ASCE 1193: The Water-Works and Sewerage of Monterrey, N. L., Mexico: The 4th article from the June, 1911, Volume LXXII, Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Paper No. 1193, Feb. 1, 1911.Conway, G. R. G. (George Robert Graham)
Science
ASCE 1193: The Water-Works and Sewerage of Monterrey, N. L., Mexico: The 4th article from the June, 1911, Volume LXXII, Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Paper No. 1193, Feb. 1, 1911.
The house connection drain adopted in Monterrey, with the disconnecting
trap, is very much like one which the writer has seen introduced with very
bad result. These are being removed as rapidly as possible by one of his
clients, a sewerage company, in the Southern States. It has been a
fruitful cause of stoppages and bad smells; the ordinary method now in
general use is much better. In the design shown, it would seem that there
may even be some danger that the ventilation of the sewer by the
stand-pipes in the streets may force the traps.
One is rather surprised to learn that the main outfall sewer is designed
with a capacity of 90,000,000 liters per day, the present sewage being
estimated as not more than 18,000,000 liters, and the far future being
thought to require only 40,000,000 liters. Why this excessive size?
Possibly the surplus water which it is to carry is to be discharged into
the sewers from the water supply system direct, and is intended for
irrigating the land at the disposal area, when the sewage is insufficient
for this purpose. The author states that all surface water is strictly
excluded.
The method of sewage disposal gives rise to several questions. It is
proposed to use an extensive area for growing crops, which are to be
irrigated with sewage. The paper states that the underlying strata at
Monterrey contain numerous caverns, and the first question is: What will
be the effect on the water supply of other towns lower down the valley?
The writer recollects a serious outbreak of typhoid fever in Bluefield, W.
Va., caused by the pollution of the water in similar strata finding its
way through unknown underground caverns and channels to the city's water
supply.
The next question is: What crops will be grown? It is a well-known fact
that vegetables grown by the use of sewage as a fertilizer, are unsafe in
a raw state for human consumption. This is well-known to European
travelers in China and Japan, where the use of fecal matter as fertilizer
renders the various water supplies (where not filtered and disinfected)
and all green vegetables, unsafe, on account of typhoid germs. Moreover,
crops not intended for human consumption, which are grown on lands
irrigated by sewage bearing typhoid germs, etc., are unsafe for men to
handle; even to store them may cause a dissemination of disease. It is
evident, therefore, that the whole sewage flow should be in some manner
disinfected at least, if not filtered, before it is used.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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