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SEWERAGE

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 737 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SEWERAGE , a See also:

general See also:term for the See also:process of systematically See also:collecting and removing the fouled See also:water-See also:supply of a community. The See also:matter to be dealt with may conveniently be classified as made up of three parts: (I) excreta, consisting of urine and faeces; (2) slop-water, or the See also:discharge from sinks, basins, See also:baths; &c., and the See also:waste water of See also:industrial processes; (3) See also:surface; water due to rainfall. Before the use of underground conduits became general, the second and third constituents were commonly allowed to sink into the neighbouring ground, or to find their way by surface channels to a watercourse or to the See also:sea. The first constituent was conserved in middens or pits, either together with the dust, ashes, See also:kitchen waste and solid waste generally or separately, and was carried away from See also:time to time to be applied as manure to the See also:land. In more See also:modern times the pits in which excrement was collected took the See also:form of covered tanks called cesspools, and with this modification the See also:primitive See also:system of conservancy, with occasional removal by carts, is still to be found in many towns. Even where the See also:plan of removing excrement by sewers has been adopted, the kitchen waste, ashes and solid refuse is still treated by collecting it in pails or bins, whose contents are removed by carts either daily or at longer intervals, the refuse frequently being burned in See also:destructors (q.v.). It therefore forms no See also:part of the nearly liquid sewage which the other constituents unite to form. The first constituent is from an agricultural point of view the most valuable, and from a hygienic point of view the most dangerous, See also:element of sewage. Even healthy excreta decompose, if kept for a See also:short time after they are produced, and give rise to noxious gases; but a more serious danger proceeds from the fact that in certain cases of sickness these products are charged with specific germs of disease. Speedy removal or destruction. of excremental sewage is therefore imperative. It may be re-moved in an unmixed See also:state, either in pails or tanks or-(with the aid of pneumatic pressure) by pipes; or it may be defaecated by mixture with dry See also:earth or ashes; or, finally, it may be conveyed away in sewers by See also:gravitation, after the addition of a relatively large See also:volume of water. This last mode of disposal is termed the water-See also:carriage system of sewerage.

It is the plan now usually adopted in towns which have a sufficient water supply, and it is probably the mode which best meets the needs, of any large community. The sewers which carry the diluted excreta serve also to take slop-water, and may or may not be used to remove the surface water due to rainfall. The water-carriage system has the disadvantage that much of the agricultural value of sewage is lost by its dilution, while the volume of foul matter to be disposed of is greatly increased. I. COLLECTION OF SEWAGE.—See also:

HOUSe drains, that is to say, those parts of the domestic system of drainage which extend from the See also:soil-pipes and waste-pipes to the See also:sewer, are generally made of glazed stoneware pipes having a See also:diameter of 4 in., 6 in., or sometimes 9 or 12 in., according to the estimated amount of waste to be removed. In See also:ordinary domestic dwellings there is rarely any occasion to use pipes of a greater diameter than 6 in., and this only for the See also:main drain, the branches and single lines of piping being 4 in. in dia- See also:meter. It is a See also:good See also:rule to make the pipes and other fittings, such as channels and bends, as small in diameter as possible, having due regard to efficient capacity. Such a drain is more cleanly than one too large for its purpose, in that it is more thoroughly flushed when in use, the sewage See also:running at a much faster See also:speed through a full See also:pipe than through one only partially full. For this See also:reason a pipe having too See also:great a capacity for the b(tuman j See also:work it has to do is liable to become corroded by sedi- ment deposited from slowly moving waste. The pipes are made in 2 ft. lengths and are formed with a socket at one end into which the straight end of This is wedged in position with a little gasket and the remaining space then carefully filled with neat See also:Portland See also:cement (fig. I). Pipes are made also with a bituminous substance in the socket and around the spigot end, and by merely pushing the one into the other the See also:joint is made.

The See also:

bitumen is curved to allow self-See also:adjustment to any slight See also:settlement, so that damage to the joint is avoided (fig. 2). A composite joint may be used having the bitumen lining reinforced with the ordinary Portland cement filling (fig. 3). This type is some-what more expensive than the ordinary jointing, but it makes a powerful and effective connexion. The method of connecting two See also:lead pipes by a " wiped See also:solder joint " is shown in fig. 4. Fig. 5 shows the method of connect- See also:car n /`l/`"/'sr/~ bii'turr 2t1 See also:ing a lead pipe into the socket rarauuuaariuraaia/a. %uiouriaiaraiit of a stoneware one, a See also:brass See also:sleeve piece or See also:ferrule being slon¢~raKG used to give the necessary stiffness to the end of the lead pipe. This arrangement is 11u1111(11 II1111I i %:,~/ frequently used, for example, at the See also:base of a soil-pipe at its junction with the drain. In lead pipe has a brass socket 9 t fPNVUt2 11111111 attached to it to take the See also:plain end of a stoneware pipe.

