Sewage and sewerage of farm homes [1928]

Chapter 3: SEWAGE, SEWERS, AND SEWERAGE DEFINED

Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

About This Book

Provides practical sanitation principles and step-by-step guidance for disposing of household sewage on farms, defining sewage, sewers, and sewerage while quantifying typical waste. Explains microbial decomposition, the role of air in treatment, and hazards from sewage-borne diseases and parasites with emphasis on preventing contamination of water and food. Describes treatment methods and components such as septic tanks, grease traps, filters, and distribution fields, and stresses design choices based on local conditions. Emphasizes proper construction, routine operation and maintenance, and warns that neglect or improper siting can produce nuisances or health risks.

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.