ic
ory
THE DISPOSAL
4.4.
褪
​OF THE
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES
WITH NINE ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
CORNELIUS B. FOX, M.D., M.R.C.P. LOND.
Medical Officer of Health of East, Central and South Essex, Fellow of the British and
Member of the Scottish Meteorological Societies
AUTHOR OF OZONE AND ANTOZONE"; "WHERE-WHEN-WIx-How-
Is OZONE OBSERVED IN THE ATMOSPHERE?" "WATER ANALYSIS
AS IT SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT BE PERFORMED BY THE
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALth," etc.
SECOND EDITION
LONDON
A. CHURCHILL, NEW BURLINGTON STREET
1877
PRICE EIGHTEENPENCE
55

ARTES
21:37
SCIENTIA
VERITAS
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
TE PLURIBUS UNUM
UFBOR
SI QUAERIS PENINSULAM AMOENAM
CIRCUMSPICE
TD
743
F79
1 8 7 7
THE DISPOSAL
OF THE
35-895
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES
WITH NINE ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
CORNELIUS B. FOX, M.D., M.R.C.P. Lond.
Medical Officer of Health of East, Central and South Essex, Fellow of the British
and Member of the Scottish Meteorological Societies
AUTHOR OF "OZONE AND ANTOZONE:" "WHERE-WHEN-WHY-How-
IS OZONE OBSERVED IN THE ATMOSPHERE?" "WATER ANALYSIS
AS IT SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT BE PERFORMED BY THE
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH," ETC.
SECOND EDITION
LONDON
J. & A. CHURCHILL, NEW BURLINGTON STREET
1877
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS TO THE
FIRST EDITION.
དེ་
m
Two signs of sanitary progress cannot fail to be noticed at the
present time. The public are happily beginning to under-
stand: (1) that no one system of treating sewage is univers-
ally applicable; and (2) that, although great differences of
opinion may exist as to the best modes of dealing with the
sewage of towns, we are all unanimous in thinking that one
of the dry systems of excrement removal is best adapted to
the wants of a village. The great obstacle to the adoption.
of the dry systems amongst our rural population arises from
the difficulties attending the disposal of slop water. I shall
endeavour to show in the following pages what these difficul-
ties are, and how they may be overcome.
C. B. F.
CHELMSFORD, ESSEX,
December, 1874.
35898
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
THE demand for a Second Edition of this brochure furnishes
me with an opportunity for its revision and amendment,
which will, I trust, render it more worthy of the kind
appreciation with which it has been received by that portion
of the Public who take an interest in the efforts that are now
in progress, having for their object the improvement of the
national health.
CHELMSFORT, ESSEX,
February, 1877.
C. B. F.
THE DISPOSAL
OF THE
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
ONE of the greatest difficulties with which Health Officers
in rural districts have to contend arises from the inability to
dispose satisfactorily of the slop water. It lies about in
ditches, creating the most offensive odours, especially in
summer and autumn, when decomposition is most rapid.
Let us ask ourselves the following practical questions, and
then endeavour to find the answers.
1. Of what does slop water consist?
2. What has usually become of slop water?
3. What does the law enable us to do with slop water?
4. What should be done with slop water?
1. OF WHAT DOES SLOP WATER CONSIST ?
Slop water may be said to consist of soapy water, rain,
dirty water containing fatty substances, etc., and a small
quantity of urine. In many villages this mixture receives
the overflow of cesspools, and sometimes the liquid manure
of farm-yards. In villages where a dry system of excrement
removal is carried out, fæcal matter is never mingled with
the slop water.
2. WHAT HAS USUALLY BECOME OF SLOP WATER?
Hitherto the slops of a village have usually either found
their way into a neighbouring watercourse, or have passed
into a ditch, where they evaporate, creating the most noxious
6
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
odours. A perhaps still more objectionable mode of disposal,
which appears to be fashionable amongst some villagers, in
imitation of the practice of Londoners in the olden time, is to
throw the slops out of the bedroom windows on to the road
beneath, to the danger of pedestrians.
3. WHAT DOES THE LAW ENABLE US TO DO WITH SLOP
WATER?
66
Having recommended a dry system of excrement removal
for a little village afflicted with cesspool fever,* and possessed
of a manufactory which produces 10,000 gallons of waste
water daily, I felt myself in a dilemma as to what should be
done with the slops. The slop water daily flowing from the
village, when mingled with such a large quantity of waste
water, and with the average daily proportion of rain, was
found by me to be quite unrecognizable as slops. It had no
offensive odour, nor did it acquire any after it had been kept
for some time. It had simply the appearance of slightly dirty
water. It would have been an exaggeration to have called it
'filthy water" which a sanitary authority is not "author-
ized” to pass into a watercourse. Now the most ready mode
of ridding the village of this immense amount of dirty water
(which was, in fact, exceedingly dilute slop water), was to
shunt it all into a neighbouring canal used for navigation,
the water of which is never employed by any one for
drinking purposes. Knowing that the law as to the pollu-
tion of watercourses with sewage (the major evil) has been,
from the costly nature of the legal proceedings and from other
causes, practically inoperative in the past, I felt confident
that anything like the prevention of the entrance of filthy
water much less of slightly dirty water into rivers and canals,
the water of which is never used for drinking purposes, was
* An old-fashioned name for enteric or typhoid fever, found to be
useful in the attempts to prevent the pollution of wells by cesspools.
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
7
in the existing state of the law and public opinion almost
impossible, if a sanitary authority were resolved thus to
dispose of its waste water. The doubt then arose as to
whether slop water, which always contains a certain amount
of excremental matters, namely urine, is included under the
term sewage. Remembering the penalties with which those
are threatened (?) who foul watercourses with sewage, I asked
the legal adviser of the rural sanitary authority the question
-"Is slop water to be regarded as sewage?" and received
as a reply an emphatic affirmative. Feeling that it would be
ridiculous to term such a compound, as I have above de-
scribed, sewage, and hoping that it might be possible to pass
this exceedingly dilute slop water into the canal, I asked the
Local Government Board, on February 16th, 1874, the
following questions:-
1. Is slop water included under the title of sewage, for, if
so, it is of course clearly illegal to convey it into rivers; or
does the word sewage imply the presence of fæcal matter?
If slop water really is sewage, it becomes a very important
question as to how it is to be dealt with in cases where dry
systems of excrement removal are adopted.
2. Is it illegal to convey slop water free from all fæcal
matter into a canal, solely employed for navigation purposes,
in direct communication with the sea, the water of the canal
not being employed for drinking purposes?
3. Would it be illegal to convey into a watercourse slop
water free from fæcal matter, and rendered odourless by the
admixture of a little tar, lime, and chloride of magnesium?
A letter of the Local Government Board, dated July 30th,
1874, and signed by Danby P. Fry, Esq., Assist.-Secretary,
contained the subjoined answers to these queries, which
involve considerations of the highest interest and importance.
