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EXPERIMENTAL SPRINKLING FILTER UNDER CONSTRUCTION, SHOWING FOUNDATIONS FOR BEDS OF DIFFERENT DEPTHS, AND TILE UNDERDRAINS.

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OUR SANITARY SEWERAGE SYSTEM

91

THE GOOD TO BE DERIVED FROM OUR SANITARY SEWERAGE SYSTEM.

BY C. HAMPSON JONES, M.D.

The amount of good that is to be derived by the introduction of any modern sanitary improvement will be as great as the amount of injury that has been and is being done by the unsanitary conditions which the improvement removes.

It is exceedingly difficult, if not quite impossible, to estimate the damage done by the existence of many thousands of privy wells in our city chiefly because there has not been made a thorough analysis of the mortality and morbidity in the sections of our city where unsanitary conditions of a high degree exist, which are directly and indirectly due to the presence of privy wells. For example, no study has been made of such sections of our city where small houses are crowded together with small yards (some scarcely large enough to accommodate a privy well), each provided with a privy well and a dilapidated out-house covering it, with the ground of the yard and that under the dwelling saturated with foul scrapage from the wells, with organic filth from kitchens, etc., packed between the outhouses and dilapidated fences; with foul odors saturating the atmosphere inside and outside the dwellings, and these more or less crowded with human beings reflecting in their persons the unsanitary conditions of their surroundings. Flies and mosquitoes bred in such filth spread disease wherever it may be found. The mortality and morbidity of such regions compared with better sanitary areas not having been studied it is impossible to determine how much good is to be expected from the great improvement in such conditions that will be brought about by our sanitary sewerage system; but that it will be great in such regions no one can doubt. The ultimate good to the entire city will be in proportion to the number of such unsanitary areas that will be improved.

The water wells, that were at one time so extensively used, having been long ago abolished, except a few in the less thickly populated portions of our city-the Annex-has removed the likelihood of a marked reduction. of typhoid fever, but some reduction may indirectly be produced by the lessening the number of flies.

One of the most striking results will be the removal of all surface drainage from our streets and alleys, the gutters of which are now flowing with bath, kitchen and laundry water, to which is too often added the overflow from privy wells, and it will permit the keeping in a sanitary condition the small alleys that are now of such great annoyance. The freezing of the contents of the gutterways will be no more and the cost of repaving will

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be greatly lessened, which is now made necessary by the repeated freezing and thawing in the interstices of our rough pavings.

A second, though by no means the least noticeable, good will be the removal of the pollution of streams such as Jones' Falls, Gwynn's Falls, certain smaller streams and the harbor. Since 1881 it has been necessary for the Commissioner of Health either to choose between two evils (overflowing privies or polluting the streams) or to stop the construction of new buildings. It was then confidently believed that the privilege of draining into our streams would be but for a short time, but unfortunately the time has extended to thirty years, and now every summer brings forth complaints and protest of citizens concerning the foul odors arising from the streams and harbor. All of this nuisance and disgrace to our city will be forever removed.

The cost of the construction of our sanitary sewers is great and the cost of maintenance will be heavy, but the ultimate individual and community good cannot be expressed in money value.

BALTIMORE SEWERAGE SYSTEM.

BY CALVIN W. HENDRICK

Chief Engineer.

I am pleased to announce that the sewerage system is about half completed and that we are within our estimated cost and time.

We will begin the actual use of the sewerage system the latter part of 1911, by beginning to connect up houses in east Baltimore along the high level interceptor.

There is one fact I would like to impress on the citizens of Baltimore, viz: that the present $10,000,000 sewerage loan was voted on and passed before the present Sewerage Commission came into existence. The present Commission, therefore, is not responsible for having to ask for an additional loan. We have never made but one estimate or one statement as to cost and time of completion, as outlined in our 1907 Report, as follows:

"With the aid of the information now at hand, I feel safe in saying that the cost of the sanitary sewers outlined in the Commission's Report for 1906 will be about $14,000,000, based upon present prices and the assumption that it will be possible to push the work vigorously. If for any reason the work should be delayed, an increased allowance would have to be made for salaries, office rent and other expenses. If the work is vigorously prosecuted, it is believed that the sanitary sewers, as laid out in the Commission's Report for 1906 can be fully completed by the year 1914. The entire storm-water system, as outlined in the Commission's Report for 1906, can probably be constructed for about $4,500.000."

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SEWAGE DISPOSAL PLANT. END VIEW OF DOUBLE FLUSHING GALLERY, SHOWING FLUSHING MAIN IN PLACE AND ENDS OF DOUBLE SUPPLY CONDUITS.

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