The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-07-20
City Board of Health Makes q
New Order.
ALI Vaults Must Be Cemented
Hand Water Tight.
KEEP WELLS HEALTHY
Purpose Is to Prevent Pollution
of Water.
Cessp0ols May Be Abated by the
Board.

For the purpose of preventing the
pollution of the we'll water used in To
peka, the board of health has decided
to present to the council new or
dinance requiring that all new vaults
constructed in the city must be of brick
cemented up water tight. This ordi-
nance is now in preparation, and will
be presented to the council probably
at its next meeting.
An ordinance of this kind will apply
with special force to those portions of
the city which have no sewer facilities,
and which are therefore obliged to de-
pend on vaults for sanitary purposes.
AS originally talked of. the proposed
ordinance was much more sweeping
than finally agreed upon. 1t was sug-
gested at the outset that the ordinance
be drawn so that every vault in the
city, whether old or new, must come
under the terms of the ordinance, and
be built OF brick and cement. In this
form, the ordinance would have Great
ed a tremendous lot of opposition and
1t was decided that the most practical
plan would be to limit its effect to new
construction. Some of the Second ward
people who were friendly to the sewer
system were in favor of having the law
made mandatory for every vault owner
not connected with the sewer. They
thought that it would serve as a lesson
to the opponents of the Second ward
sewer, by causing them to expend al
most as much in the construction of
sanitary vault as it would cost for
sewer tax. The Second ward is to a
large extent composed of sandy soil,
through which the drainage from
vaults percolates freely. and there is no
doubt serious danger that this seepage
may contaminate the water supply in
wells. which are mostly shallow.
This system of water-tight vault con-
struction will not only be rather ex
pensiVe at its first cost, but 1t VIII
probably entail considerable extra ex-
pense in the matter of cleaning vaults.
AS most vaults are now constructed, a
great deal of the unsanitary matter
SOakS into the soil and disappears, but
if the vault were water tight, it would
necessarily have to be cleaned more
frequently. and the garbage company
would harvest in a good many more
shekels at the rate of 40 cents a barrel
for the work which is done.
On account of this considerable addi-
tional expense. there may be some OPP
position to the proposed new law. So
far as has been aScertained from sta
tistics prepared by the board of health
from the official records, there is very
little, if any, more prevalence of con-
tagious fevers in the unsewered por-
lions of the city than in those parts
which are severed. The Second ward
water supply mas often been under sus-
picion, but no thorough investigation
by chemists or DacterlOlog1StS mas ever
been made which served to show that
it was generally contaminated by sew
age. 1t ought to be an easy matter to
determine by water analysis whether
the suspected water contains too large
a proportion of organic matter to be
safe. Organic matter in too large
quantities serves as a medium for fever
germs.
There are said to be a number of
large cesspools in the city which are
a menace to health. Some of these
are merely holes in the
ground filled with rock, into which the
private sewer pipes empty. They af-
ford a chance for the sewage to grad
ually seep away into the ground.
The law gives the board of health the
right to suppress all sources of possible
by having the same declared
nuisance, and under this law it could
doubtless take action against the cess
pools if they are found to be a source
IF disease.