Wastewater

“ Streams have always had to carry and digest wastes that enter them through drainage from the land. It is one of their functions in the scheme of things, and so well have they performed it through the millennia that human beings have been able to take it for granted. Within limits that might be considered normal, the ability of running water to handle loads of waste is phenomenal, and in earlier times those normal limits were seldom exceeded, for even in populated areas the general lack of sanitary sewer systems kept the loads from being concentrated. ”

“ Sewage or impure drainage water should never be discharged into or upon ground draining toward a well, spring, or other source of water supply. Neither should such wastes be discharged into 'Openings in rock, an abandoned well, nor a hole, cesspool, vault, or tank so located that pollution can escape into water-bearing earth or rock. Whatever the system of sewage disposal, it should be entirely and widely separated from the water supply. ”

“ Physical and chemical precipitation. (4) Intermittent filtration. (5) Land irrigation. (6) "Bacterial" methods.
Discharge into Waters.—The easiest way to dispose of sewage is to let it flow into the sea or other running water course. The objections to sewage discharging into the rivers and lakes near cities, and especially such lakes and rivers as supply water to the municipalities, are obvious. But as water can purify a great amount of sewage, this method is still in vogue in certain places, although it is to be hoped that it will in the near future be superseded by more proper methods. ”

“ The practice of discharging sewage into fresh-water streams and lakes from which the water supplies of towns are taken has given rise to many of the most perplexing problems that sanitary engineers have had. to deal with. Accordingly, the pollution of streams by sewage and manufacturers' waste and the self-purification of streams thus polluted are among the earliest topics treated in this work, their legal as well as their scientific aspects being duly considered. ”

“ POLLUTION OF WELL WATER.
It is stated that about fifteen millions of the British population live in towns and urban districts. Even if we assume, [39] which is not yet the case, that all these people are supplied by water-works, the remaining twelve millions of county population derive their water almost exclusively from shallow wells, and these are, so far as our experience extends, almost always horribly polluted by sewage and by animal matter of the most disgusting origin. ”

“ From a comparison of data in regard to the actual purification of polluted streams we may draw the following inference: Rivers not to be used for water-supplies, but to be inoffensive to communities , residing a few miles below, to remain fit for ordinary manufacturing purposes, and to sustain the life of fish, may receive the sewage from one thousand persons for at least every one hundred and fifty to two hundred cubic feet of minimum flow per minute, supposing that natural subsidence of the heavier matter takes place immediately below the town discharging the sewage. ”

“ Sewage or other wastes discharged into abandoned wells or other pits that reach to the water table or below it are almost certain to contaminate the ground water.
It is generally poor practice, and often illegal, to discharge wastes into surface streams. Streams do not necessarily purify themselves in 50 feet, 100 feet, or some other stated distance, as is commonly believed. They do tend to purify themselves over long distances through the action of sunlight, aeration, and other factors but may not be safe for domestic use for many miles below the source of pollution. ”

“ Moreover, our city sewers from toilets, and dishwashing machines do not run into our rivers; they are too valuable to be wasted. The sewerage is run or pumped to large reservoirs with our garbage. The solid matter is taken out and reprocessed into fertilizers, and the liquids are pumped to fertilize our deserts and other lands that need it.
"The clean rain water washing down from roofs of buildings through our rain spouts goes into another sewer line which spills it far out into the ocean; the rain water from our streets is absorbed by the soil of our lawns. ”

“ In populous districts, in villages, towns, but also near habitations, the soil from which water is obtained must, of necessity, be impregnated with organic waste matter. If, in such a surface well, the level of the water is lowered by pumping, the zone of pollution is extended laterally in all directions. Ordinary shallow well water should always be considered "suspicious water." ”

“ Gradually every house is using more and more water for various purposes, and living conditions, which in the past tolerated a scanty supply drawn from a pump, are no longer endured. The increased water supply and the demands of extended plumbing mean a greater amount of sewage—so great an amount that, in many cases, soils which could receive and digest the waste waters from houses supplied by wells are clogged and made impervious by this greater amount. ”

“ Sewerage is the name of the system of conduits and appurtenances designed to carry off the sewage. It is also used to indicate anything pertaining to sewers.
A difference is made between sanitary sewage, storm sewage, and industrial wastes. Sanitary sewage, sometimes called domestic sewage, is the liquid wastes discharged from residences or institutions, and contains water closet, laundry and kitchen wastes. Storm sewage is the surface run-off which reaches the sewers during and immediately after a storm. Industrial wastes are the liquid waste products discharged from industrial plants. ”

“ DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE.
The vital thing which thus presents itself is the disposal of fecal matter and other refuse so that the wells, upon which most rural families depend for their drinking water, may remain pure. To this matter we will first turn our attention.
Every person who tills the soil is acquainted with the remarkable transforming power of the superficial layers of the earth upon manure and excrement. Out of these offensive wastes harmless substances are produced which are essential to the growth of vegetation. ”

“ Sewage, which includes both surface water and the liquid waste from places of human abode, is by far the most dangerous waste of all. Although it is more than ninety-nine per cent water, every ounce contains the possibility of spreading disease. |Older methods of disposal.| This effluvia, which passes through the sewers and drains, was at one time everywhere disposed of by turning it into the ocean, lakes, or rivers. Even yet many cities of the United States get rid of their sewage in that way. ”

