The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-02-21
SEA WATER
SEEPAGE
The Strange Condition
of Certain
Sewers.

| DttS IlAt lNCltlN live Il4iIC SC" q ~
tenn OF Honolulu hide a. great leak in its
sinuous underground course to the
sewer stump on the Kakaabo seashore
| A few days ago q te.t was made of
| the system. Various branches leading
! into the big main were stopped up.
| 1nenthe pump was put in opera ton 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 discussion of an excellent paper
read by Z. 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 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
were the worst he had ever cen. There
was a pressure on the concrete clI-
verts of from II to IA feet of water on
the outside. Concrete has a great po-
rosity 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.. Keen's paper on sanitation gave
a large amount of data concerning the
from diseases. He stated that the sig
nificance 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 10 obtain it 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 conpulsion must, in many
instances, be resorted to. Much of the
success of the crusade for good hea 18th
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-Asiatic. and in
fact, ultra fashionable residence sec
lions of the city. In Chinatown, com
pulsion had it's effect. In non-Asiatic
quarters a 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
are compelled to keep their eyes, ears
ard noses open. Any form of decom-
posing matter in the community is
menace to its health. 1t is the in
spector's duty to educate the citizens
to the highest state of cleanliness. Mr..
Keen says it is remarkable what lit
tie thought is given to community
health by the general run of people in
Honolulu. They had become used to
a happy go-Iucky manner of living
and became lax in their methods of
disposing of the city's filth.
There were fifty miles of sewers.
with 1900 sewer connections out of a
possible 1000. The entire Asfatic sec
ton was connected with the sewer. A
greater proportion of deaths now oc-
cur in sections outside the sewer dis
tricts. This is due to the maintenance
of cesspooIs in these places.
The board watched the markets, and
$4,000 fish We're condemned during the
year as unfit for sale. thus preventing
u source of disease
a serious question confronting the
Board of health is the burial of the
dead. Mr.. Keen believes that the man. /
agement and control of all cemeteries
should rest with the Department of
Public Health.
Marston Campbell in commenting
favorably upon Mr. Keen's paper said
that when he came to Honolulu six
years ago the odors which assafled
ones nostrils al night while going
through various streets. both in the
ftSlutDte ana business section We're
fearful For a city of nearly 10000 in
h3bitants a city Of cesspools at that
time, there were three excavator
wagons. each with a capacity of about
700 gallons Each made three trips a
day which gave a total of about 5000
gallons of waste matter taken out of
cesspooIs per day. Mr.. Campbell said .
that many people We're firmly of the
lands permitted the water to seep
away to the sea. Mr., Campbell cons
bated this idea. q $ in his engineering
capacity he had discovered many
dykes between the city and the sea
which would hold back this seepage-
When the deep trenches for the sewer
" ere being dug the stencil from them
was So bad that men tainted at their
work. In excavating for buildings
down town the water in a few days
would be covered with a green scum.