"As regards the first question which you have submitted
to the Board, I am directed to state, that looking to the
8
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
decision of Kindersley, V.C., in Sutton v. Mayor of Nor-
wich, 31 L. T., 380; 27 L. J., ch. 739, it appears to them
that mere slop water, without fæcal matter, is not sewage,
within the strict meaning of that term. If, however, such
water were allowed to flow into ditches, or into ponds, and
create a nuisance, it might be dealt with under the provisions
of the Nuisances Removal Acts.
"In reply to your second question, I am directed to state
that the Board do not consider that under the Sanitary Acts
it would be illegal, under ordinary circumstances, to convey
slop water into a canal communicating with a river or with
the sea, if the volume of the slop water is but small, as com-
pared with that of the water in the canal.
"With respect to your third question, it might not be
illegal, in the sense of an offence against the sanitary laws,
to convey the slop water, whether deodorized or not, into a
watercourse; but in such a case there might occur a breach
of private rights."
Although the decision of the law officers of the Local
Government Board, that the word "sewage" necessarily
implies the presence of fæcal matter, may relieve sanitary
authorities of a difficulty in cases where there is no possi-
bility of satisfactorily disposing of slop water, on account
of the existence of an almost impervious clay soil, or from
other causes, yet I regard this definition as calculated to be
attended in some cases by most undesirable results. In fact
I already hear of a case where a gentleman, resting on this
opinion, persists in fouling a small watercourse with his slops,
and defies the sanitary authority who called on him to divert
his drainage.
66
The Lancet of September 5th, 1874, contained some
editorial comments on Slops and Sewage," which, whilst
misrepresenting my statements, refers to the meaning of the
word fæculent. Now the word fæculent, like the word
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
9
sewage, and many other words in the English language (and
I apprehend the English language is not peculiar in this
respect), have acquired a meaning that they did not origi
nally possess. Sewer, so the etymological dictionaries tell
us, is derived from the old French verb "issir," to issue,
and did not always signify a drain or passage underground.
The word has, as Vice-Chancellor Kindersley remarked, in
the case of "Sutton v. the Mayor of Norwich," quoted by
the Local Government Board, an extended signification, em-
bracing works on the largest scale, such as the draining of
the fens of Lincolnshire by means of canals, etc. We hear
much in this county of Essex about Sewer Commissioners
who are concerned with the inroads occasionally made by the
sea on the flat lands bordering the same. But the word has
come to mean something more than all this. Sewage, or the
contents of a sewer, is generally understood to consist of all
excremental matters, in addition to soap-suds, rain-water, and
a variety of other substances. The word fæculent, originally
derived from the Latin word "fæx," sediment, in fact solid
matter, has come to be applied in these days to those excre-
mental matters which are derived from the intestines, to
the exclusion of those discharged from the kidneys. Now
the decision of Vice-Chancellor Kindersley, in this case of
"Sutton v. the Mayor of Norwich," contains these words :-
"In the common sense of the term the word sewer means a
large, and generally, though not always, underground passage
for fluid and fæculent matter, from a house or houses to some
other locality."
On this case the law officers of the Local Government
Board have based their view that the word sewage necessarily
implies the presence of fæcal matter-in other words, of
sedimentary or solid matters, such as come from the
intestines.
On receiving this reply as to the signification of the word
10
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
sewage, a desire was naturally felt by me to know how it
could be reconciled with the existing law relative to the
admission of excremental matters into watercourses. Accord-
ingly the following query was submitted to the Local
Government Board, on October 22nd, 1874:—
"The decision of the Local Government Board, as conveyed
to me in the answer to the first question (contained in my
letter of February 16th, 1874), is to the effect that slop water
is not sewage, for the word 'sewage' implies the presence
of fæcal matter; and in the answer to the third query, that
it is legal to pass slop water into a watercourse, subject to
certain limitations.
"How is this opinion of the Local Government Board
reconciled with the interpretation of the words 'sewer' and
'drain,' as contained in the Public Health Act, 1848, cap.
63, and with section 80 of the same Act, and with section
11 of the Sewage Utilization Act of 1865?"
The answer, which was dated October 29th, 1874, and
signed by Francis Fletcher, Esq., Assistant-Secretary, was
briefly the following:-
"In their letter of July 30th last the Local Government
Board gave you the authority of one of the Vice-Chancellors
for the interpretation which they believe is to be given to
the terms 'sewer' and 'sewage.' If any case arises under
the 11th and 12th Vict. cap. 63, sec. 80, it may be shown
that something else than sewage was passed in the streams
and watercourses therein referred to, and that case will be
decided upon its own facts.
"As to section 11 of the 28th and 29th Vict. c. 75, the
Board fail to see its application to the question."
A reviewer of the first edition of this pamphlet* makes
the following remarks on this verdict of the Local Govern-
* Practitioner, August, 1875.
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
11
ment Board :-"In the decision of the Vice-Chancellor
already quoted, it is considered by the legal officials of the
Board that the word fæculent has not its ordinary meaning,
but that it is used with a special limitation to fœcal, in the
sense of excremental matter, that is, ordure. That is to say,
that the learned judge, when speaking of the common usage
of a word (sewer) which had other and wider applications,
interposed without explanation another word having a
received common meaning in a strictly technical sense!
Turning to the last edition of Webster, we find of fæculent,
'foul extraneous, or impure substances; abounding with
sediment or excrementitious matter; muddy, thick, turbid.'
Then again, it is equally implied that the judge set aside the
common meaning of 'sewage,' namely, the contents of a
sewer, refuse liquids, or matters carried off by sewers
(Webster), substituting a wholly unrecognized and previously
unheard of definition. And again, it is further implied that
the definition of sewers' and drains,' and the usage
throughout the Sanitary Acts of 'drainage' and 'sewage' as
convertible terms, must be interpreted with reference to this
opinion of Vice-Chancellor Kindersley as to a limited common
usage! It may be so, but as the whole of this series of cross-
meanings rests upon the signification presumed to have been
attached to the word 'fæculent' by the Vice-Chancellor, we
are disposed to think that he used the word not in the sense
assigned, but in its common accepted sense, just as he was
speaking of sewers in 'the common sense of the term.'
•
It is of course impossible to know with certainty as to
what ideas pervaded the mind of the Vice-Chancellor when
he employed the word "fæculent" which, as said before,
means literally solid or sedimentary matters, and has gradu-
ally come to be applied exclusively to intestinal excretions.
In certain cases this definition of the Local Government
Board will undoubtedly tend to be productive of effects
12
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
beneficial to the public health, in enabling rural sanitary
authorities to get rid of the slop water (where dry systems
of excrement removal are adopted) which can not be other-
wise disposed of than by shunting it into a neighbouring
canal or large navigable river.
The evil results likely to flow from this decision are mani-
fest. It virtually admits the legality of allowing slop water
to pass into watercourses used for drinking purposes, provided
the slops are small in amount compared with the quantity of
water in the stream. We all know how extremely undesir-
able, and in many cases dangerous, it would be to trust to
the oxidizing and diluent properties of water in cases where
we have to deal with the careless and thoughtless agricultural
poor. As regards the poison of cholera we know that if an
infinitesimal amount obtains access to the body of man
through the agency of water, that it will generally reproduce
itself. I maintain, then, that to permit slop water to be
admitted into a watercourse used for drinking purposes is
a retrograde step, not only extremely objectionable on sani-
tary grounds, but in some cases dangerous.
