(a) If not carefully made and of the best of materials, it is subject to failure by disintegration, etc.
(b) It will not stand strong chemical action, and therefore the smaller sizes should not be used where they are likely to be exposed to trade wastes containing strong acids. In the larger sizes the quantity of flow mixes so quickly with the trade wastes that this danger is minimized, and it is very seldom that even the smaller sizes become affected; but vitrified pipe may be used in places where chemical action is anticipated.
(c) If not properly made, it will be attacked by steam and hot vapor, and by animal fats in the sewage; but, if properly made, it is not affected by these.
(d) Unless reinforced or made very thick, it will not stand as great a crushing load as the best vitrified stoneware pipe; but, as sewers are not intended to be used under very heavy pressure, this is not so very important. It is amply strong to withstand any internal pressure or any external crushing load to which it probably will be submitted.
(e) Under a considerable head of ground-water, it may permit water to infiltrate through its walls for a considerable time after it is laid, thereby temporarily increasing the flow, which, if the sewage is to be pumped, will increase the cost of pumping. This difficulty can be met by using a carefully selected mix of materials in making the pipe, and by making
the joints carefully. Infiltration through concrete diminishes rapidly after the sewer is in use; it occurs in vitrified pipe, also, to some extent.
The house connection drain adopted in Monterrey, with the disconnecting trap, is very much like one which the writer has seen introduced with very bad result. These are being removed as rapidly as possible by one of his clients, a sewerage company, in the Southern States. It has been a fruitful cause of stoppages and bad smells; the ordinary method now in general use is much better. In the design shown, it would seem that there may even be some danger that the ventilation of the sewer by the stand-pipes in the streets may force the traps.
One is rather surprised to learn that the main outfall sewer is designed with a capacity of 90,000,000 liters per day, the present sewage being estimated as not more than 18,000,000 liters, and the far future being thought to require only 40,000,000 liters. Why this excessive size? Possibly the surplus water which it is to carry is to be discharged into the sewers from the water supply system direct, and is intended for irrigating the land at the disposal area, when the sewage is insufficient for this purpose. The author states that all surface water is strictly excluded.
The method of sewage disposal gives rise to several questions. It is proposed to use an extensive area for growing crops, which are to be irrigated with sewage. The paper states that the underlying strata at Monterrey contain numerous caverns, and the first question is: What will be the effect on the water supply of other towns lower down the valley? The writer recollects a serious outbreak of typhoid fever in Bluefield, W. Va., caused by the pollution of the water in similar strata finding its way through unknown underground caverns and channels to the city's water supply.
The next question is: What crops will be grown? It is a well-known fact that vegetables grown by the use of sewage as a fertilizer, are unsafe in a raw state for human consumption. This is well-known to European travelers in China and Japan, where the use of fecal matter as fertilizer renders the various water supplies (where not filtered and disinfected) and all green vegetables, unsafe, on account of typhoid germs. Moreover, crops not intended for human consumption, which are grown on lands irrigated by sewage bearing typhoid germs, etc., are unsafe for men to handle; even to store them may cause a dissemination of disease. It is evident, therefore, that the whole sewage flow should be in some manner disinfected at least, if not filtered, before it is used.