The Purification of Sewage
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The purification of sewage 3 1924 031 263 498 olin,anx THE PURIFICATION OF SEWAGE THE purification" OF SEWAGE BEING A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES OF SEWAGE PURIFICATION AND THEIR PRACTICAL APPLICATION SIDNEY BARWISE, M.D.(Lond.) M.R.C.S. D.P.H.(Camb.) FELLOW OF THE SANITARY INSTITUTE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH TO THE DERBYSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL LONDON CROSBY LOCKWOOD AND SON HILL 7, STATIONERS' HALL COURT, LUDGATE 1899 PREFACE. In the present volume—a small book upon a large subject— the question of the Purification of Sewage is dealt with chiefly from a chemical and biological point of view, and in the light qf the experience gained in the discharge of my duties as the Medical Officer of Health of a large County. That office has afforded me constant opportunities for the inspec- tion of sewage works in actual operation, and for analyzing the effluents from such works. As the result, I have endeavoured to set out in these pages as succinctly as possible, and yet (it is hoped) with sufficient fulness for the purpose in view, the conditions which appear favourable for particular processes for the purification of sewage, and their necessary limitations. a3 " vi PREFACE. Until the passing of the Local Government Act, 1888, by which County Councils were constituted, the enforcement of the Eivers Pollution Prevention Act of 1876 was left in the hands of the Sanitary Authorities, who, being themselves the chief offenders against the provisions of that enactment, were, naturally enough, very loth to institute pro- ceedings against one another. Now, however, under pressure from County Councils and Joint Eiver Boards, the District Councils are seriously taking in hand the work of saving our rivers and streams from pollution, and the question is constantly being asked, " What is the best process of sewage purification to adopt ? The form of this question shows only too clearly that the real nature of the problem is not generally understood. It is, indeed, of the first importance that members and officers of the various bodies, upon whom devolves the duty of dealing with the problem of purification of sewage, should grasp the scientific principles of the question, and recognize the fact that the particular scheme to be adopted in any locality must depend upon a variety of local circumstances. It is with the view of giving some PREFACE. vii help in this direction that the following pages have been written. During recent years, by means of numerous bacteriological and chemical investigations, both in this country and in America, great advances have been made in our knowledge of the changes which sewage undergoes in purification, and not a few con- clusions of wide-reaching importance established; and it is hoped that the presentation in this little work of some of the results thus attained will be found useful by engineers and other officials who wish to avail themselves of the latest researches of chemists and biologists upon the question of Sewage Purification. SIDNEY BAEWISE. CODNTT OPFIOBS, DeBBY, October, 1898. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. SEWAGE: ITS NATURE AND COMPOSITION. PAGE Definition of sewage—Sewage from water-closet and non-water- closet towns—^Plea for the general adoption of water-closets 1 CHAPTER II. THE CHEMISTRY OF SEWAGE. Variations of sewage witli water supply—Composition of average sewage—Explanation of chemical terms used—Total solids, free ammonia, organic or albuminoid ammonia, chlorine, oxygen absorbed— Formula for calculating flow—Standards of purity for sewage effluents—Chemical changes to be effected by purification 10 CHAPTER III. VARIETIES OF SEWAGE AND THE CHANGES IT UNDERGOES. Chemical composition of different sewages—Variations in the chlorine—Night and day sewage—Hourly variations in — CONTENTS. PAGE flow and composition—Cliangea sowagB undergoes by keep- ing—Purification effected by clarification, nitrification, and bacteriolysis—Importance of sewers being self-cleansing Table giving maximum discharge of various sized sewers at different inclinations 28 CHAPTBE IV. RIVER POLLUTION AND ITS EFFECTS. Self-purification of rivers—Bacterial purification, by sedimenta- tion, by biological changes—Gross pollution causing nuisance —Ptomain poisoning from polluted waters—Effects of pol- luted water on oyster culture—Typhoid fever and polluted river water 41 CHAPTEE V. THE LAND TREATMENT OF SEWAGE. Sewage farms— Only indicated where soil is suitable—Clay lands nearly useless—The theory of nitrification—Intermittent downward filtration—Irrigation proper—Stratford-on-Avon farm —Edinburgh farm—Paris farm—Berlin farm—Proper method of laying out and working a farm—Quantity of land required—Fallacy of the manurial value of sewage ... 