It appears from the recently acquired experience of the
Basford Rural Sanitary Authority, that, although the Local
Government Board has declared that the admission of slop
water into a watercourse is not illegal, if the volume of the
slops is but small as compared with that of the watercourse,
it will not sanction the adoption of this mode of disposal, so
that such a scheme could only be carried out by a sanitary
authority independent of Government interference and pecu-
niary assistance. The Basford Rural Sanitary Authority
wished to pass the slop water of a small village into the
Trent-one of the largest and fastest rivers in England-and
applied for the sanction of the Local Government Board
to the borrowing of £400 to provide the system of pipe
sewerage for so doing, with the result above stated. Burton
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
13
Joyce, the village referred to, possesses a dry system of
excrement removal, but knows not how to rid itself of its
slop water, now that the only feasible mode of disposal is
denied it. The Inspector of the Local Government Board,
whilst disapproving of the direct admission of the slops of
400 persons into the Trent-a very deep and always rapid
river--the water of which is never drunk below the village,
where it is 90 yards in width, suggested that the slop water
should previously be passed over half an acre of ploughed
land. This proposal is quite impracticable without pumping,
the expense of which could not be saddled on a small village.
The Medical Officer of Health of the authority, whilst
furnishing me with this information, animadverts in very
strong language on the inconsistency of the refusal of the
Board to sanction a scheme pronounced by itself to be not
illegal, and on the "iniquity" of the alternative, namely,
"the stagnation into putrescence of slop water close to every
dwelling."
The reviewer already referred to writes: "Dr. Fox
overlooks the fact that the question here was not of slop
water but of the outlet of a sewer, and that sanitary autho-
rities are debarred from making a sewer which shall drain
into any stream or watercourse by the Sewage Utilization Act
of 1865, section 11." My reply to this argument is that if
slop water is not sewage, as declared by the Local Govern-
ment Board, then the pipe or tube conveying it cannot be
termed a sewer. Webster's definition of the word sewage,
which the reviewer himself quotes, is confirmatory of this
view.
་
The Public Health Act of 1875 contains in Clause 17 a
slight increase of power, over that conferred by the pre-exist-
ing Sanitary Acts which it repeals, on this question ofthe
fouling of watercourses. The River Pollution Act of 1876,
which is directed against the introduction into streams of solid
14
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
rubbish, of the poisonous and noxious water from mines and
factories, and of solid and liquid sewage, does not affect the
point at issue. As the law at present stands, then, a Local
Authority is not "authorized" by any Act of Parliament to
make or use any outfall, be it even a ditch or a furrow, for the
purpose of conveying filthy water, as for example slop water,
into any watercourse, be it pond, canal, lake, or any stream
whatsoever, until freed from all foul matter, although no one
is rendered liable to a penalty for so doing.
4. WHAT SHOULD BE DONE WITH SLOP WATER ?
Since addressing the Public Medicine Section of the
British Medical Association at Norwich, on August 14th,
1874, relative to the "Disposal of the Slop Water of
Villages," I have been represented as advocating the dis-
charge of the slop water of all villages into the nearest
watercourse! This fictitious statement has been made because
I express my satisfaction when I discover that the law
enables one to throw into a canal (the water of which is not
used for drinking purposes) slop water so diluted with waste
water as to render it unrecognizable as slops, in circumstances
where no other means of satisfactorily dealing with the mix-
ture is available! I am as much an enemy to such a crude
method of getting over the difficulty as those who misin-
terpret me. I feel convinced, however, that to rid ourselves.
of slops which, when compared with sewage containing fæcal
matter, are of little value, by allowing them to flow into the
sea in a manner in which they can do no injury (such as by
a canal used for navigation purposes, or by a large, rapid, and
muddy river, the water in either case being never drunk), in
circumstances where no other means for disposing of them is
practicable, would be advantageous to the public health.
Sanitarians, especially those who are not medical men or
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
15
chemists, seem to lose sight of, or be ignorant of, the value
of pure air and water, not only in the replacement of
healthy life for diseased life, but as the great destroyers and
neutralisers of the animal poisons. As an abundance of pure
air is Nature's medicine for the cure of a great variety of
ailments, so is it the great disinfectant. It contains three
great purifying agents, ozone, nitrous acid, and peroxide of
hydrogen, renowned for their disinfecting properties. The
mode of disinfection named " 'weathering," which consists in
the free exposure of infected articles of clothing to the air,
wind, rain, and sun, is undoubtedly most efficient and most
certain. The great objection to it is that it is slow. The
third great universal disinfector is fire.
I desire to remind sanitarians that the animal poisons
which produce the zymotic diseases, when rendered exceed-
ingly dilute by their admixture, either with a large quantity
of air, or with a large quantity of water, become innocuous.
The disinfection of a room by the constant admission of fresh
air is not only accomplished by oxidation through the instru-
mentality of the chemical agents it contains, but partly also
by the dilution of the animal poison. There is a certain
safety in the dilution of poisons; less so, however, in the
case of some poisons, that of cholera, for example, than with
others. All Edinburgh graduates will recollect that it was
customary at the Edinburgh Infirmary to mingle cases of
typhus fever in the general wards of the hospital with
patients suffering from chronic disease, instead of having
them all collected together in a fever ward. It was found
that, if a certain number of fever cases were interspersed
with the other patients, no danger resulted to them or to the
students; but that if this number was exceeded, in other
words, if the poison was not sufficiently diluted, evil con-
sequences resulted. Like air, water in large quantity not
only destroys the animal poisons by the oxidation that is
16
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
continually proceeding within it, but renders them harmless
by dilution.
I, for one, would not for a moment fear to drink the water
of a canal into which the slop water containing the urine and
skin-washings of a case of scarlet fever had passed, provided
that the water be collected at some distance below the point
at which the poisonous matters entered, so as to ensure a
copious dilution of the poison, although I have never been
affected with the disease. In fact I have done so inadvert-
ently, and received no harm. Let us never forget, then, that
the great universal antagonists to the multiplication and
spread of the diseases produced by the animal poisons are
fire, air, and water; and that air and water not only act on
them, so as to render them harmless, by virtue of their
powers of oxidation, but by diluting them.
A very interesting paper appeared in Public Health, of
January 16th, 1874, from the pen of that able sanitarian,
Dr. Alfred Carpenter, entitled "Suggestions for the Sanitary
Arrangements of Villages." It is written with especial
reference to the village of Hayes, respecting which he had been
consulted. After indicating the evils which are patent in
nearly every village, such as stinking cesspools, polluted water,
filthy ditches, etc., he gives a description of the manner in
which a village should be converted from an insanitary to a
healthful condition. He advises authorities: (1) to fill up the
cesspools and adopt some dry system of excrement removal;
(2) to protect the wells from pollution; and (3) to carry the
surface drainage into a large cesspool far away from any well
and overflowing into a watercourse, slop water being strictly
prevented from entering any road drain. He thinks that it
is unwise for a sparsely populated village to have sewers or a
constant water supply, for such a system would be too
expensive for the rates to bear. Now all this advice is most
excellent: I have endeavoured to inculcate these doctrines
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
17
for years.
