Scientific American Supplement, No. 467, December 13, 1884Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 467, December 13, 1884
Various
Science -- Periodicals
The object of dealing with sewage on land may be taken as twofold,
namely, to purify it (which is the sanitary object), and to utilize its
manurial products (which is the agricultural object). Where want of
skill or where prejudice has existed, these two have not been properly
separated, and the results have been in many cases unfavorable to
sewage disposal on land from either of the before mentioned points
of view. It has been regarded as an axiom that clay land cannot be
employed to clarify sewage. This is true when it is proposed to pour
the sewage on it as if the land were porous. Very recent experience,
however, has led to clay land being converted from an impervious to a
pervious condition, by which it has been successfully utilized. This is
effected by digging out the clay to a depth of about 6 ft., burning it
into ballast and replacing it in layers interposed with an occasional
layer of open alluvial soil, the whole area being well drained with a
free outlet for the effluent. We have successfully carried this plan
out, and with this result, that whereas it was not possible previously
to clarify the sewage of 100 people to an acre of clay land, the
prepared filtration area has been able to continuously clarify the
sewage of about 1,500 people to the acre. The cost of converting clay
land into this form of filter may be taken as varying from £750 per
acre to £1,000 per acre, according to local circumstances. One area
which we have just completed has cost £1,000 per acre. Before sewage is
passed on to these filters (or on to land) it should be strained so as
to remove the larger particles. The best arrangement for this purpose
is to pass the sewage upward through a straining medium (not downward),
and to run the solids from the bottom of the straining tank on to a
low lying piece of land for digging in as they are run out. Where such
a filtration area is made to form part of a sewage farm it acts as a
safety valve, and enables the land and crops to have a rest when they
do not require further irrigation; at the same time the process of
purification is not interrupted. If open, porous land is available for
sewage purification, and if it can be drained 6 ft. deep to a good free
subsoil, so that the effluent can get readily away, we find that the
sewage of from 600 to 700 people can be dealt with on each acre per
annum with both good agricultural and sanitary results.
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