“ It seems almost impossible that so small a quantity of organic matter as one tablespoonful in a barrel of water could cause offense in any way, and yet engineers, city officials, and householders know by bitter experience that, when spread out on the surface of the ground or when allowed to stand in pools, water so polluted will undergo putrefaction resulting in most disagreeable odors and in complete stagnation. ”

“ He establishes engineering works and conducts it to the land in order that food may be grown upon the land. Here, in the pioneer stages of settlement, comes the first great waste. Water was and too frequently still is carelessly used in irrigation. An equivalent of twenty or twenty-five feet in depth has been applied annually to the land where four or five feet is ample. The excess is sheer waste and in its application the land is ruined. Canals are often carelessly constructed and half of their carrying capacity leaks out before the tract to be irrigated is reached. ”

“ Such water, when it penetrates only to shallow wells still retains a considerable proportion of its polluting organic matter in an unoxidized condition: but when it descends through one hundred feet or upwards of porous soil or rock, the exhausted filtration to which it has been subjected in passing downwards through so great a thickness of material, and the rapid oxidation of the dissolved organic matters in a porous and aerated medium, afford a considerable guarantee that all noxious constituents have been removed.”— (Rivers Pollution Commission, 1874.) ”

“ I may here mention that the system of sewage is far superior to any yet devised on Earth. No particle of waste is allowed to pollute the waters. The whole is deodorised by an exceedingly simple process, and, whether in town or country, carried away daily and applied to its natural use in fertilising the soil. ”

“ The sources of impurities in surface water are various. One of the most menacing sources is from the sewage which is carried from the centers of population. In the rivers it is the sewage of the towns and cities situated above. In the lakes it is usually the sewage of the city itself that is likely to pollute its own water supply. Under the present conditions it seems that it is easier to purify the water supply than to purify the sewage or provide some other method for its disposal. ”

“ The utilization of the sewage of great cities for agricultural ends has virtually been a demonstrated success in Paris and many of our own towns. The same success, by patient experiment, is obtainable in many other waste products, which, in ignorance of their value, we suffer to defile our streets, pollute our rivers, and taint the air we breathe. The purification of the outflow of paper-mills and the utilization of the sludge and other waste products are now carried out. ”

“ Except for this provision of nature, the accumulation of organic wastes since the beginning of the earth’s occupation by human beings would be so great that the earth would be uninhabitable on account of the deposits of waste matter which would have formed by this time. ”

“ The cities of the United States have expended $250,000,000 in waterworks and nearly as much more in land for reservoirs, and for canals for conveying the water from these reservoirs to the cities. The better managed systems protect the drained lands from erosion by planting forests or grass and the water is completely controlled, so that all the water, even the storm overflow, is saved. There is very little waste in these city water systems until it comes to the consumer, where, except when it is sold through meters, the waste is often great. ”

“ To the surface of the earth we owe thus a purifying influence whose activity furnishes us vegetation and food on the one hand and preservation from disease on the other. This purifying power is not possessed by the deeper layers, and therefore the percolation of organic refuse into them from deep cesspools is wasteful to agriculture and dangerous to our storehouse of drinking water.
Even the surface of the soil when overloaded with sewage loses partially its power of purifying the organic matter. ”

“ Pour out the water, rinse the can with clean water and ammonia and begin its usefulness again by putting into it the contents of the sink-strainer or the scraps that you [222] gather off the ground where the first rinse-water was poured.
The disposal of various forms of house waste in country places usually requires more care and attention than the same matter in cities and town. One gets little outside help, and the customary methods are often untidy and unsanitary. ”

“ BROAD IRRIGATION For many years it has seemed to thoughtful persons that permitting sewage, either from single houses or from larger communities, to be turned into streams was a mistaken policy because of the waste of manurial elements involved. ”

“ Tile lines laid with improper slope allow the effluent to collect in a limited area and saturate the soil, causing odors. Bacteria cannot work in such areas, where the soil becomes sour, or "sewage-sick." These lines must be relaid on the correct slope. Odors or a water-logged soil may also indicate that the disposal field is too small. ”

“ The shallow well, however, rarely supplies enough water for more than a few houses, and being commonly situated near to those houses the water is often seriously polluted. Deep wells owe their comparative immunity from pollution to the circumstances that the larger quantity of water yielded renders it worth while to pump that water and convey it by pipes from comparatively unpolluted areas ”

“ They retain a mass of filth in a decomposing condition deep in the ground, where it is but slightly affected by the bacteria and air of the soil. In seeping through the ground it may be strained, but there can be no assurance that the foul liquid, with little improvement in its condition, may not pass into the ground water and pollute wells and springs situated long distances away in the direction of underground flow. ”

“ The quantity of harmful waste produced by a community is surprisingly small in comparison with the disastrous effects it may produce. All authorities agree that in cities provided with an abundant water supply sewage contains less than one-tenth of one per cent. of foreign substances. This organic matter and the products of its decomposition the Massachusetts State Board of Health has found rarely exceed one-half of one per cent. ”

“ At these times of flood, the raw water is both very turbid and more polluted by sewage than at other times, and it is the aim of the authorities to have the water companies provide reservoir capacity enough to carry them through times of flood without drawing any water whatever from the rivers. ”