Hydraulic Engineer, Bureau of Public Roads
CONTENTS
| Page. | |
| Introduction | [3] |
| Sewage, sewers, and sewerage defined | [1] |
| Nature and quantity of sewage | [2] |
| Sewage-borne diseases and their avoidance | [2] |
| How sewage decomposes | [5] |
| Importance of air in treatment of sewage | [7] |
| Practical utilities | [8] |
| Septic tanks | [21] |
| Grease traps | [43] |
| General procedure | [45] |
INTRODUCTION
The main purpose of home sewerage works is to get rid of sewage in such way as (1) to guard against the transmission of disease germs through drinking water, flies, or other means; (2) to avoid creating nuisance. What is the best method and what the best outfit are questions not to be answered offhand from afar. A treatment that is a success in one location may be a failure in another. In every instance decision should be based upon field data and full knowledge of the local needs and conditions. An installation planned from assumed conditions may work harm. The householder may be misled as to the purification and rely on a protection that is not real. He may anticipate little or no odor and find a nuisance has been created.
SEWAGE, SEWERS, AND SEWERAGE DEFINED
Human excrements (feces and urine) as found in closets and privy vaults are known as night soil. These wastes may be flushed away with running water, and there may be added the discharges from washbasins, bathtubs, kitchen and slop sinks, laundry trays, washing vats, and floor drains. This refuse liquid product is sewage, and the underground pipe which conveys it is a sewer. Since sewers carry foul matter they should be water-tight, and this feature of their construction distinguishes them from drains removing relatively pure surface or ground water. Sewerage refers to a system of sewers, including the pipes, tanks, disposal works, and appurtenances.