Size.—In order for the sewer to be self-cleansing, its size must be proportional to the work to be accomplished, so that it may be fully and thoroughly flushed and not permit stagnation and consequent decomposition of its contents. If the sewer be too small, it will not be adequate for its purpose, and will overflow, back up, etc.; if too large, the velocity of the flow will be too low, and stagnation will result. In the separate system, where there is a separate provision for rain water, the size of the sewer ought not to exceed six inches in diameter. In the combined system, however, when arrangements must be made for the disposal of large volumes of storm water, the size of the sewer must be larger, thus making it less self-cleansing.
Connections.—The connections of the branch sewers and the house sewers with the main sewer must be carefully made, so that there shall be no impediment to the flow of the contents, either of the branches or of the main pipe. The connections must be made gas-tight; not at right angles or by T branches, but by bends, curves, and Y branches, in the direction of the current of the main pipe, and not opposite other branch pipes; and the junction of the branch pipes and the main pipe must not be made at the crown or at the bottom of the sewer, but just within the water line.
Tide Valves.—Where sewers discharge their contents into the sea, the tide may exert pressure upon the contents of the sewer and cause "backing up," blocking up the sewer, bursting open trap covers, and overflowing into streets and houses. To prevent this, there are constructed at the mouth of the street sewers, at the outlets to the sea, proper valves or tide flaps, so constructed as to permit the contents of the sewers to flow out, yet prevent sea water from backing up by immediately closing upon the slightest pressure from outside.
House Sewers.—Where the ground is "made," or filled in, the house sewer must be made of cast iron, with the joints properly calked with lead. Where the soil consists of a natural bed of loam, sand, or rock, the house sewer may be of hard, salt-glazed, and cylindrical earthenware pipe, laid in a smooth bottom, free from projections of rock, and with the soil well rammed to prevent any settling of the pipe. Each section must be wetted before applying the cement, and the space between each hub and the small end of the next section must be completely and uniformly filled with the best hydraulic cement. Care must be taken to prevent any cement being forced into the pipe to form an obstruction. No tempered-up cement should be used. A straight edge must be used inside the pipe, and the different sections must be laid in perfect line on the bottom and sides.
Connections of the house sewer (when of iron) with the house main pipe must be made by lead-calked joints; the connection of the iron house pipe with the earthenware house sewer must be made with cement, and should be gas-tight.
Sewer Air and Gas.—Sewer gas is not a gas at all. What is commonly understood by the term is the air of sewers, the ordinary atmospheric air, but charged and contaminated with the various products of organic decomposition taking place in sewers. Sewer air is a mixture of gases, the principal gases being carbonic acid; marsh gas; compounds of hydrogen and carbon; carbonate and sulphides of ammonium; ammonia; sulphureted hydrogen; carbonic oxide, volatile fetid matter; organic putrefactive matter, and may also contain some bacteria, saprophytic or pathogenic.
Any and all the above constituents may be contained in sewer air in larger or smaller doses, in minute or toxic doses.
It is evident that an habitual breathing of air in which even minute doses of toxic substances and gases are floating will in time impair the health of human beings, and that large doses of those substances may be directly toxic and dangerous to health. It is certainly an error to ascribe to sewer air death-dealing properties, but it would be a more serious mistake to undervalue the evil influence of bad sewer air upon health.
Ventilation.—To guard against the bad effects of sewer air, it is necessary to dilute, change, and ventilate the air in sewers. This is accomplished by the various openings left in the sewers, the so-called lamp and manholes which ventilate by diluting the sewer air with the street air. In some places, chemical methods of disinfecting the contents of sewers have been undertaken with a view to killing the disease germs and deodorizing the sewage. In the separate system of sewage disposal, where sewer pipes are small and usually self-cleansing, the late Colonel Waring proposed to ventilate the sewers through the house pipes, omitting the usual disconnection of the house sewer from the house pipes. But in the combined system such a procedure would be dangerous, as the sewer air would be apt to enter the house.
Rain storms are the usual means by which a thorough flushing of the street sewers is effected. There are, however, many devices proposed for flushing sewers; e. g., by special flushing tanks, which either automatically or otherwise discharge a large volume of water, thereby flushing the contents of the street sewers.