The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1905-02-21
SEA WATER
SEEPAGE

TEN OF Honolulu hide great leak in its
slnuous underground course TO the |
sewer stump on the KakaaSo seashore? |
A few days ago test was made of |
the system. Various branches leading
into the big main We're stopped up. |
Then the pump was put in operation and |
the engineers We're surprised to find |
that after half hours reading. the !
pump was sucking up sea-water at the
rate of 10000 gallons for twenty -four
hours.
This interesting matter was discussed
last night before the meeting of the
Honolulu Engineering Association dur
ing a discussion of an excellent paper
read by f. G. Keen on city sanitation
and public health.
The matter was brought out directly
by Assistant Superintendent of Public
Works Rowland, who made a statement
of the facts as given above.
Marston Campbell, former A assistant
Superintendent of Public Works, ex-
pressed his surprise at the amount of
water so pumped out, and under the
conditions stated by Mr.. Rowland. but
he thought it could be explained in this
manner:
The main culverts along the Ala Mo-
ana, Halekauwila street and up Rich
ards street were built in tidewater. The
engineering difficulties along this route
We're the worst he had ever seen. There
was a pressure on the concrete cul-
verts of from u to IA feet of water on
the outside. Concrete has q great po-
rosty and the lack of soda in the water
here, which elsewhere frequently aids
concrete To become impervious to water
pressure was sadly missed Along this
route there may be places where the
outside pressure OF water could spray
through the concrete.
Mr.. Keens paper on sanitation gave
"A large amount of data concerning the
methods for keeping the public free
from diseases. He stated that the sig
nfcance of the Board of Health was
hardly appreciated in Honolulu, and its
purpose was little understood. In fact
the Board of Health was generally look
ed upon with distrust. The watch
word of the Board was cleanliness. first
and last, but TO obtain II the Board
encountered all sorts of difficulties and
many obstacles thrown directly In it's
path. Public health depended largely
} upon education and police power. The
power of compulslon must, in many
instances, be resorted to. Much of the
success of the crusade for good health
depends upon the tact and diplomacy
of the health inspectors.
The opposition was not so great In
Chinatown to keeping premises clean
as In some of the non Aslatic, and in
fact, tra-fashionable residence sec
tons of the city. In Chinatown, COM
pulsion had It's effect. In nom Asiatic
+, quarters show OF compulsion was re-
garded as a menace to individual
rights, and filth often accumulated
: However, every person had right to
the protection OF his health and the
law would protect him from his neigh
Dor who piled up filth in his premises
The sanitary district of Honolulu
: covered an area of twenty-five miles
: There We're eight inspectors for this
} area. They have to be diplomatic and
Nit NCiIBNi'h W httD lHNlI eyes, ears
and noses open. Any form of decom-
I posing matter in the community Is a
r menace to its health. 1t is the in
4 spector's duty to educate the citizens
to the highest state of cleanliness. Mr..
Keen says 1t Is remarkable what lit
I tie thought is given to community
, health by the general run of people in
Honolulu. They had become used to
4 a happy eo-lucky manner of living
and became lax In their methods of
: disposing of the city's filth.
n There We're fifty miles OF sewers,
with 1900 sewer connections out of a
: possible 1000. The entire Asiatic sec
O ton was connected with the sewer A
greater proportion of deaths now oc-
cur in sections outside the sewer dis
a tricts. This is due to the maintenance
OF cesspools in these places.
Z The board watched the markets, and
4 $4,000 fish We're condemned during the
year as unfit for sale, thus preventing
a source of disease.
J. A serious question confronting the
Board of health is the burial of the
A dead. Mr. Keen believes that the man.
e agement and control of all cemeteries
Public Health.
Marston Campbell in commenting
4 favorably upon Mr. Keen's paper said
: that when he came to Honolulu six
years ago, the odors which assailed
e ones nostrils at night while going
d through various streets, both in the
n residence and business section were
d fearful. For a city of nearly 10000 in
: habitants city of cesspools at that
time, there were three excavation
n wagons each with a capacity of about
}. 700 gallons. Each made three trips a
e day, which gave a total of about 5000
gallons of waste matter taken out OF
o cesspools per day Mr.. Campbell said
!. that many people were firmly of the
8 opinion that the structure of the Is
lands permitted the water to seep
Z away to the sea. Mr.. Campbell cons
: bated this idea, as in his engineering