282 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



|_Septembeb, 



Commissioners persisted !n upholding it. The Thames is now so 

 much used in summer-time for short, or, as it may be called, 

 omnibus traflic, as to make it highly needful to keep it free from 

 poisonous influences. All throufrh the season Ilungerford-pier, 

 one of the ffreatest places of traffic on the river, has been made 

 an annoyance, as a large sewer discharges its noxious contents 

 over the mud-flats reaching to the pier; and as the steamboats lie 

 for a sh<irt time at the pier and are low down on the water, the ill 

 effect to the passengers must be very great. Besides the usual 

 abomiuations, this sewer seems to carry the drainage of a grave- 

 yard. 



Whether the sewer water will be of much good in Woolwich or 

 Erith marslies, we very much doubt. Sewer water, water charged 

 with carbonate of lime, or any water, is a good fertiliser; but the 

 expense of distribution, and the relative smallness of the area 

 supplied will prevent any great results being obtained from the 

 reservoirs in the marshes as compared with the quantity of fer- 

 tilising matter collected from the metropolis. 



In our late visit to Edinburgh, we made particular inquiries as 

 to tlie working of the supply of sewage water there, which has 

 been so much spoken of among agriculturists and professional men. 

 We were informed that the sewage water is not so valuable for 

 meadows as for market gardens; and we apprehend the same 

 results will be found in Woolwich and Plumstead marshes, where 

 the quantity of market-garden ground is very small. The value 

 of grass land near Edinburgh is raised by the distribution of the 

 sewage water; but the grass is found to be very rank. In another 

 point of view, the application of sewage water is found highly 

 id)jectionable, for whereas the aggregate agricultural benefit is 

 small, the dispersion of the sewage water constitutes a fearful 

 nmisance. When the wind at Edinburgh blows from the east over 

 the meadows, it brings the most no.xious odours; and this must be 

 the case to the inhabitants of Greenwich, ^Voolwich, Deptford, 

 and our eastern suburbs, if sewage water is used in the marshes. 

 Thus all the usual evils of an easterly wind are aggravated. 



Not only is the sewage water an annoyance to the people of 

 Edinburgh, but it is said to be a cause of disease to those living 

 in the neiglibourhood of the meadows, so that many are in favour 

 of introducing the Health of Towns' Bill, in order to have power of 

 grappling with the nuisance. 



Arhile we are pleased with the prospect of the purification of 

 the Thames, we cannot help feeling that much remains to be done in 

 a snnitary and economical point of view. The entering of the 

 waterclosets into the sewers has converted the sewers into a much 

 greater nuisance than they used to be thirty or forty years ago, when 

 no entries from waterclosets were allowed to be made. The introduc- 

 tion of fecal matter into the sewers brings noxious gases into the 

 houses, and the water which is spent for washing the waterclosets 

 acts to decompose the fecal matter. The waste of water is not the 

 only economical loss, for there is a waste in London of a quantity of 

 manure which would be equivalent to the growth of at least three 

 milliou quarters of corn. While this fecal matter is sent into the 

 sewers, neither large nor small sewers will work satisfactorily. 



How this is to be remedied we are not prepared to state; but we 

 think the attention of architects and engineers should be turned 

 to the subject, with the view of determining on the best means. 

 Several parties have proposed dry closets here; but we are given 

 to understand that mainly through the exertions of M. Gauthier 

 de Claubry, a member of the Council of Health at Paris, a system 

 of dry closets, witii the application of deodorising substances, is 

 extensively and satisfactorily applied at Paris; and that under the 

 direction of joint-stock companies, very valuable manures are pre- 

 pared for agricultural purposes, yielding a large profit. This 

 system of foue.i- mobiles will be found briefly explained in Weale's 

 Dictionary of Terms. 



Sewage water can only he applied to a restricted area, as the 

 Edinburgh meadows or Woolwich marshes, and it will not pay for 

 transmission to a distance; but solid manures can be sent even to 

 the Indies, and admit of distribution over a wide extent of country. 

 A ton of solid manure is of some value, and will pay for transit; 

 but a ton of liquid manure is worth little more than a ton of water, 

 'i'he economical end to be obtained is, therefore, to get the manure 

 in a s(did form ; and on every ground, if practicable, it is desirable 

 that it sliould be collected at once, and not be washed with water, 

 and then separated at an expense. It has been supposed that 

 deodorising compounds lessen the fertilising properties of manures, 

 tlu)ugh it is asserted by M. Gauthier that the system adopted at 

 Paris and Lyon is found by experience not to be prejudicial. 

 However it may be, the operatioa of water on night soil is de- 

 cidedly objectionable. 



At Paris the night soil is not being washed into the sewers, and 

 in preference, they are emptying the cesspools by the pumpin" 

 ap])aratus; but even then, instead of doing as our Commissioners 

 of Sewers do, turning the night soil down the nearest drain it is 

 carefully conveyed to the works of the manure companies. 



It appears, therefore, most desirable that the attention of all 

 parties should be directed to the sewage system, with a view of 

 accomplishing satisfactorily all the objects desired. 



iMETROPOLIT.\N CO.MMISSION OF SEWERS. 



At the last monthly general Court of Commissioners on the 9th ult., at 

 the central office, Greek-street, Soho, the first portion of the general plan 

 for the drainage of the metropolis was brought forward. 



