The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1900-11-28
VIEWS OF TWO DISTIN.
0UISHED AUTHOR.
~ ITIES.

0SASA 0O ~ x0Ons
q ITIES.
DR.. r. Grange simons and Sur.
geon:0enersl Wyman,
l8 Montague Street,
Charleston, 8. G Nov rs, 1900.
4 ! Resrdou. Esq. Seoty and Health
Officer Board of Heslth, Sumter,
s @
Dear Sir: l have received Q letter
OF the same purport % yours from
DR. John 8. HughSon would have
preferred to have had moro tine for
. reply on . subject Of such import.
aace. and would have been more
concise II time allowed me TO be
moro explicit will send the came
reply to both Of you
The authorities oil are uuanimous
in condemnation Of the dry we'll and
privy, and advocate sewers a. tho
only cafe method Of disposiuR of
household waste. AZ chairman of
the board Of sewer commissioners of
Charleston. l have been impressed
with the great dangers to our com.
munities from the use Of dry wells
and lesky privy vaults. for with .
porous soil snd slight elevation
sbove tide water We have stored up
the foul contents Of these cess pools,
sud % . result our wells aud cisterus
are polluted With sewerage aud
humsn .execreta, and thus disease is
engeDdered when suoh human exc.
oreta hss the typhoid or other disease
bearing germs The water seems
pure, bat from laboratory iuvestigs.
tion shows the presence of bacteria
from the humsn intestiues
You ask for Suggestions Of
course the construction of Q good
system Of sewers with % ABUNDANT
supply Of pure water to Aush them
and oil house connections and thus
remove tho household waste before
decomposition occurs. such sewerage O
10 comparatively innocent Of danger,
end clean severs are free from gases
aud foal odors
Yosr water supply 10. I believe,
from driven wells, bot how remote
from the town such supply 10 derived,
snd % TO the nature of the coil OF
yoar water shed, am not familiar.
but with . porous coil aud water
bearing on quick sand as you call it,
10 20 IL feet below the surface. I
.csp we'll understand the danger OF
yo~r dry wells penetrating to this
depth and disohsrging their contents
into THE strata II the dry we'll was
not 90 deep. this danger would
perhsps be lessened. but not remov.
ed, for filtration to be effective should
be Intermittent. 90 that proper sers.
tion Of the coil can be performed ;
also that tho chemical processes OF
oxidation and nitri6oatiou may also
contribute to the proper purifcatiou
of the water. But with populous
centres super saturation of the aoil
must result, and through this dlth
no proper publication of ground
water can OCCUR. If your source ot
water supply is remote from habita
tions and can be brought to yos
through we'll built water maius, and
II no welIs are used in the town then
the danger from dry wells of the
Teaching sort 10 lessened. and even
this would be rendered less objeo
tionsbls by the use of tightly bail,
dry wells. made of vitrified brick
laid with hydraulic cement, and
cemented on the interior With Port.
land cement +; then . proper ventills,
tion should be made to The we'll By 9
vent pipe Of two or more iaehes
calibre. and . soil pipe Of good cas-,
iron four in diameter. running well
above tho roof aud away from the
the windows, oil house connections
shouId be separately trapped nsa,
esoh fixture and each back cir ven,
arranged 90 as to avoid syphonage o,
breaking Of the water seal. Even
these water seals are OF sewage sud
ere miniature Gees poole and ere
often broken by the discharge \,
large volumes of hot water into the
pipes. for tho expsuse of bot cir !.
immense. and thus few water se.|e
remain
The dry we'll should be ofteu
disinfected. emptied snd cleaned
admit that with no sewers the
problem 10 most difficult to solve
and the choice between leaky privy
vsu'ts and dry wells 10 bat small ::
soil and water pollution must eusue
from both, but the tight dry we'll, q,
described. is the safest in the absence
of sewers.
l will now try and answer the