Report of a committee on a plan for cleansing the drains of Black Town.

Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of a committee on a plan for cleansing the drains of Black Town. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    4. The evils proposed to be remedied are, as above stated, cbiefly con- nected with the main sewer. Whatever nuisances may be caused by the primary or street drains, they are untouched by the scheme submitted for our opinion, the proposition being to leave them exactly as they are. 5. With regard to the secondary drains, the Committee have reason to think after some enquiry, that but a very small proportion of the complaints attach to them, and there ought to be no complaint at all, because as they run down the slopes, and, in general, have a sufficient inclination, there is no reason why they should not, if properly constructed, be maintained at all times in a perfectby inoffensive state, without any artificial means. 6. It is, therefore, in the main sewer alone that the benefits derivable from Major Boulderson's plan are to be sought, and here the Committee regret to state that, after the most attentive consideration of the subject, they are apprehensive that disappointment may be met with. 7. The evils of the main sewer are caused by two essential defects, viz., the want of inclination in its bed, and the want of a free out-fall at its mouth, which is below the level of high water.* No amount of pumping, in the man- ner proposed, will remedy, or even palliate these defects. Major Boulderson's plan contemplates the circulation of a stream from the heads of the secondary drains into the sewer. By this the secondary drains may be kept clean and inoffensive, but they ought to be so without artificial washing. The evil of the main sewer will not be corrected thereby, because, for want of slope in its bed, the sewage, however diluted, would not flow with sufficient velocity to keep clear of deposit, even were the mouth constantly open; and for want of outlet, the corrupt mass is obliged to- be kept for many hours in a state of stagnation, deposit, and decomposition. 8. The mere circumstance of dilution of the sewage, the Committee think, cannot be depended upon as certain to remove the annoyances occasioned by the main sewer. Indeed, there are some peculiarities connected with its condition, which tend to create a doubt whether the evils may not even be increased by augmenting the bulk of fluid. 9. At present, in consequence of the slight fall the main sewer does possess, the whole of the filthy stream dribbling into it from the secondary' drains, slowly finds its way to the two mouths, north and south, where the stagnation, ferment, and decomposition, go on at a distance from the inhabi- tants. If the main sewer be, as Major Boulderson proposes, daily filled, it is * The form of the sewer is objectionable, and in one part it lias a reverse slope.