W.C.'s are quite unadapted for villages, and
pan closets without water for flushing purposes are found
to be generally offensive. I most thoroughly endorse all
that Dr. Carpenter recommends for villages. There is one
weak point, however, one flaw in the scheme for the village.
What is to become of the slop water? Where is the cottager
to throw the soap suds? They are most certainly not to be
thrown into the pail which receives the excrement. Are they
to be thrown into the nearest ditch, or on the ground just
outside the back door? If the first course is adopted they
create a stench, and if the second plan is carried out the soil
behind the cottage becomes sodden with filth. If slop water
be continually thrown on a small spot of ground the soil soon
becomes most offensive. There are a great many plans which
have been suggested for the disposal of slop water. Space
will not permit me to refer to any but those which are in
my opinion most likely to meet the requirements of our
villages.
Filtration—
1. Filters, after the Bradford pattern.
2. Filter recommended by Mr. Haviland.
3. Dr. Bond's slop tub filter.
Tanks―
4. Cesspool or Tank in porous soils.
5. Subsidence Tanks.
Surface-, subsoil-, sub-irrigation, and intermittent down-
ward subterranean filtration-
6. Sub-irrigation of gardens.
7. Surface and subsoil irrigation and downward inter-
mittent subterranean filtration of the slop water
of villages.
B
18
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
Conveyance into rivers, etc.-
8. Admission of slop water rendered exceedingly dilute
by the waste water of manufactories into canals
and large, rapid rivers, and into tidal estuaries.
Other modes-
9. Open square box with long sheet-iron pipe.
10. Earth filtration through bank of ditch.
11. An osier bed.
FILTRATION.
A great variety of substances have been employed for
filtering sewage, such as flints, gravel, straw, wood and animal
and peat charcoal, sand, finely crushed burnt clay or broken
bricks, scraps of old iron, coke screenings, ashes, cocoa
matting, sanitary carbon ("Blackstone" a bituminous shale
consisting of animal matter, lime, etc., which is carbonized),
etc. etc., and an immense amount of money has been spent in
constructing tanks and beds to contain one or more of these
filtering materials. I am acquainted with about forty-six
filters throughout the country, and there are doubtless more.
It must be candidly acknowledged that not half-a-dozen of
this large number act in a satisfactory manner. Happily the
filtration of slop water is attended with less difficulty than
that of sewage, although it requires some care. It has been
proposed to char tan, which, being a waste product, is very
cheap, and employ it for slop water filters. The great objec-
tion to peat charcoal is its price, which is at present £3 per
ton. Sanitary carbon would seem, however, to be still more
expensive, being for small quantities 8s. per cwt. There can
be no doubt but that filthy water undergoes a decided purifi-
cation by its passage over rusty iron, as analyses which I
have made prove. The materials of which the silicated car-
bon filter is composed, which are believed to be the silicate
of alumina, vegetable charcoal, etc., possess a powerfully
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
19
cleansing effect on dirty water. The following analyses show
the effect of one of these filters over foul well-water:-
Parts per Million.

Ammonia. Alb. Ammonia.
Before filtration, 03
•42
After filtration,
42
⚫04
Here we perceive a demonstration of its property of convert-
ing nitrogenous organic matter into free ammonia. I am not
aware that this material has yet been brought forward in a
rough cheap form for the purification of slop water.
1. Filters, after the Bradford pattern.
Much may be learnt as to the filtration of excremental
FIG. 1.

BRADFORD FILTER TANKS.
matters, etc., from the experience gained by those who have
made experiments on the best modes of managing filters at
20
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
Bradford. The result of their trials is to the effect that
upward filtration is a mistake. Why? As the lowest layer
of filtering material in a tank is first exposed to the current
of filthy water, this portion soonest becomes useless, and
requires to be removed. To do this, it is necessary to com-
pletely empty a tank. On the other hand, when downward
filtration is adopted, the layer of filtering material with which
the fluid filth first comes into contact is on the surface, and
can readily be removed, and replaced by fresh, whenever
necessary.
The slop water, after having passed through an iron grid
or strainer to remove solid matters, runs slowly into tanks
furnished with peat charcoal and coke screenings of various
degrees of coarseness, and ashes. Slop water, not containing
fæcal matter, and but a small quantity of urine, is of course
not rich enough to render the peat charcoal, etc., of much
value commercially. It is, therefore, satisfactory to know
that the peat charcoal can be employed over and over again
after having been reburnt, during which process it loses very
little in weight.
Peat charcoal is prepared by charring together peat and
clay. There are works near Bolton, in Lancashire, where it
is prepared. The cleansing and precipitating powers of the
alumina of clay are well known. The addition of clay to peat
enables peat charcoal to travel as ballast, which makes a con-
siderable difference in the expense of transit. The almost
immediate removal of stench from sewage by peat charcoal
is very striking.
2. Filter recommended by Mr. Haviland,
A filter of the accompanying pattern, Fig. 2, which has
been recommended by Mr. Haviland, has been employed in
Northamptonshire:-
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
21
The tank is constructed with louvre boards, a, a, a, a,
The material used
which are directed against the current.
is peat charcoal, ashes, and gravel. Mr.
Haviland states that the water makes
its exit quite clear enough for admission
to any watercourse that is not used
for drinking purposes near its point of
entrance.
Wherever filters after the Bradford
or the Northamptonshire patterns are
adopted for purifying slop water, there
must always be a special provision for
the removal of flood or storm water,
which should not be permitted to enter
a filter.
3. Dr. Bond's Slop-Tub Filter.
It has been suggested by Dr. Bond
that, in cases where no land is available
for the purpose of sub-irrigation, the
slops of each cottage be dealt with by
means of a slop-tub filter, Fig. 3, of the
following construction :—
A is a common wooden barrel holding
from forty to sixty gallons, with a tap
(B) at the bottom, to which is attached
one end of an india-rubber tube, the
other end of which is fastened to a
floating strainer (D). On the top of the
tub is placed a loose metallic sieve (E),
which is intended to prevent large sub-
a
FIG. 2.

LOUVRE BOARDS, ɑ, ɑ, α, α.
stances, such as potato peelings, etc., from finding their way
into the barrel, and blocking up the drain-hole at the bottom.
The mode of employing the tub, in the case of soapy waters,
22
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
!
is as follows: the slops are poured into the tub until it is as
full as is convenient; a sufficient* quantity of a mixture of
sulphate of iron and sulphate of alumina having been then
added, the liquid is stirred up for a few seconds, and allowed
to stand for a time, which will vary from an hour or two to
two or three days, according to the nature of the slops. At
FIG. 3.

E
A
D
DIAGRAM OF DE. BOND'S SLOF-TUB FILTER.
* One pound is sufficient to clarify from 50 to 100 gallons. The
exact quantity necessarily depends upon the strength of the slops in
each case, i.e., upon the amount of soap which they contain. A
little practice will soon enable any one to estimate this exactly, so as
to just add enough powder to precipitate the fatty matters.
