WATER SUPPLIES AND SEWERAGE SYSTEMS.

It is provided by chapter 433, of the Laws of 1905 that: "Before any city or village shall institute a water system, or system for water supply for the domestic use of its inhabitants, or a system of sewerage for the disposition of its sewage, such city, or village shall submit to the State Board of Health, plans and specifications for such system, and both of the water system and the sewerage system if a sewerage system exists or is proposed, and the State Board of Health shall examine such plans and specifications for the proposed system and the sanitary and hygienic features thereof; and no such system shall be installed or put in operation until the State Board of Health shall issue its certificate that such proposed system will not be in any respect unsanitary or dangerous to the public health."

The plans and specifications for water supply system and sewerage disposal plants which have been approved by the State Board of Health since the laws became operative, are sufficient evidence of a desire on the part of each municipality to safeguard the public health in these particulars. With but one exception no serious epidemic of typhoid fever, or other water borne diseases has occurred during the past two years as the result of a polluted water supply. There is, however, great danger of seriously contaminating the water supply in many of our cities if conditions are permitted to continue as they are at present. The water supply is polluted either by failure on the part of the municipality to provide proper sewerage disposal, or by disposing of the crude sewage into a nearby water way from which the water for domestic use is obtained.

We believe that every city, incorporated village and town should be compelled to install a sewerage system if the amount of sewage to be disposed of creates a misance, or is in any way dangerous to the public health. It should be provided by legis lative enactment that the disposal of crude sewage into lakes and

rivers will be absolutely prohibited after a certain date. time when the law is to become operative should of course, be placed far enough in the future so as to make it possible for each city to change its sewerage system so as to comply with the provisions of the law.

The problem of disposing of domestic organic waste material is one of the most important ones affecting the public health of communities. It has, from remote times, been studied by sanitarians, and codes of rules have been formulated for its solution. One of the most popular and effective methods of disposal emarising from them, but the comparatively recent practice of diluting the wastes with large quantities of water and conveying them, in solution and in suspension in the liquid, through sewers to a convenient point of disposal has introduced new factors into the problem. The tremendous increase in the volume of matter to be dealt with, occasioned by the dilution with water, has made it impossible to confine the wastes to a limited locality. but instead the sewage is necessarily turned into some drainage channel, to the jeopardy of the lives and health of other communities.

The discharge of a relatively small amount of sewage into a stream brings about no serious conditions; but, as the amount of sewage increases, due to the building of new sewer systems and an increase of population, the water of the stream becomes discolored; a greasy scum appears on the surface, foul mud is deposited on the bottom, and the stream becomes offensive and dangerous.

As the custom of discharging raw sewage into water courses becomes more prevalent, the difficulty of securing pure water for stock and for domestic use increases. In fact, the protection of streams and lakes from pollution by sewage has become one of the great problems of the present day, for the use of impure water for domestic purposes is responsible for a large percentage of all sickness and deaths. It is a very important cause of diarrhoea, typhoid fever, cholera, and probably a number of other diseases.

Typhoid fever, for example, is caused by the infection of the human body by microscopical organisms known as bacteria or germs. This disease may localize in various parts of the body, but most commonly the small intestine is the principal seat of its development. It is apparent that large numbers of the bac

teria of this disease naturally find their way into sewage through the dejecta from the body. Unfortunately they do not die immediately on leaving the body, but maintain their power for harm for a considerable period of time. It has been determined that they will retain their vitality in water for eight or nine days. We have it from the highest authorities in preventive medicine, that of all diseases, typhoid fever and small-pox com> the nearest to being preventable. Typhoid fever could be practically abolished by preventing the pollution of our milk and water epplies. Other diseases may be caused in the same way by the growth of some bacteria in the body, while still others may be caused simply by the irritation caused by poisons in the

water.

