and the excreta of a healthy per-
son contains on an average about 300
100000 bacteria per gram. Assuming
that man discharges about 200 grams
or ounces. of faces daily" this would
give &C. 00O,00O,0OO bacteria discharged
by one person each day.
The number of bacteria actually
lcuHu III SEWAGE as d RUE, greatly eX-
ceeds this amount. BY series of counts
made from the excreta of typhoid fever
patients in the Lawrence City Hospital
during 1891 and 1892 the average num-
Der per gram was estimated to be about
1 100000, and this discharge from a
number of patients being emptied into
a water course would go long way
toward putting one or more pathogenic
bacteria into every gallon of water
used
The number of bacteria found in river
v alter depends much on the amount and
periodic intensity or precipitation, and
the character of the surface of its
drainage area, being usually lowest ir
summer, due to the lesser amount of
rainfall and the destructive action of
The suns rays. Direct sunlight has 4
Very powerful germicidal action, ex-
pertinent having demonstrated its eff
feet on heterogeneous, to a depth
in clear lake water of eight feet.
Water containing pathogenic bacteria
is not only dangerous as a drinking
water. but may communicate disease
IN other ways. A question that is be
coming OF importance to a number of
orr seaboard cities and towns is the
contamination, by sewage. of the oyster
beds. 1t is not only receiving the at
900