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
23
its expiration the whole of the fat of the soap will have
separated, and risen to the top or fallen to the bottom,
leaving only a certain amount of flocculent matter (sulphate
of lime, resin of soap, &c.) suspended in the water. If
sufficient time be allowed, the greater part of this will settle
to the bottom, and the water may in this way be obtained
quite clear. This result can be promoted by covering the
strainer with a piece of linen (in the shape of a bag). By
this means the water may be at once drained off as clear as
it came from the well.
The scum, which partly collects on the surface of the water
in the tub from which it may be readily skimmed off by a
bowl, and partly falls to the bottom of the tub where it can
be run off by the vent provided for the purpose, may be
thrown upon the ash-heap, if there is no more ready means of
utilizing it. It forms an excellent food for pigs, especially
if mixed with a little meal, with which it makes a most
fattening composition.
In addition to its application for the above purpose, the
precipitating tub affords a ready means of enabling butchers
to deal with all their bloody waters in such a way that, whilst
the albumen which they contain can be saved and used for
manure, or other suitable purposes, nothing but perfectly
clear and sweet water need escape from the premises. For
this purpose it is only necessary to collect the bloody waters,
which are formed by rinsing the slaughter-house, etc., in a
tub, cesspool, or other receptacle, and then to empty them
into the precipitating tub. If a handful or two of a powder
composed of a mixture of the sulphates of copper and
alumina with the dichromate of potash be then thrown in, in
a time which will vary from a few minutes to a few hours,
according to the amount of blood present, a dense sediment
of albumen will settle down to the bottom of the tub, and a
perfectly clear liquid remain above, which may be run off
24
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
into a ditch or drain, or used again for washing the slaughter-
house.
As these filters, so far as I am aware, have not been tried
on even a small scale, it is impossible to give an opinion
as to how they work when practically tested amongst cot-
tagers. The arrangement seems ingenious. I should fear,
however, that the wife of the average agricultural labourer
would prefer a more rough-and-ready mode of disposing of
her slop water, and that she is not yet sufficiently educated
in sanitary matters as to take any interest in maintaining
such a barrel in a clean state. Every one knows that the
toilet pans which are employed in bedrooms for receiving
soapy water, soon acquire and emit most foul odours, unless
they are daily cleansed.
My doubts as to the practical applicability of the foregoing
method of dealing with refuse waters have been verified since
writing the first edition of this pamphlet. I do not learn that
this chemical treatment of slops has been adopted amongst
any rural community.
TANKS.
4. Cesspool or Tank in porous soil.
A very simple mode of disposing of a small quantity of
slop water, such as that from one or two cottages, is to make
a cesspool or tank far away from all wells, springs, or other
sources of water supply, with one or two holes at its base, or
with uncemented sides. The slop water all passes into this
little reservoir, and slowly soaks or leaks away at its lowest
point, or through its walls, into the surrounding soil. This
plan can only be carried out successfully in the case of freely
porous soil, and where the amount of slop water is small.
The tank should be made where the land has a slight incline.
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
25
5. Subsidence Tanks.
I find that a succession of tanks one overflowing into that
next to it have been constructed in some places for the
disposal of slop water. In each tank a certain deposit
takes place, the last in the series (in other words the tank
most distant from the outfall), which delivers the effluent
water, receiving the smallest quantity of solid impurities.
Lime has been used in these tanks for the purpose of pre-
cipitating suspended matters. Unfortunately, filth in a state
of solution is not dealt with in this mode of disposal.
Dissolved nitrogenous organic matter is not by this process
oxidized or otherwise rendered harmless. If tanks of this
kind are employed crude alum is certainly preferable to lime,
for it possesses greater precipitating powers, and it is not
open to the objection attached to lime of causing the evolu
tion of ammonia when mixed with house drainage.
SURFACE, SUBSOIL-, SUB-IRRIGATION, AND INTERMITTENT
DOWNWARD SUBTERRANEAN FILTRATION.
6. Sub-irrigation of Gardens.
The disposal of house slops, by spreading them in a gradual
manner beneath the surface, is a subject which is attracting
great public interest, promising, as it does, to solve the
problem as to the best method of dealing, in villages where
dry systems of excrement removal are adopted, with those
portions of its products which are least valuable.
The scheme as applied to an isolated house or a group of
houses is essentially the same as in the case of villages with
certain modifications. It consists in the utilization of the
slop water produced by each house in its own garden by
passing it through the subsoil in common land drain pipes
furnished with a flush tank. The slop water of a single
26
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
cottage is generally so small in amount that it does not force
itself any distance along the pipes, but lies in one place, and
gradually chokes them. The construction of what has been
PLAN OF COTTAGES AND GARDENS AT SHENFIELD, ESSEX,
WHERE FLUSH TANKS ARE IN USE.

FIG. 4.
SUPPLY
للسلب
T
T
WHISKAROS
WATER
OS
SCALE.66 FEET = ONE INCH
100
TO BRENTWOOD
محمد
TT Flush Tanks.
Thick black lines from tanks represent the water-tight drains.
Thinner black lines represent the sub-irrigation drains.
Double lines between the thin black lines indicate the land drains.
Square black dots represent the little inspection wells.
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
27
called "a weeping drain" in the garden or an adjoining field
proves itself to be practically a very inefficient and trouble-
some mode of ridding a cottager of his slop water. A Field's
tank, called also "a self-acting flush tank," collects the
small quantities of liquid, and discharges itself when full
intermittently with a sudden flush. The slops pass out
at the open joints of the pipes into the soil to feed the
vegetation.
This plan has been practically carried out in a portion of
my district, where it has been now working for eight years
with success.
Each cottage possesses seven perches of garden, on which
the occupier grows his vegetables, and beneath the surface of
which his slop water is distributed. The sub-irrigation drains
consist of common two-inch agricultural pipes, laid about twelve
inches below the surface. These pipes are laid on a con-
tinuous bed, formed by dividing larger pipes longitudinally
into two equal parts, so that the two-inch pipes can be taken up,
2INLAND
Fig. 5.
DRAIN PIPES
BED
cleared, and relaid, by an ordinary labourer, with the certainty
that they will be replaced in perfect line and level. It was
intended that the pipes should be taken up and cleared every
year when first laid down, but they were left undisturbed for
nearly three years, without being sufficiently choked to pre-
vent the escape of the slops at the joints into the soil. The
soil of these cottages, being a loamy clay, is under-drained.
This mode of disposing of slop water is a very excellent
one in many cases, but is not universally applicable. Some
cottages have no gardens or only very small ones. Again, the
gardens of some cottages rise from the back doors to their
extremities. Those of others are very steep, in which case the
28
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
one.
slop water would not, in all probability, be absorbed, but would
run through the ground. In certain cases, where facilities
exist for the adoption of this method, it is a most efficient
Gardens which possess an almost imperceptible slope
from the back doors, which contain a porous soil, which are
not less than seven perches in area, which are far away from all
springs and wells, and in which vegetables are grown, should
be selected. If it should be determined to try the method
in damp situations, the land should be underdrained, care
being taken to lay the land drains so that the slop water
from the sub-irrigation drains may not percolate direct to
them, if not absorbed by the vegetation, but shall be compelled
to pass through soil before reaching them.