Sewage works in the United States, are not usually expecte i to turn out an effluent satisfactory for use as a water supply; but the passage of the sewage through the works should result in a great reduction in the number of bacteria present and in the prevention of unsanitary conditions in the stream receiving it. To entirely remove the bacteria would require some method of sterilization, or very expensive filteration works, and the adoption of either of these methods has not been considered practicable at the present time. But in places where it is necessary to use a stream receiving sewage, as the source of domestic water supply it is found that there is an economic advantage to be gained as well as a greater factor of safety, as far as bacterial efficiency of the water filters is concerned, by the partial purification of the sewage before turning it into the stream.

In some places the sewage-polluted water is not used for drinking or bathing or for watering stock, and the danger of infection is therefore slight, but even in such cases serious pollution. of the water cannot be tolerated near dwellings or places of employment on account of the offensive odors produced, which cause deprecation in the value of adjacent property and inconvenience to persons in the vicinity.

Mr. E. A. Kimberly suggests the following general rules to govern the needed degree of purification of domestic sewage.

1. Where the sewage effluent is to be discharged into running streams subject to floods and with a water containing considerable turbidity, at all seasons of the year, the degree of purity required need not be more than that of an effluent which undiluted will no longer putrefy under summer conditions,

2. In streams, the waters of which are clear except at times of flood, the purification of the sewage should be such as to remove from it the large practicable quantity of suspended matter, so that the visible purity of the stream will not be affected, and the non-putrefaction of the effluent being taken as coincident with a degree of purification which will afford an absence of all but small amounts of turbidity.

3. In drinking water streams, and in certain cases of sea discharges where shell fish layings must be protected from contamination, the purification of the sewage must needs be carried out to its fullest extent, and besides the production of a chemically stable effluent, the problem practically reduces itself to the destruction of all the disease producing bacteria present in the raw sewage, by subjecting the well purified effluent to some form of sterilization process.

Whenever plans for a sewerage system are being considered the State Board of Health desires in addition to plans and specifications for the proposed system, the following information:

10. What method, if any, has been used in the past, for disposing of the sewerage product..

PLANS EXAMINED

During the biennial period covered by this report, plans and specifications for water and sewer systems in the following municipalities were approved by the board as provided for in Chapter 433, of the laws of 1905:

Burlington. Sewerage System.

Prior to the establishment of a sewerage disposal plant in this city there had been a number of cases of typhoid fever and the water supply was suspected of being polluted. Two bacteriolog

ical examinations of the public water supply showed no evidence of pollution but on account of the great prevalence of typhoid fever, a sentiment favorable to the installation of a sewerage system was created. The plans and specifications for the proposed system were approved under the following conditions:

1. That a septic tank be established to properly treat the sewage before going into the river.

2. That all sewers now emptying in the river be connected with the new system.

Columbus. Sewerage system.

The plans were accepted under the following conditions:

1. That the settling basins or receiving tank shall be cleaned at least twice a year.

2. That no roof water shall be permited to be drained into the sewers.

3. That no storm water shall be drained into the sewers. The city is urged to make provision for connecting all possible residences with the sewerage system so as to prevent a further pollution of the ground water through the use of the cess-pools and private wells, into which is discharged the residential sewage.

Menomonee Falls. Sewerage system.

The plans as approved provide for the installation of a septic tank through which all the sewage must pass before it is disposed of. The tank as designed by the consulting engineer consists of three compartments. Two settling basins are provided for. A system similar to this is recommended for the use of small cities and villages where the amount of sewage to be treated is not so great as to overwork the plant and thereby cause crude sewage to be discharged into our lakes and rivers.

North Milwaukee. Sewerage System.

North Milwaukee is a village having a population of about 1,500. The residences are widely scattered covering an area of about one mile by one and one-half miles in extent. The plans provide for the installation of septic tanks or filter beds, or both. The effluent to be discharged into Mud Creek, a tributary of the Milwaukee River. The plans as presented were approved providing that filter beds are to be used and the sewage treated by intermittent filtration. In order to protect the water