The log cabin Democrat., 1911-05-19
FILTER SYSTEM OF
SEWAGE DISPOSAL
REMARKABLE RESULTS
ATTAINED BY MODERN METH
obs, ACCORDING TO. U. S.
GEOLOGICAL REPORT.

Washington, d. c., May 19.-As the
population of cities and towns be-
comes more and more congested, the
public health requires that some meth
DDS be adopted that will change the
;hemical composition of the sewage
20 that it will not putrefy when dis
. 'harged into water courses. In some
places it is even necessary to dsin-
feet the sewage SO that all disease
germs will be destroyed. Distinction
is demanded because of the possible
pollution of water supplies and of
hellfsh beds. The methods adopted
Cor sewage disinfection are described
It length in publication issued by
The United States Geological Survey
as Water Supply Paper 229, entitled
The Distinction of Sewage Filter
lffluents,' by Earle B. Phelps
Sewage qualification as practiced
Today is but the artificial and intensive
application of the processes used ev-
rywhere by nature to reduce putre5-
ible organic matter to inert morgan
natter such as garbage or a dead an =
nal is left exposed upon the grouIl,
it putrefies or rots for a considerable
period, giving off nauseous odors in
the meantime. After a while the rot
ting is complete, the odor disappears,
and teh material becomes mineral
matter exclusively. The process is
scientifically defined by saying that
the organic matter has become oXidiz-
ed, that is, oxygen has united with the
organic matter to produce the desired
result. The process of sewage putri-
fication is precisely the same except
nat in the qualification work condi-
tions are provided under which nature
is assisted in her work and the result
is accomplished in much shorter
space of time.
The improvements made in methods
If treating sewage have therefore not
involved the discovery or application
Of new principles; those established
since the world began are utilized.
The constant aim of the experiment
ers has been to increase the rate at
which sewage can be purified From
the old-time sewage irrigation field,
with its maximum capacity of purify
ing possibly 10000 gallons of sewage
on an acre in "a hours, to the present
day trickllng filter capable Of dealing
with two or three million gallons a
lay on an acre of filter surface, the
march of improvement has been
steady and continuous.
The later Investigators have found
that efficient publication can be ac-
complished without carrying the pro
cess to the point of complete oxida-
ton. The liquid flowing from mod
ern trickling filter, according to Mr..
Phelps, looks to the unframed eye like
the original sewage; indeed, there is
almost as much organic matter in the
effluent as in the raw sewage, and
sometimes more, but this organic mat
ter has been sufficiently changed or
oxidized to rob it of it's foulness. In
other words, its chemical composition
has been so altered that it is no long
er capable of undergoing rapid putre-
factive decomposition.
Although it may appear inconceiva-
BILE that the chief object of sewage
neutrality-suspicious. of the foul
ing of streams-can be attained by
such invisible changes in the nature of
the organic matter, nevertheless the
di scharge from efficient sewage-ds-
posal plants may be permitted to en-
ter a stream without fear Of causing
nuisance. The work of publication
also proceeds in the stream itself as it
does in the soil and in the publication
works, until the oxidation is complete
Oxygen for that purpose is sufficiently