St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1911-02-18
HEALTH OF OPELOUsAS
PEOPLE DEMANDS SEW
ERAGE SYSTEM
DIR. b. A. Littell Makes Exhaus-
tive Report to Board of Health
Advocating Sewerage Tax.

LIE. d. a. IiLGeIl, FTGSlQenI OF
j the Board of Health, will submit
/ the following report to the Boarc
of Health. DR.. Littell devoted
several weeks to inspecting the
sanitary condition of the city.
The words sewage an d
sewerage" are frequently used
to designate a sewerage system.
This is erroneous. Sewage is q
complex mixture with water OF
the various products of all life
and industry from settled COM
munities of which the solids are
properly restricted to those that
are susceptible either of solution
in water or of becoming speedily
disintegrated while in state Of
transit. Sewerage is the process
or method of collecting sewage
and disposing of it in such man
ner as to prevent it being a nui-
sance or menace to the health of
the community! A sewerage
system consists iof two processes,
that OF collecting the sewage and
bringing It TO a point OF disposal,
and the disposal OF 1t. The col
lection OF sewage IS done by a
system of underground pipes of
proper size and laid IN such man
ner that the sewage will be
quickly carried to the point Of
disposal. There are a variety of
ways OF dlsposlng OF sewage. In
cities or towns situated n e a r
large bodies OF water the sewage
is emptled into the water and. by
rapid dilution rendered harmless.
But in inland cities and towns it
is necessary that sewage receive
some kind OF treatment that will
render 1t harmless and prevent
It becoming a nuisance and men
ace to the public health.
The method OF disposal Of sew
age that is generally used by In
land cities and towns is the sep
tic tank and f1ltratlan process.
The sewage ls collected and car
rled to the disposal plant where
1T is pumped into a large closed
tank. In this tank, by the action
OF bacteria contained in the sew
age, all solid particles are lique-
fied. The sewage is then allow
ed to run into successive filter
beds composed OF broken stones
and sand. In passing through
the small lnterstIces OF these
filter beds the sewage IS brought
in such close contact with oxygen
OF the air that the noxious ma
terial is oxldlzed and rendered
inert and harmless, and can then
be discharged into any gully or
bayou without any danger OF
producing a nuisance or becom-
ing dangerous to the health OF
the surrounding community. i
have thus briefly described the
kind OF sewerage system that IN
my opinion would be the best for
our city. 1t IS the kind that we
had IN view q few years ago
when the question OF q sewerage
tax was was submitted to the
taxpayers, but tailed to carry.
The present Board OF Health
has diligently studied the prob
lens OF the sanitary improve
ment OF our town. The mem
bers are UNANIMOUSLY OF the opin-
ion that the most urgent need is
some method OF removing from
the city waste products, night
soil, bath water, kitchen slops.
There are between seventy-fiye
and one hundred houses and pub
lie buildings which have sanitary
closets. These closets empty
into cesspools. Some OF these
cesspools overflow into the gull
lies or streets. The greatest
number OF these cesspools have
no overflow at all and are what
are termed blind sewerage.
Those cesspools that empty into
the gullies make the gullles open
sewers which produce nuisances,
and are a menace to the health