Sewage and Garbage Disposal on the Farm

SEWAGE and GARBAGE DISPOSAL on the FARM
FARMERS' BULLETIN No. 1950 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

THIS Bulletin is a guide to up to-date methods for the sanitary disposal of sewage and other household and farm wastes. It tells how to construct satisfactory sanitary facilities and how to maintain them and gives special attention to the questions on sanitation asked most frequently by farm people.
Solutions to all problems cannot be given here, and often advice must be sought from local sanitary officials. Many county and State health departments furnish advice and copies of local regulations and sometimes provide inspection service. Where there are no specific local requirements, this bulletin may be accepted as a guide to safe practice.

TO INSURE healthful living, domestic wastes must be disposed of. Primitive wanderers and too often present-day tourists deposit their wastes promiscuously and move on when the surroundings become foul. This is impractical in built-up communities. Therefore, in most cities and in some rural areas sanitary codes regulate the disposal of wastes.
Household sewage ordinarily consists principally of human excrement, toilet paper, garbage, dish water, and other wash water from the various plumbing fixtures and floor drains.

Under most farm conditions a safe place for the disposal of wastes is in the upper 3-foot layer of soil, where the action of bacteria tends to render it harmless. Tile disposal fields, such as are used with septic tanks, and earth-pit privies accomplish this if the water table remains several feet below the surface and if the location is remote from water supplies. Cesspools and other types of pits do not ordinarily confine contamination to their immediate vicinity and are not recommended except for special conditions.
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.