CHAPTER XIII 



SEWAGE OUTFALLS AND DISCHARGE 



Rainfall and storm-water — Separate and combined systems — Storm 

 overflows — Position of outfalls — Objections and legal remedies 

 — Foreshore smells — ^Unsightliness — Mud banks — Fish — Water 

 supplies — Contamination of shellfish and watercress. 



The general principles guiding final discharge have been 

 explained in previous chapters (see especially pp. 14, 55-60, 

 130 and 172), but it has been shown that there must be some 

 elasticity according to local circumstances, and that at present 

 many anomalies have arisen. In manufacturing districts 

 streams still exist which are "inky black sewers," and at one 

 point a community may have been at great expense to turn out 

 a good effluent, while, a few miles above, a large town is dis- 

 charging millions of gallons of a foul liquid daily. An early 

 suggested remedy was " a sliding scale," enforcing that each 

 effluent should be, say 20 per cent, better than the stream : 

 " the effect would be that the towns on the upper part would be 

 turning in something better than the stream, and the towns 

 below would have to comply." If there were sufficient space 

 between the towns for natural purification in the river, the 

 latter would remain in good condition throughout its course. 

 The present Royal Commission on Sewage find that *' in many 

 parts of England the pollution of rivers goes on unchecked," 

 and recommend the creation of a supreme rivers authority, with 

 Rivers Boards having control also of estuaries and foreshores,^ 

 and such an organization has been long necessary. In most 

 other countries a special administration of the kind has been 

 for many years in operation. 



Rainfall and Storm-Water. 



Provision for these is essential in all systems of sewage dis- 

 posal. A rainfall of o*i to 0*2 inch in an hour increases the out- 



1 Third Report, 1903, p. 26 et seq. 

 310 



