The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-09-09
SEWAGE DISPOSAL
Imhoff Tanks for Inland Towns an
Ideal Arrangement

product Of our modern, complex
conditions OF living?
The heaIthfulness of every COM
munity, no matter how small, de-
pends upon the proper solution of
this problem, for this refuse is
poisonous and in its disintegration
TO harmless elements it develops con-
ditions decidedly dangerous.
The problem is one that must be !
solved for each community accord
ing TO existing natural conditions. |
A city built on hills close to a fast |
tide water moving stream is ideally |
located, for its sewage may be
drained into the stream and be !,
quickly carried away and out of the
zone of possible infection activity. |
The opposite would be in an inland
town where nature had provided but
little variation in general levels and
no large body of non-portable water.
The principal means of transmit
ting typhoid fever in the common
house fly, but this little pest does
not bear the entire blame, for pol
luted water supply is dangerous in
the extreme. The existence in many
parts of the state of subterranean
caverns or sinkholes, was believed
dntil recent years to provide a solu-
ton OF the matter-the sewage could
be run off into these places and
IA1,. L. J1e
the earth. But it was discovered
that these caverns and sinkholes fire.
quently were connected with the
source of supply which made posi-
BILE the contamination of the water
used BY large communities, and Of
ten these were at considerable dis
lance from the deposit of the sew
age.
Florida's last legislature properly
adopted some rather stringent laws
regulating and forbidding this meth
cd of sewage disposal This action
complicated the matter for some in
land towns, without making it so1u-
ton any less important.
The adoption of settling tanks,
particularly of the Imhoff type, has
/ apparently solved the problem. This
system has been adopted for a city
as large as ATLANTA Boca Grande,
in FLORIDA, has proved its operation
entirely satisfactory, even under adj
verse conditions. 1t is in successful
use in many cities in Germany and
Elsewhere.
The sewage of the average COM
, immunity, which is carried thru drain
: pipes or sewers by the medium of
, water, is more than ninety per cent.
fluid. The proper handling of this
) refuse involves the separation of the
) fluids from the solids and their sep
{ arate disposal. The solid matter is
allowed to sink by grayitatfon to the
{ bottom, where it settles into .'sludge'
3 and the gases arising from it's de-
4 composition escape harmless into the
t atmosphere. After several months
it becomes practically innocuous and
is then removed and may be used fol-
filing in low lands, ETC.
!, The liquid flowing from the I'm,
Z hoff tank is very diluted. 1t seldom
requires treatment to rid of bacteria
other than by dilution with running
. water, or, in extreme cases, by pass
ing over ''trickling beds" which con.
sist of masses of broken stone sew.
eral feet in depth. This insures q
y thorough exposure to air and sur
and the process of civilization rem
ders its contents inoffensive and
/ harmless.
The construction of this kind o.
! tank involves the treatment of the
solids in a separate chamber into
(which they sink from the hquiC
l mass OF sewage. Their subsequen
changing into the harmless ''sludge'
: by the development and escape o
= the gases, IS so arranged that thes,
gases do not pass through the Hquit
. effluent above, and the disintergra
: tion of the solids and the liquids ar
always separate and do not interfere
+ This principle effects the practicall
4 complete separation of the two mass
es, so that the escaping fluid whel
passed over the ''trickling beds"
almost clear water, in which ord
~ nary fish may live, and it is Harmless
ID when run off into the earth. Tn
State Board of Health considers tn
Is Imhoff process for sewage dispose
IS thorough and safe and urges its al
option by FLORIDA communitie'
st where natural conditions do not pei
at nit the employment of grayitatio
toward large and actively movin