Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-01
Bacterial Beds Our Safety.

To the Editor of The Star:
AS the capital city will soon enter upon
a new life under the suspicious filtration
system why not start bacteria beds" here
at once to purify the conduits throughout
the metropolis and particularly the main
one, on Its way to discharge into the Poto-
mac opposite Alexandria to satisfy the RI
parian right owners and stop any future
litigation in the courts? This Is a fitting
time that we should examine into the mod
ern marvellous bacterial sewage disposal
system as exploited in Europe and else
where and urge Congress to give aid to-
ward cleansing not only our conduts and
the Potomac, but every body of water in
the United States and appropriate a por-
ton of the river and harbor money, now
often used to change mere streaks of water
into artificial navigable lakes and rivers, to
cleanse all water courses and arms of the
sea and restore them to their ancient clean
Illness. to make this land the sanitorium OF
the world.
1t will do infinite good for the authorities
Of American cities to visit the bacterial
beds near London, Glasgow, Leeds and
other centers of population in Europe to ac-
qufre the manner of utilizing them In this
country, so that all centers of population
can become health resorts instead of death
traps, as they are fast becoming.
These foreign bacterial sewage disposal
systems show how the pestiferous refuse
Of great cities can be rendered odorless,
how these organisms destroy plague or dis
ease bacilli, and how the treated sewage
becomes cleaned sludge and flows back
purified into the rivers. To promote this
laudable enterprise the several water DOW
ers and the state resources should be utiI-
lied IN many ways, to work these bac-
terial beds, which require attention In the
way OF food, air and heat, as do any farm
stock" Remembering that careless SUI
perintendent can in one week destroy bac-
terial conditions which 1t will take months
of careful attention to repair" LAS near as
possible to keep up the life of the bacteria
by furnishing food, the sewage should be
allowed to flow continuously" says A. p.
Folwell. Hence Instead of filter beds at
intervals" he contends that the flow
through them las in large cities) should be
without cessation. He also recommends
that the sewage be distributed by revolving
arms, which cause 1t to fall in spray or
drops to promote constant incubation all
over every part of the trunk through which
the septic sewage flows.
AT WinSford, England, a COM
pact filter has been In operation for over
twenty years and is apparently In as good
condition as ever. The septic tank
consists essentially of a rectangular tank
through which the sewage flows continu-
ously, and so slowly to permit all sus-
pended matters TO settle to the bottom or
collect upon the top, the sewage being
drawn off by a horizontal slot a foot or so
below the surface. The floating matter
forms a scum two to three to thirty Inches
thick, which teens with bacteria Since
the scum may occupy two feet or more.
and the sediment half this Depth It is best
to have tank five to six feet deep
Finally, In conclusion, why cannot Chi
cago, Baltimore, Philadelphia New York
and dozens of other cities and villages all
over the country follow in the same lines
and cease polluting water courses. canals or
conduits any longer, thereby avoiding the
countless riparian suits at law (some of
which now EXIST by constructing bacterial
beds-not costly-thereby satisfying water
front proprietors throughout the United
States? c. M CARTIER