The deposit in the "flush tank" requires to be cleared out
every two or three months, and is used as manure for the
garden. If a minute quantity of alum, or sulphate of iron
or a mixture of these salts, be occasionally thrown into the
tank, there will probably be little chance of the occurrence of
any obstruction in the agricultural drain pipes for a very
long period. The original flush tanks, as they exist at the
cottages in Shenfield, have several defects, which have been
overcome in the improved flush tank, Fig. 6, which will now
be described.
This apparatus consists of a cylindrical iron tank (A), with a
trapped inlet (B), which also forms a movable cover to give access to
the inside of the tank. The pipe from the sink discharges over the
grating of the inlet, as shown on the figure. c is a socket for a
ventilation pipe, D the syphon, the inner end of which is protected
by a wire strainer, E.
F is called the "discharging trough," con-
sisting of a small chamber, made to turn round so that its mouth
may be set in the direction that is required for connecting it with
the line of outlet pipes (G), and provided with a movable cover for
access to the mouth of the syphon. This "discharging trough"
is an important feature of the tank, as it is of a peculiar shape,
which, by checking the outflow of the liquid from the mouth of
the syphon, enables a smaller quantity of liquid flowing into the
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
29
tank to fill the bend of the syphon and set it fully in action. So
completely does this effect its purpose, that a hand bowl full of
water thrown down the sink, fitted with an ordinary bell trap and
pipe, will set the syphon in action when the tank is once full. The
sink pipe discharges over the grating of the trapped inlet (B) outside
the house, so that the connection between the drains and the house
is completely broken, and any entry of foul air rendered impossible.

FIG. 6.
སྲུང་དེ་་་་་དངོར་
B
I
៥
IMPROVED FLUSH TANK.
D
萬
​E
F
C
The top of the tank is perfectly closed by means of the water joint
round the cover, and the cover is readily removed when required.
The inlet, moreover, forms a basin, which may be used for throwing
down slops outside the house.
These tanks, which are made in stoneware of a size espe-
cially adapted for the cottages of labourers, can be purchased
of Messrs. Bailey & Co., Fulham, London, at 25s. each. Larger
sizes are also manufactured in stoneware at increased prices.
30
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
I
+
*
The Rev. Henry Moule, of earth closet celebrity, thus
describes his method for the disposal of the refuse water of a
cottage. He commences by supposing the cottager to be
possessed of sixteen perches of cultivable land, and of a family
ten in number, who daily produce three gallons a head :—
"Early in October let strips, the width of the spade, and,
from centre to centre three feet apart, be dug throughout the
whole of the ground; and as this digging proceeds let cabbage
plants be put in, twelve or eighteen inches apart in the line;
and let the thirty gallons of liquid manure be each day applied
to 120 feet of it. This would dispose of the refuse for twelve
days, during which 960 cabbages would be planted.
"On the completion of this work of planting and manuring,
the cottager will commence the careful digging or forking of
the intermediate spaces; and on every twelve yards of these
he will pour the daily supply of thirty gallons of refuse. The
whole space of 320 yards would thus receive a good supply of
manure within a month; and this watering (with or without
forking) might be repeated twice during the winter; and so
the liquid refuse would be disposed of for four months out of
the twelve. At the latter part of February the cropping of
the intermediate spaces should be commenced with parsnips,
broad beans, etc. (this might be done, if wished, in November);
and as this proceeds, during March the rows of cabbages
should receive three waterings, in the same order and in the
same proportion as that observed in October."
It would be a matter of great congratulation if a cottager
would interest himself in the disposal of that which he at
present regards as worthless, and would take the trouble to
utilize his slops on this plan of alternate cropping. Great
experience amongst the agricultural poor has taught me that,
* “National Health and Wealth Promoted by the General Adoption
of the Dry Earth System, including the Safe, Inoffensive, and
Profitable Disposal of Liquid Refuse, 1875."
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
31
:
for sanitary arrangements to succeed amongst them, self-
acting contrivances are almost indispensable, where the health
authority does not interpose with the scavenger and the
drain. Any devices which require more than the smallest
amount of attention and thoughtfulness are almost sure to
fail unless supervision of the strictest nature is maintained,
of a kind impossible in large districts which are unable to
support more than one inspector of nuisances. It is indeed a
matter of frequent complaint that the occupant of the isolated
cottage will not take the trouble to empty the pail of his
earth closet, but allows it to overflow and become a nuisance,
or that he will not pass the earth and ashes through the sieve,
which neglect leads to an obstruction in the hopper.
I fear that Mr. Moule's system for slop water disposal is a
generation or two in advance of the time when it may become
adopted, and that it is suited rather for the ideal cottager of
the future than for the clod of the present.
7. Surface and Subsoil Irrigation and Downward Intermittent
Subterranean Filtration of the Slop Water of Villages.
In circumstances where it is impossible, or considered
undesirable, to deal with the slops of each cottage in the
garden belonging to the same, and it is determined that the
slops of a whole village-in which a dry system of excrement
removal is decided upon-shall be utilized in the fertilization
of land, the question will arise as to whether surface irrigation
or subsoil irrigation, or intermittent subterranean filtration of
the slop water should be preferred. In the first place, I
cannot refrain from expressing my doubts as to the wisdom
of irrigating land on an extensive scale amongst the villages
of our rural districts, whether it be with slop water or with
sewage, impressed as I am with the fear that an augmenta-
tion of the amount of pulmonary consumption and other
32
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
tubercular affections might occur. Physicians well know
the intimate relation between dampness of soil and the
prevalence of these diseases. The continued maintenance of
acres of land in the immediate vicinity of nearly every village
in a wet state is a measure attended with some hazard, which
should not be overlooked.
Which, then, is the best mode of dealing with a large
quantity of slop water by irrigation? Is it wise to irrigate
the surface of the ground with it and endeavour to grow
crops on the same, or is it better to pass it through the
subsoil of meadow land?
Dr. Buck states that it is an error, in a pecuniary sense,
to throw away slops. In my opinion the value of slops is
not great. We know that almost everything in this world
is regulated by questions of £. s. d. The great objection to
sewage-irrigation farms is that they do not pay, and some
few people have made up their minds to put up with an
annual loss, and are content with this state of things, in order
to get rid of their sewage. Let us remember, by the way,
that, if the utilization of sewage by irrigation is to be the
established and universal mode (where applicable) of dis-
posing of it, we must be able to show, before, indeed, any
compulsory legislation can be possible, that it will either pay,
or that the annual loss will be a trifle. Now all this applies
to the mixture commonly known as sewage. If we cannot
make real sewage farms pay, is it likely that slop water farms
will yield any return? Although urine is in itself very
valuable, by reason of the large proportion of nitrogenous
matters and phosphates contained in it, the slop water of a
village is found to possess only a small quantity of it. The
urine which is excreted by the agricultural labourer and his
children, is rarely mixed with the soapsuds of the cottage,
but is usually distributed behind hedges, on the garden at-
tached to the cottage, in lanes, in the cesspools of schools, etc.