This form of connexion is used between a water-closet and a lead See also:

trap. The joint shown in See also:figs. 5 and 6 is similarly made when an See also:iron pipe is substituted for a stoneware one, but instead of the Portland cement filling, molten lead is used and carefully caulked to form a water-tight joint. In the water-carriage system of drainage each house has its own network of drain-pipes laid under the ground, into which are taken the waste-pipes which lead from the closets, urinals, sinks, lavatory basins, and See also:rain-water and other gulleys within and about the house. The many branches are II II, gathered into one or more manholes, and connexion is finally made by means of a single pipe with the See also:common public sewer. See also:Gas from the sewer is prevented from entering the house drains by a disconnecting trap fixed in the manhole nearest the entrance to the sewer. The fundamental See also:maxims of house sanitation are first, that there shall be See also:complete disconnexion between the pipes within and without the house, and second, that the drainage shall be so constructed as to allow for the See also:free See also:admission of See also:air in See also:order to secure the thorough See also:ventilation of all parts of the system lead HIJIIItt II 111111111 1¢ad' I 1 „J 1(11111 fitted with open channels instead of closed pipes. This allows of easy inspection and testing, and provides means of See also:access for the drain-rods in cases of blockage. Some-times it is desired, for reasons of See also:economy or otherwise, to avoid the use of a manhole at a See also:change of direction in the drain. A See also:branch pipe which may have a specially shaped junction for cleaning the pipes in both directions is taken up with a slope to the ground or See also:floor level and there finished with an air-tight See also:cover which may be removed to allow the introduction of drain-rods should the pipes become blocked. Junctions of one pipe with another should be made obliquely in the direction 'cement of the floor. Stoneware pipes should be laid upon a See also:bed of See also:concrete not less than 6 in. thick and benched up at the sides with concrete to prevent pipes pass under a See also:building they should be entirely surrounded by a concrete casing at least 6 in. in thickness.

No drain should See also:

lie under a building if it is possible to avoid it, for injury is very liable to occur through some slight settlement of the building, and in a position such that the smells escaping from the damaged pipe would rise up through the floor into the building this would be an especially serious matter. The expense and annoyance of having the ground opened up for the repair of defects in the pipes beneath is another strong See also:argument against drains being placed under a house. Where this is really necessary, however, pipes of See also:cast-iron are recommended instead of the ordinary stoneware pipes, as being stronger; being made in lengths of 6 and 9 ft., they have a great See also:advantage over the 2 ft. See also:long stoneware tubes, for the See also:joints of the latter are frequently a source of weakness. The joints, fewer in number, are made with molten lead (fig. 7), or flanged pipes are used and the joints packed with See also:rubber and bolted (fig. 8). The principle of disconnexion adopted between the indoor and outdoor pipes should be retained between the latter and the sewer, and the domestic system should be cut off from the public drain by means of a disconnecting trap. This appliance is usually placed in a small chamber or manhole, easy of access for inspection, built See also:close to the boundary of the premises, and as near as possible to the sewer into which the house drain discharges. Fig. 9 shows a See also:section and plan of such a manhole built in accordance with the See also:London drainage by-See also:laws. There are five inlets from branch drains discharging by specially-shaped glazed channels into the main channel in the centre. It will be seen that in See also:case of blockage it would be a See also:simple matter to clear any of the pipes with n/1111/iaiirr,rr :n/,, ' 9lan?xvate, 5tonamatt, ~ttlltt(IIIIUI `1111111111 (I1111(See also:Ill( atone.rrates elonc.nrot¢ 'lllllll111(1111 See also:IIII(I1i I++11111111 geo lsin iron iron W (II1((ll(III Illllt} 1((11101(1( FIG.

7.—Iron Spigot and Socket Joint. ~tlttttl(Uglllll ~I II iron 0. ivron -n111111ttI(~ Bolted the drain=rods. The cap to the cleanng See also:

arm has a See also:chain attached by which it can be removed in case of flooding. The channels are benched up at the sides with cement, and the manhole is rendered on the inside with a cement lining. A fresh air inlet is taken out near the See also:top of the chamber and is fitted with a See also:mica flap inlet See also:valve. The cover is of cast-iron in a cast-iron See also:frame shaped with grooves to afford a See also:double See also:seal, the grooves being filled with a See also:composition of See also:tallow and See also:fine See also:sand. Where there is a danger of a backflow from the sewer due to its becoming flooded, a hinged flap should be placed at the junction of drain and sewer to prevent sewage from entering the house drain. A See also:ball trap designed for this purpose may be used in See also:place of a flap, and is more satisfactory, for the latter is liable to become corroded and work stiffly. In the ball-trap appliance the flowing back of the sewage forces a See also:copper ball to See also:fit tightly against the drain outlet, the ball dropping out of the way of the flow directly the pressure is relaxed. The water-carriage system of drainage is undoubtedly the most nearly perfect yet devised.

End of Article: SEWERAGE

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