EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 37 



lections, and discusses a subject of special and practical importance to 

 the residents of this city. 



The health and comfort of the Capital of the nation is a matter of so 

 general interest that its hygienic conditions deserve careful study and 

 consideration. Very difficult problems are presented to the sanitary 

 engineer by the topography of the city and the river frontage on a large 

 area of flat land. The drainage of so large and so populous a city is 

 one of the first subjects requiring the attention of the local authorities 

 and of Congressional action. Mr. Waring having had long experience 

 and much distinction in investigation of such topics, was, therefore, in- 

 cited by the trustees of the Toner fund to make a thorough examination 

 of the city and District, and requested to make suggestions for the im- 

 l^rovement of their drainage. 



Mr. Waring in his lecture presents Holland as furnishing a suitable 

 example for imitation in regard to the reclamation of low areas. In 

 that country about 4,000 acres have been reclaimed annually, while in 

 Washington the improvement of not more than 2,500 is required. He rec- 

 ommends strongly the adoption of the Dutch method of constructing de- 

 fenses, embankments, and bulk -heads, leaving the inclosed ground at its 

 present level, and to drain it by artificial power to a sufficient depth to se- 

 cure the same result as to dryness that would be secured by the filling it 

 with earth. This would substitute a dry and pleasant meadow for the 

 present noisome mud flats, would be economical, simple, and iiractically 

 equivalent to raising the whole city six or eight feet above its present 

 level, and give it high and dry ground to the shore of a clear running 

 stream on each side. 



Next to bringing the flats about the city into a proper condition, the 

 drying of the soil of those parts now subject to saturation is considered 

 by the author, and for the latter purj)ose he recommends that the damp 

 lands should be drained by an independent system of pipes, entirely 

 disconnected, except at their outlets, with the sewer system. 



The sewerage of the city is next considered, and the use of the same 

 drains for the streets and for houses is condemned as very objection- 

 able. It is urged as of prime necessity that every foot of the sewers 

 with which habitations are connected should be at all times free from 

 deposits of organic matter. 



The best size of sewer-pipes is fully discussed, and the conclusion 

 stated that large ones should be restricted to the removal of storm-water 

 only, and small ones used for house drainage. 



A radical and almost universal improvement of the interior drainage 

 of houses is demanded, the defective house-drains being a far more im- 

 portant factor in the production of disease than defective sewers. By 

 the official statement, the deaths in the District in 1879 from diseases 

 which are believed to be very materially affected by bad drainage, either 

 by soil-moisture or by filth, amounted to just about one-half of the total 

 mortality. The author believes that five hundred jiersons annually die 