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
33
I
The mother of the family contributes at bedtime and on
rising in the morning the little that is mingled with the
soapy and dirty water which runs from the premises. If the
cottagers of Shenfield, whose gardens have been irrigated with
slop water for eight years, are asked whether they find that
the slops are of any service to the growth of the vegetables.
that they raise in them, they will reply that they are very
pleased to be able to free themselves of their slop water, but
that their vegetables grown on the gardens so treated do not
exhibit much benefit, if any, therefrom. They have, be it
remembered, some garden ground near their cottages which
is not irrigated, so that they possess ample opportunities for
judging of the productions of the soil with and without their
slop water.
Mr. Moule appears to consider that slop water is "the
unappreciated agent of much gain in garden stuff, beneficial
alike to body and purse." He writes thus of its value as
disposed of in the manner described on page 30:—“ I will
assume, as a kind of standard, the supposed cropping in the
month of March or April of the intermediate spaces with a
second set of 960 cabbages; and, on the removal of the first
set, I suppose an equal number of cauliflowers to supply their
place; and further, that between these and the second set of
cabbages, 100 dozen lettuces be grown; in all which cases
the watering will be as in the first instance. (This has been
done, in proportion to the space, on one perch of ground.)
The value of the cabbages, if used by the cottager's family,
or sold by him retail, would be a penny each; if sold to a
dealer in vegetables, a halfpenny each. I take the latter
value; and the worth of the two crops would be £4. The
cauliflowers ought to be worth as much; and the lettuces
ought to be equal to one crop of cabbages. So that on this
general but low estimate there might be raised out of sixteen
perches of ground as much as £10 by this regular application
C
34
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
of liquid refuse. Since, however, in any of these inter-
mediate spaces two lines of beans, or three drills of onions,
or of parsnips, or carrots, would greatly exceed in value one
row of cabbages, and in either case be succeeded by a crop
of savoys, the full value of the entire produce might fairly be
set at £15.
"I have myself on this plan grown on ninety square
feet
(one-third of a perch) 63 lbs. of potatoes, for which a dealer
in vegetables offered me 4s. 6d. ; and from a single row of
scarlet runners, eighteen feet long, I have had a produce even
larger than this."
A very careful experiment was recently made by me as to
the relative value of the contents of the earth closet and of
the slop water of a family, with the result that was antici-
pated. Ground was rendered three times more productive
by adding to it the fecal matter and urine of the closet;
whilst the slop water, consisting of the urine of the night,
mixed with a great deal of soapy and dirty water discharged
during the day, could hardly be considered as exhibiting any
very marked beneficial effect.
Soapsuds and greasy water, etc., are, of course, possessed of
a certain value, but when the excreta are added to them they
are vastly increased in worth. This mixture may be very pro-
fitably utilized, in the case of villages, by surface irrigation if
the liquid manure of farm homesteads can be combined with it.
Village sewage is very variable in quantity, sometimes being
nil, at other times merely dribbling away through the sewer,
and even losing itself within a few yards from the outlet,
where some rank grass may be observed to be growing,
whilst for a short period there may be a copious discharge.
It has been found indeed that the liquid discharged is so
variable in amount as to be unmanageable in farming by
irrigation. If success is to be attained in this distinct branch
of agriculture which requires a special knowledge and study,
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
35
H
GO
C
MATO
B
FIG. 7.
>
D
ليا
THE SEWAGE METER-TANK (SECTION).
▲, the meter-tank; B, the straining chamber. The strainer, consisting of coarse filtering material, is situated
between this chamber and the tank; c, sluice chamber, in which there are as many outlet pipes with sluices
attached as there are tanks, by which the sewage can be let into one or other of the tanks as desired; D, small weir
for keeping end of syphon covered by liquid; E, delivery pipe; F, pipe for draining off sediment by aid of sluice 1;
G storm overflow; H, sewer; 1, sluices; L, syphon.

36
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
the sewage must be under control, so as to apportion a quan-
tity of nourishment adapted to the number, age, and vigour
of the growing plants. To render village refuse manageable,
a tank has been invented by Messrs. Denton & Rogers Field,
into which it flows either in a dribble, or in a copious stream,
of such a capacity that when full it holds the precise quantity
which it is wished to apply to any given area of land at one
time. This tank is constructed on the same principle as the
Flush Tank Fig. 6, page 29, and is generally made in dupli-
cate to allow of cleansing without disuse. It is provided with
a syphon outlet which acts automatically whenever the tank
is full, by means of which the whole of its contents are
discharged at definite intervals over the land designed for
irrigation.
To secure the automatic service of the sewage to the precise
area intended to receive it during the night, if the meter-tank
should fill, it is only necessary that the attendant, before
leaving in the evening, should place the stops in the carriers
and in the furrows, to ensure as even a delivery and distribu-
tion in the dark as in the broad daylight. The sewage
collected in the meter-tank (which may have taken many
hours to fill) will often be discharged in a comparatively few
minutes, but the rate of discharge may be controlled by
regulating the size of the syphon, or by a tap in the outfall
limb of the syphon, so as to deliver just the quantity
required to ensure even distribution under every variety of
circumstances.
This meter may be seen at work at Eastwick, near Leather-
head, in Surrey, where it has been in operation for about
four years. Eastwick is a little village of thirteen houses,
and possesses a population of about 145. The mixture of
liquid house refuse and the liquid manure of a large farm and
piggeries is received into a tank of 500 gallons capacity,
which discharges itself in dry weather three times in two
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
37
t
L

11
CHURCH
EASTWICK FARM
FIG. 8.
EASTWICK
2
VILLAGE
METER TANK
MHOLE
OYER
VRRIGHTED
LAND
c 2
B
38
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
K
days. It is directed successively on different portions of
three roods and three perches of land which is prepared for
the purpose. In place of the slop and farm nuisance that
formerly existed when all liquid refuse was allowed to flow
into the ditches and there decompose, a remunerative disposal
of the filth in farming has been substituted. The steward of
the estate estimates the value of the crops obtained at
£32 10s. per acre per annum, and the outlay in attendance
upon the land and the meter-tank at £7 16s. Although the
irrigated land is near the mansion not the slightest annoyance
is experienced by its inmates.
The disposal of village slop water by subsoil irrigation in
meadow land is preferable to surface irrigation, where it is
not possible to combine with it the valuable nitrogenous
waste of the farm yard. We know from experience that
meadows can be made to produce an enormous amount of
grass by passing through the subsoil soapy and dirty water.
It is true that the grass thus produced is often rank, and is
disliked by farmers, who tell us that it scours their cattle.
This mode of disposal of slop water is, of course, only appli-
cable in case of porous soils. Mr. Hope, V.C., informs us,
as the result of his experience in farming, that rank grass
grown on porous soils does not affect cattle injuriously.
