Sewerage.
The sewage system of the Roadtown will, like the water system, be built in comparatively small units, and will require none of the large and expensive sewers seen in city systems. Wherever the Roadtown crosses a natural valley in the land the sewage can be led off to a reasonable distance from the house line in pipes and used in irrigating non-food crops. The income to be derived from the use of this sewage for fertilization and irrigation will be a considerable source of profit and wholly without the expense attached to city sewage disposal works because of distance from the land and the fact that the point of the city sewer outlet is almost always below the level of land available for such uses.
Heating.
The Roadtown heating system will be of hot water circulated by pumps. The heating plants will be located every two or three miles, which, according to the engineers’ figures will be more economical than to have them either at greater or less distance. The temperature will be regulated to suit each and every tenant by the use of the thermostat with a push button regulator in each room of every apartment. This simple, but marvelously useful device, is now in general use in thousands of first class hotels.
Refrigeration.
The refrigerating system of Roadtown which will be required for food and drinking water purposes could be turned into the radiators and a circulation of cooled water or brine pumped through the houses. I do not say that such house cooling will be established, for the Roadtown house, through which the breeze will have a full sweep, and in which the electrical fans will be plentiful, will have little need for a system of house cooling, but if the people in hot countries wish it and care to pay for it, eventually they can have it.
Drinking Water.
The next utility for the Roadtown house will be that of pure, cool distilled water for drinking purposes, cooled only to a healthful temperature. Because of the small expense for piping, this separation of the system of drinking water from that used for bathing and for spraying the lawn will mean that no method known to science for purifying the former need be spared.
In present city life the peddling of so-called “spring water” in bottles, is a farcical affair, which would have about as much chance to survive in Roadtown as an independent oil producer shipping oil in barrels would have in competing with the trust’s tank cars and pipe lines. If the Roadtown is piped for refrigeration, cooling will be very simple. If this is not done the coolers may be placed in the basement and filled with ice manufactured at the central refrigeration plant and distributed by train. In either case, the efficiency will be great as compared with any present system.