The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1900-11-28

The sewerage systsn, i. 10 reasonable to sup
poae thai 10 bs the best human wisdom has
We, devised. However, there are many serl-
ous objections to the system. There will be
leaky Joints, traps thas siphon themselves,
boo, ventilation Of sewers aud soil pipes, all
turnipe back into tho dwellings the sewer
gas-shs very thing We seek to get rid ei
the sewer, as il some great living monster,
breathioe through the vents made in cur
dwellings,. Col. Geo. Is Earing, An author
i,y on sanitary science, says Of the sewers OF
Philadelphia, New York aud Boston they
are .shiehes, at tho lower end, biggest at the
little end, receiving branch sewers rom
below aud discbarging ss their tops; elon-
gated ces, pools, half slled With reek-
ioe 9Th, peopled With rata and invaded oy
every tide huge easometers manufacturing
day and pight deadly ae,iform poison, ever
s,eking to invade the houses along their
course: reservoirs of liquid 6th, ever oosing
through defective johns spd polishing the
very earth upon uhicc the city stands"
Having COED sewers properly laid and an
abundsnt water supply to dush them often,
,hs sexs serious qsession is the disposal OF
the sewage Most large cities which have
adop,sd..,hs sswsrsas plaa, bave the sewers
to empty into river, aad eveh vito rlver
aoxinR by the city, great trouble arises
where the sewage is swept ap the river OF
the tides. Should Sumter try to dispose OF
her sewage by smptylng it into Gre Swamp,
the probability ia, it would, iu u short time
10 clog up the little stream, which 10 at times
sluos. dry bed, as TO leave the sewage in
bulk about the mouth OF the sewer. Open,
ing tho stream would be Of little benefit nm
less the ooastity of water in the stream could
be vastly Increased. True, there are other
methods Of disposing OF sewage, bot all very
expensive.
Cess-pools, if properly made, are ABSOLUTE
" tiohs-withons leak, and ventilated 80 as
! to permit the sewer air TO escape as the sew
age enters; other~ise, at each entry OF
water, or other refuse matter, from the house,
like bulk of sewer gas is forced back
through the water seal 10 the trap and into
the dwelling OF course, these cess pools
must be cleaued out often. do not know
how many cess-pools there are in the city,
bat do know that unless properly conetrnct-
ed and cleaned often they are . soarce of
greater danger to those living 10 the dwell
ings With which they connect, than to any
body else Perhaps you do not suell it and
therefore think yeu have none OF it in your
house Prot. c p Chandler, who made q
special study OF the subjecs, Gays: 1T would
be blessing if sewer gas stank go that its
preseoce would be notcssble wherever it
esined an entrance. Nature usually raises
come canger signal to warn people of the
presence Of evil I, but in the case of sewer
gas there is often no sign to make its proxlm.
i;y Known.
Underlying the city We have one stratum
of aoou. three feet of saod, thsl srother Of
three to 6Ve feet of clay !; cutting through
the clay We enter the water beariog stratum
of saod. 1t may be that some Of these cess
pools have nothing in the bottom to keep the
ff,h from percolatiog through to the water
bearing ssrstum or perhaps, have been cut
through tho clay into it. If such be the case,
the owner of 5uen cess pool would commit
no greater ofence oy eupt!ieg bis sewage
into his nearest neighbor's open we'll. As
only aooat 80 per cent of our people nee the
city water, it is easily seen what fearful
lmposit,oo such cess-pools would be With
their open bottoms constantly pouring their
6l,h ioto the open wells of the 10 per cent Of
the people OF the city
What is known as the dry earth system,
6rs: recommended ey Rev. Ar. Moule, au
Eoglishman, bas been Extensively used with
excellent results. It's simplicity, economy
and convenience are readily appareot The
serious objection to the dry earth system is
that il leaves part of that which should GO
into The eewer to be removed il come other
way. Still, it can be adopted at once, and it
will help as very much to have the larger
part Of Our sewerage, and that which is moss
dangerous to health taken away. Should We
6nd that we can open apiGreen Swamp so as
to make disposal of the sewerage, and We can
spend seventy Eve thousand dollars to have
the sewers graded and laid, snd we can OBJ
tain sufficient water supply to flush the
sewers as often as necessary why, then we
can, at little cost, disconsinu' the dry earth
system.
10 the meaotime, let those who have cess
pools properly constructed clean them thor
oughly at short interval; let every iuprop-
erly constructed cess pool be cleaned aud filed
up at once and let us adopt the dry earth
system and Csc it until We can do something
better Joel & Hruusoa.