The intermittent downward subterranean filtration of slop
water is undoubtedly one of the best, if not the best, means
of dealing with this troublesome mixture. The success
achieved at Merthyr Tydvil, where this system for the utiliza-
tion of sewage is in active operation, is mainly due to the
following facts, which have been clearly pointed out by
Mr. Arnold Taylor to the late President of the Local Govern-
ment Board in his Report of November 8th, 1872 :-
1. "The surface soil is light and of a kind the best suited
for active filtration ;
2. "The subsoil, a deep bed of open, porous water-charged
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
39
gravel, not only acts most favourably as a natural filter,
but also gives to the sewage liquid, after it has passed
through 6 ft. of earth, some three or four times its own
bulk of pure water.”
These are circumstances conducive to success which cannot,
as he rightly remarks, be easily found in combination. When
they do occur, advantage should certainly be taken of their
existence by the purification of the slop water of a village
through this natural air and water filter.
It has been considered needful to employ three or four
acres of land for the utilization of the slops of between 800
to 1,000 persons, if simple irrigation is selected; and about
half to three-quarters of an acre for the same number of
people, if the subsoil is porous and the intermittent filtration
system is adopted.
CONVEYANCE INTO RIVERS.
8. Admission of Slop Water, unrecognizable as such, into
Canals, or large and rapid Rivers, or into Tidal
Estuaries.
If neither of the several methods herein described is
practicable, I see no objection, on medical and scientific
grounds, to the admission of slop water-rendered exceed-
ingly dilute by the waste water of factories--into a caual, or
large and rapid river, or tidal estuary below the line of low
water, where there is always an abundance of water to still
further dilute it, the water of which is never used for
drinking purposes. I know all that can be said against
the admission of any excretal matters into water-courses.
I cannot help, however, remembering that four processes
are continually at work engaged in the purification of slop
water, and destruction of any animal poison contained in it,
40
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
which commences directly it passes into a large body of
water.
1. Purification by subsidence. 2. Purification by water
plants. 3. Oxidation. 4. Dilution.
Dr. Letheby, indeed, maintains that if sewage is mixed
with twenty times its bulk of water, and flows for nine miles,
it will be perfectly oxidized.*
It appears extremely undesirable to relax the law, in any
way, as regards the pollution of rivulets and streams, but
rather to draw it tighter. I cannot but believe, however,
that in cases where other modes of dealing with village slop
water is impracticable, it would conduce to public health to
make some exception to the rule as regards waste water,
which in many cases cannot be truly said to pollute. The
slops of a small village, mixed daily with a large quantity of
waste water from a manufactory (containing no objectionable
refuse) situated within it, must, after this addition, be for all
practical purposes regarded as waste water. The waste water
of breweries, for example, contains simply a little yeast mixed
with an enormous amount of water; this mixture being found
to be of no commercial value whatever, but to create, if allowed
to evaporate in ditches, a most terrible nuisance. To employ
the slop water of a small village, mingled daily with a very
large quantity of valueless waste water, for the cultivation of
crops would, of course, be a perfectly insane proceeding. It is,
moreover, very questionable whether a rural sanitary authority
possesses any power to prevent a manufactory from pouring
its waste water into the village sewer,† provided the connec-
tion be made at a proper angle, water-tight, etc., consequently
* See "Report of East London Water Bill Committee, 1867,"
p. 430; questions 732-4.
† This view as to the incomplete control over sewers possessed by
a rural sanitary authority is confirmed by the decision in the case of
Clegg v. the Castleford Local Board of Health, reported in the Times
of December 16th, 1874.
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
41
the slop water of a village must be commingled with it.
Hence in villages, where dry systems of excrement removal
are adopted, in which, from the absence of a sufficient fall,
filters would be inapplicable, the choice of a mode of dis-
posing of slop water must in some cases be extremely
limited.
To recapitulate. I believe that it would be conducive to
public health: (1) to render it impossible to introduce any
slop water into a watercourse which is used or likely to be
used, for drinking purposes; (2) to render it possible to pass
slop water (strained, so as to arrest any solid matters), pro-
vided it is so diluted as to be unrecognizable as such (a stan-
dard might be fixed), into a canal or large rapidly flowing
river always containing an abundance of water or large river
used for navigation purposes, the water of which is never
employed for drinking purposes, on condition that no other
efficient mode of disposing of the slop water is practicable.
Relative to opinion No. 1 a recent writer on this topic
remarks: "Subject to this restriction, considerable discre-
tion should be permitted to local authorities in finding out-
lets for slop water in canals and rivers, short of producing
nuisance. If the provisions to secure rivers and watercourses
from pollution be too stringently and generally drawn, they
will necessarily lead to greater evils than the nuisance which
it is sought to prevent."
OTHER MODES OF DISPOSAL.
9. Open Square Box with long sheet-iron Pipe.
I have seen a simple portable arrangement of this descrip-
tion in conjunction with a hole in the garden over which the
pipe delivers answer satisfactorily in cottage property, where
a slight supervision is exercised. The house-wife pours her
slop water into the open wooden box, which is placed near
42
THE DISPOSAL OF THE
the backdoor, instead of throwing it from this door into the
yard or ditch close by.
FIG. 9.
In one side of the box a sheet-iron
pipe is fixed, which is generally much
longer than is represented in Fig. 9.
The slop water runs away through
the pipe and escapes into the little
pit in the garden. As soon as the
hole is full of soapsuds, etc., the
cottager covers it in with earth and
digs a fresh hole near by, when the
extremity of the pipe is slightly
moved to one side or the other, so as
to deliver into the fresh cavity thus
temporarily and roughly made for
the reception of the fluid filth.

10. Earth Filtration through Bank
of Ditch.
The difficulty of disposing of slops
has been thought to be overcome by
constructing the outfall sewer parallel
to and near to a field ditch of lower
depth. The earth between the out-
fall and the ditch acts as a filter.
The filthy water will pass into the
ditch in a purified state for a certain
time it is true. After a while, how-
ever, the earth becomes overdone
with filth, and ceases to exert any
cleansing action. It requires rest,
otherwise it gradually gets sodden.
and useless. This plan is more likely to answer when the
amount of slop water is but small, as, for example, when we
SLOP WATER OF VILLAGES.
43
have to deal with that from one or two cottages only. It is
advisable to perforate the outfall drain with holes along its
course, so as to distribute the slops as much as possible
through the soil intervening between it and the ditch. Any-
thing approaching concentration of slops on one small spot
of ground is always fatal to success.
11. An Osier Bed.
The establishment of a small osier bed at the outfall for
the purification of slop water is an efficient and economical
mode of disposal where facilities exist for its adoption. Vil-
lage sewage is dealt with in this manner in the Brixworth
Union, where the Local Government Board has sanctioned
the plan, and where it meets with general approval. The
effluent water of sewage is in some farms, as, for example, at
Norwich, passed through an osier bed to complete the cleans-
ing process. Osiers are very rank feeders and will assimilate
an immense amount of filth, if presented to them in the form
of foul water. It has been estimated that the cost of levelling,
digging, underdraining, and planting an acre of the best
varieties of osiers is about £40.
PARDON AND SON, PRINTERS, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
WATER
ANALYSIS:
AS IT SHOULD, AND AS IT SHOULD NOT, BE
PERFORMED BY THE
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH.
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