Author: Massachusetts Ass. Of Boards of Health

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2017-02-16

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9780243384150

Excerpt from Journal of the Massachusetts Association of Boards of Health, Vol. 1: January, 1891 Without going further into details I will only say that it is now universally conceded that no profit can be expected from the cultiva tion of crops on a sewage farm. Allowing this, can the system of broad irrigation be used success fully for the purification of sewage? I believe that there is very little question that under favorable conditions, and with certain kinds of sewage, this method of purification is very efficacious. Let us con sider for a moment what the favorable conditions are. The first essential is a large plot of land. If, in the experiment with the flower-pot, too much sewage had been added, the water draining out at the bottom would be as impure as the sewage itself. So on a large scale, if too much sewage be added to a plot of land, the sewage will not be purified. Experiments have shown that the smallest amount of land allowable is one acre to one hundred per sons, or for a city of the Size of Worcester eight hundred acres would be necessary. The land must be at some distance from the city supplying the sewage, and Should not border on any populous district, for I do not suppose there was ever any irrigation field which did not in summer give off a loathsome odor. The kind of soil is also a consideration; if it is too open and porous. The sewage passes quickly through it, and emerges scarcely, if at all, purified. If, on the other hand, it is too compact, the water cannot escape, and the soil is rendered swampy. Finally, it must be remembered that all kinds of sewage are not fit to be applied to cultivated land. If there is a large proportion of industrial refuse, such as acids, metal lic salts, dye and tan liquors, the sewage will injure or destroy the crops, and may completely sterilize the land. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.