Mr. Woolrych, the tecretary, explained an important error that appeared 

 in the public reports of the proceedings at the Metropolitan Court of Sewers, 

 held on the 28th of February, an error which has a material hearing upon 

 the observations made upon the general conduct of the business of the com- 

 mission. The item in question is thus described : — 'Payments for books, sur. 

 veys, management, &c., 85,34G(. 3s. Grf.' The error alluded to consists in the 

 use of the word books instead of works, the item being described in the 

 accounts presented to the court as payments for works, surveys, manage- 

 ment, &c. 



The Drainage of the Metropolis. 



The committee appointed by the General Court to take into consideration 

 the general drainage of the metropolis, and report thereon, determined to 

 divide their labours into three distinct portious, or rather three distinct 

 reports; the first to consist of a plan for the drainage of the southern side 

 of the Thames; the second to consist of a plan for the drainage of West- 

 minster; and the third to be a plan for the general drainage of the metro- 

 polis north of the Thames. The committee determined to take the drainage 

 of the south«rn portion first into consideration, as its requirements seemed 

 to them to be more immediately pressing than those of any other district. 

 The following is the engineer's report on the Surrey Drainage : — 



" In obedience to instructions which I had the honour to receive from you on the Sth 

 ult., I DOW proceed to furnish a report and estimate for a complete system of drainage 

 tor the Surrey and Kent districts, including extensive alterations in the inclination of 

 existing sewers. 



*• Notwithstanding the labour and Ingenuity displayed in many of the plans for the 

 drainage of the metropolis sent in last year — some of which, as you stated in your report 

 of the 8th of March, dealt ably with the general drainage on the north side of the 

 Thames — I have been, as you are well aware. In laying out the plan of drainage for the 

 south side, able to derive little or no practical assistance from any of them, which is to 

 be accounted for, doubtless, by the necessarily defective data on which they were based, 

 owin^ to the imperfect nature of the Information which it was then in the power of the 

 commissioners to supply to their various authors ; but I feel it my duty to acknowledge 

 In the outset the very valuable assistance I have received from plans and suggestions pre- 

 pared, after consulting the block plans and subterranean surveys, by a member of your 

 iiononrable commission, who kindly placed tbem in my bands during the preparation of 

 the plan I have now the honour to submit. 



** In drawing up this report 1 have, under yeur Instructions, adopted the following 

 principle! for my guidance : — 



" 1. To keep the River Thames free from sewage at all times of the tide from Wool- 

 wich-reach upwards. 



" 2. To abolish all open ditches and cesspools, as well as defective, shallow, or high 

 level sewers. 



** 3. To maintain a continual and unintermittlng flow, with the aid of lifts where neces- 

 sary, in all the sewers along their whole length, by which the evils arising from pent-up 

 sewage— viz., the generation of noxious gases and the unavoidable formation of deposit 

 In the sewer during its stagnation— niny be avoided. 



*• 4. To construct the sewers at inclinations so proportioned to the volume of fluid to 

 be carried off by each that the velocity of the current shall keep them clear of deposit 

 without the need of regular periodical flushing, which experience has shown to be not 

 only troublesome and expensive in its operatiou, but also very injurious to the sewers and 

 drains in which it is practised. 



"6. To form the main sewers at such a depth as not only to receive the drainage of 

 the deepest existing sewers, but to answer the purpose of main druiu» capable of exten- 

 sion towards the extremities of the district. 



"6. To provide a nalu;al escape by the power of gravity alone for storm waters and 

 land Hoods independent of the ordinary sewers, whose contents will on the south side of 

 the Thames require artilicially lifting, and to construct the new sewers of such slies only 

 as may be sufficient to take the general drainage of the district, including ordinary rain 

 falls connecting them at about mean low water, with outlets for heavy floods. 



** 7. To follow existing public streets, roads, or paths, so as to avoid heavy compensa. 

 tion for injury to private property whenever this can be done, without causing injurious 

 curves or undue prolongation of the sewers, and consetpient loss of level. 



*■ 8. To extend the ramifications of the sewers after the main lines are completed Into 

 all the streets at such depths and with such inclinations as to give perfect self-cleausing 

 street drainage, and the opportunity for efficient house drainage. 



" The following is a general outline of the means proposed to effect the objects above- 

 named : — 



** I beg to recommend the top of Woolwich reach as the point for delivering the 

 sewage into the river, because I believe that the matter so delivered at and alter high 

 water, and in the centre, and at the bottom of the stream, will not rise to the surface, so 

 as to inconvenience the inhabitants of Woolwich. If, however, it should be deemed ex- 

 P'dient, either for agricultural purposes nr for any other reason, to convey the sewage 

 below Woolwich to some point near Krith before its delivery into the Thames, it may be 

 eftectedby means of iron pipes across the marshes and through Woolwich, to besupplied 

 by an engine and standing pipe erected at or near the Wooiwich-road, near Greenwich- 

 gate. 



" Commencing with the outlet at a point 8 miles below London bridge, It is proposed 

 to form a double reservoir capable of holding at least L'4 hours' drainage, covered over, 

 and elevated to such a height as to discbarge the wh<ile of its contents at high water, 

 delivering them by means of pipes near the middle and at the bottom of the river. The 

 sewage will be lifted into the reservoir at this point (by means of an engine) from the 

 main sewer, the invert of which is proposed to be at about oieao low water, and 10 feet 

 below the siuface of the marshes. 



