The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1901-07-31
SVMTER'S GREATEST NEED.
The City Must Have Some Practi-
cal System of Disposing of
Sewerage.

Editor Daily Item: The question of
the proper disposal Of the sewerage OF
the city is like Banquo's ghost, 1t will
down at no mans bidding We are
! brought face to face in our everyday
life with what we believe to be results
of fecal matter, kept in various ways
within city limits; and are beginning
TO see the fearful necessity Of its I'M
mediate removal. The burning ques-
tion is not, shall we remove the sew
age? but how?
Three methods are advocated. Some
are bent on having sewer or nothing,
some say earth closets are the one
thing necessary: and other some are
saving: You can do as you please,
but as for me I'm going to put 1T in
ory well.'' And the third some are
making all the progress.
The authorities seem to agree that
where easy disposal of the sewerage
like emtpying it into river of suffl-
cient size to carry it otf-that the sew
erage system is the best yet devised by
man. It is true, we have no stream
into which we can empty the sewerage,
but we can make arrangement to Gre
mate it at the terminus of the sewer,
or utilize it in some way. OF course,
it will be expensive, for we must not
only put in good and complete sys-
tenn of well-laid sewers and provide for
the care of the sewerage as it flows
from the sewer, but our water supply
must be largely increased to properly
flush the sewers and keep them clean.
IF nothing but sewer Will satisfy
us, then let US take steps at once to
put it in at the earliest practicable
moment next winter.
In the meantime, we might adopt
for immediate relief the dry earth sys-
tenn, which is not only inexpensive,
but can be discontinued without serl-
Gus loss when the sewer is ready for
operation. While the dry sys-
tenn does not undertake to remove ev-
erything, still it takes away the bulk
of the most offensive matter: and DR.:
Jas. Evans, secretary of our state board
of health, says of it with reference to
our neighboring city, Florence: The
town has vastly improved IN health
since this plan has been introduced
especially of infectious and contagious
diseases.
The dry we'll (cess pool) ystem, now
making such progress IN the city is
disgrace to our civilization. 1t is con
demned by nine-tenths of the leading,
physicians of our time. Parties in
the city are digging old fashioned
wells into the water-bearlng stratum OF
sand which underlies the city-and
from which we obtain our entire water
supply-and are pouring all the filth
of their premises into these wells.
Suppose that the city water, which
thirty per cent, Of our people use,
was bevond contamination the wells
of our neighbors, used by seventy per
cent. of our people, become the reser-
voirs of this stuff and the poor neigh
bor who cannot pay for city water must
drink it. This might not concern
those who live upon the devil-take-the-
hindmost plan, but for the fact that
when their poor neighbor gets case
of typhoid fever from his pump or
open we'll he dumps the germs upon
the surface of the earth and the flies,
without respectt of persons, distribute
them in the homes of all, and thus
the evil comes back to the man who
begat it.
But is our city water beyond pullu-
ton from this source? The point at
which the water is taken is only about
a mile from the Court House and we
have dry wells much nearer to the
water works. The water level IS Just
about the same at these places and
IL 81
are opearted for several hours the wa
ter level at that point sinks i've or SIX
feet. so that the supply of water is
drawn from all directions including
that underlying the city. Now then,
it is easy to see that in few years
the fecal matter poured in large guam
titles through these dry wells into our
own water supply must be drawn into
the pumps and pumped back TO US
through the city mains for rs to
drink. DR.. T. Grange Simons, one
of the most prominent members OF the
State Board of Health, says with re-
ference to our city: Your water
supply is, I believe, from driven wells,
but how remote from the town such
supply is derived. as to the nature of
p lQe SOlI VI NOOi NoCS1 oAASS1j 49, -
familiar. but with porous soil and
water bearing on s'quick sand, F." as
you call it, 10 to u feet below the sur
face, can we'll understand the danger
of your dry wells penetrating to this
depth and discharging their contents
into this stratum. If the dry we'll was
not so deep, the danger would perhaps
be lessened, but not removed. for Ill
tration to be effective should be inter
mittent, so that proper aeration of the
soil can be performed: also that the
chemical processes of oxidation ssand md
nitrification may also contribute to the
proper purifcation Of the water But
with populous centres super satura7
tion of the soil must result, and
through this filth no proper purltca-
ton of ground water can occur. He
further says: Z" AS to the distance such
contamination may be carried: no
definite opinion can be given. Some
authorities claim that the typhoid
germ can be water borne through po-
y,,,,c coil or a1onr hard strata of rock