The following is a summary of simple measures for preventing a privy from becoming a nuisance:
1. Locate the privy inconspicuously and detached from the dwelling.
2. Make the receptacle or vault small, shallow, easy of access, and water-tight.
3. Clean out the vault often. Do not wait until excrement has accumulated and decomposition is sufficiently advanced to cause strong and foul odors.
4. Sprinkle into the vault daily loose dry soil, ashes, lime, sawdust, ground gypsum (land plaster), or powdered peat or charcoal. These will absorb liquid and odor, though they may not destroy disease germs.
5. Make the privy house rain-proof; ventilate it thoroughly, and screen all openings.
OBJECTION TO PRIVIES
All the methods of waste disposal heretofore described are open to the following objections:
1. They do not take care of kitchen slops and liquid wastes incident to a pressure water system.
2. They retain filth for a considerable period of time, with probability of odors and liability of transmission of disease germs.