EFFICIENT DRAINAGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 705, 3 July 1929, Page 6

EFFICIENT DRAINAGE

NECESSARY FOR GOOD HEALTH IMPORTANCE OF PURE WATER SUPPLY IT was recently reported that Westport was threatened with an epidemic as a result of the lack of a proper water supply and the disorganisation of the sanitary service caused by the earthquake. Happily, that danger now appears to he past; but it drew our attention to two essential household services which are usually taken for granted—namely, water supply and drainage.

The Health Department is evidently exercising a strict supervision over the water supply and drainage in the affected areas. It is essential that this should be done. It is far better to impose this slight additional hardship on people already harassed by their terrible experience than to allow the remotest possibility of an epidemic occurring. Man has learned by bitter experience through the ages of the absolute necessity for an efficient water supply and drainage system. ENGINEERING HISTORY

These two branches of engineering date back into the earliest history of mankind, and in excavations of all ancient civilisations there are found remains of pipes and masonry conduits. All students of Latin know of the “cloaca maxima” or great sewer of Rome. This was constructed in the seventh century, 8.C., and it is still in use. The Romans also had excellent supplies of water, and some of the aqueducts were 40 miles in length. The Romans were undoubtedly the greatest engineers of antiquity; this is evident from their road-making and from their sanitary engineering, wliieh included both water supply and drainage. With the fall of the Roman Empire, sanitary engineering suffered the same retrogression which befell learning and science, and for over 1,000 years, through the Dark Ages, it was almost entirely neglected. The Impure water supplies and the

accumulated filth of mediaeval cities produced fearful consequences in the terrible pestilences which devastated Europe. The Renaissance, with its revival of learning and science, caused some attention to be paid to sanitary engineering, but for several centuries after that little was done toward putting it on a scientific basis. Modern sanitary engineering only came Into being at the beginning of last century, hut it developed so rapidly that by the end of the century a satisfactory scientific solution of drainage problems had been reached. The construction of sewerage schemes has become an absolute necessity under modern conditions of living, and the health of every city depends to a very large extent on its drainage system. Sanitary engineering could have prevented most of the great epidemics that have occurred, and it .could in addition save annually thousands of lives which are still lost through bad sanitation. A pure water supply and an efficient drainage system are both essential and one cannot be separated from the other. No matter how efficient the drainage system, a polluted water supply will spread disease, and an abundant supply of water is necessary for the proper working of the drainage system. It is impossible to overestimate the value of a good water supply. It is well known that such diseases as cholera and typhoid are caused by foul water. Quite apart from the prevention of disease, the convenience and simplicity of a modern drainage system is

worth more than the cost, and property buyers soon discriminate between localities with a modern system and those without this facility. New Zealand generally has kept well abreast of developments in this field of engineering, and the Health Department exercises a vigilant supervision of water supply and drainage. It is to be hoped that the precautions that are being taken on the Coast will not be relaxed until the possibility of an epidemic occurring has been reduced to a minimum.