53 CHAPTER VI. PRECIPITATION, PRECIPITANTS, AND TANKS. Limitations of the process—In practice solid matters only removed—Soluble matter removed by excess of preoipitants —Comparative costs of preoipitants—Lime, alum, coperas — CONTENTS. PAGE —Various patent preoipitauta—Precipitation without tanks —Absolute rest tanks—Continuous flow tanks—Dortmund tank of KinebiiMer—The Candy tank—Sludge and methods of dealing with it 85 CHAPTEK VII. FILTRATION OR NITRIFICATION. Intermittent land filtration—Artificial filters suggested by Warington in 1882—Conditions necessary for nitrification Experiments by the Massachusetts Board of Health with coarse sand, fine sand, peat, silt, garden soil, and fine gravel —Results obtained—London County Council experiments Results obtained IOC CHAPTER VIII. SPECIAL FORMS OF SEWAGE FILTERS. Ducat's filter—Garfield's coal filter—Sewage distributors—The Lowcook filter—Comparative results with coke, breeze, coal, sand, and Lowcock's filter, Tipton and Buxton—Automatic arrangements for applying sewage intermittently 123 CHAPTER IX. THE NEW DEPARTURE: "BACTERIOLYSIS." Scott Monorieifs and Adeney's experiments—The Exeter septic process of Cameron—^Results obtained at Exeter—Gases resulting from the septic process 134 — xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. CONCLUSION. PASE What prooesa of purification to adopt—When a sewage farm When precipitation and land—When precipitation and arti- ficial filtration—Indications for a septic process 141 INDEX 147 THE PURIFICATION OF SEWAGE. CHAPTEE I. SEWAGE: ITS NATURE AND COMPOSITION. Definition of sewage—Sewage from water-closet and non-water- closet towns—Plea for the general adoption of water-closets. By " sewage," which is derived from the Anglo-Saxon " seon," to flow down, is meant the liquid contents of a sewer. This, in its simplest form from a village or non-water-closet town, is frequently designated " slop-water." It contains the liquid excretions of the inhabitants; the foul waters from the kitchens containing vegetable and animal matters, bits of fat, " " and other refuse ; the suds from the washing of dirty linen, cooking utensils, and the people them- selves, holding in solution and suspension soap, fatty acids, and the exudations from the human skin. Such soapy slops, as every one is aware, if allowed to stand for twenty-four hours, become most foul and offensive. Then there is the dirty water from the 2 SEWAGE PURIFICATION. washing of floors, the swilling of yards, the solid and liquid excretions of animals in the streets, the drainage from stables and pig-sties, the blood and other animal matters from slaughter-houses, silt from street sweepings, and sometimes, if the town is an old one, the most offensive and concentrated filth of aU, the soakage from a privy-midden. Prom a con- sideration of its various constituents, I think it must " be admitted that even what is called " slop-water is a polluting noxious liquid, no less offensive than ordinary sewage. In the case of water-closet towns, in addition to the above polluting matters, there are the solid excreta from the inhabitants, paper and other matters of a like nature emptied through the closets into the sewers, but there is also a larger amount of clean water. As a rule, in both cases, the surface water from the streets and from the yards, and a certain amount of ground water, finds its way into the sewers. Sewage as defined is the liquid contents of a sewer, and as a sewer has a specific meaning under the Public Health Acts, the definition of this word becomes a point of great importance, involving, as it does, an answer to the question, What is sewage ? " By sect. 4 of the Pubhc Health Act, 1875, a "drain is defined as meaning any drain of and used for the "drainage of one building only," or premises within the same curtilage, and made merely for the purpose DEFINITION OF "SEWAGE:' 3 of communicating therefrom with a cesspool or with " " a sewer j whilst sewer includes sewers and drains of every description, except those to which the word "drain" interpreted as above applies. From this definition it follows that where two or more houses have a common drain, that drain is, within the meaning of the Public Health Act, 1875, a sewer, and as such, by sect. 13 of the same Act, it is vested in the Sanitary Authority, who become, by sect. 3 of the Elvers Pollution Prevention Act, 1876, re- sponsible for using " the best practicable and available means to render harmless the sewage matter " falling or flowing therefrom into any stream or watercourse. The importance of this definition can hardly be exaggerated, and numerous cases have arisen on the point. The decisions of the Court of Appeal, how- ever, have made it quite clear that where two or more houses drain into a common channel, whether that channel be a pipe-drain, or even an open ditch,* it is a sewer, and the Sanitary Authority are liable for its maintenance in such a state as not to be a nuisance,' to keep it properly cleansed, ventilated, and repaired (sects. 15 and 19 Public Health Act, 1875), and to use the best practicable and available means to purify the sewage flowing from it. Sewage is an extremely complex fluid, varying in the same place from hour to hour both in its volume and in its chemical composition, nor is the sewage * Wheatcroft v.