Sewage Disposal on the Farm, and Protection of Drinking Water — John Shaqi
Sewage Disposal on the Farm, and Protection of Drinking WaterSmith, Theobald
Science
Sewage Disposal on the Farm, and Protection of Drinking Water
Smith, Theobald
Drinking water; Sewage disposal, Rural
A hint as to the proper disposition of waste, excrement, etc., is
furnished by what is stated above concerning the purifying capacities of
the earth's surface. Waste, night soil, etc., should be deposited with
proper precautions on or immediately below the surface of the soil, where
it may perform the double function of ridding the household of a nuisance
and of enriching the soil itself. This leads us to a consideration of the
best means of taking care of the household wastes. These are, in general,
of three classes: First, fecal matter; second, kitchen and chamber slops;
and third, miscellaneous rubbish and ashes.
NIGHT SOIL.
The proper disposition of fecal matter or night soil in the country has
been one of the most pressing and vexatious problems of modern sanitation.
Many plans have been suggested, much apparatus has been invented to meet
the difficulty, but opinions not only differ but change from year to year
and have led to different practices in different countries. Moreover,
different climatic conditions and the divergent tendencies of rural
populations in the various sections of our own country make it impossible
to apply the same scheme to the whole country. Different degrees of
prosperity and wealth, even in the same locality, will bring into use
widely different schemes to accomplish the same end. There are in use
several systems--
_The privy._--The old-fashioned privy, at present still quite a common
thing even in cities, is, perhaps, the most favored method of disposing of
fecal matter in the country. A pit is dug and a small building set over
it. The excrement deposited in it slowly fills it up. The fluids and the
solids dissolved by them penetrate the subsoil and diffuse themselves in
the ground. Rarely is such a pit cleaned out. Another is dug and the old
one covered up. In this way the ground becomes overloaded with refuse
organic matter. It is even stated on good authority that such collections
of fecal matter have been found under the dwelling; also, that the privy
vaults have been dug until the current of ground-water was reached which
was to facilitate the removal of the excrement. It is difficult to
conceive a more pernicious custom, or one more certain to pollute the
drinking water. The privy vault is the most rudimentary way of getting rid
of night soil, and its dangerous features are too plain to be referred to.
_The cesspool._--Next comes the cesspool, which is usually connected with
a water-closet, and may also receive the slops from the kitchen.
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