THE SEPTIC TANK.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81868, 18 October 1906, Page 3

THE SEPTIC TANK.

SOME PERTINENT QUERIES.

. TO THE EDITOR. gj r —With regard to the septic tank and your articles of the 12th and 13th inst., it appears your reporter went to some trouble to find out whether or not th£ septic tank is working satisfactorily, and the article appearing on Friday in your columns leads one to suppose that things are noi what they should be. The City Fathers, apparently not relishing tho article, invited your reporter to visit the white elephant during that day, and the outcome was your article of Saturday, considerably modifying the previous one. If the septic tank is a failure the matter is a very serious one, not only on account of the initial cost but the far more serious consequence which must arise from having all the sewage drained to the heart of the town without an efficient method of dealing with it when it gets there. Can you give following information, . . 1 Did the borough authorities at one time, or do they now have to employmen at night to clean out the septic tank and dump the contents into the river?

2 th'e borough authorities on several occasions had to resort to the Fire Brigade's hose N. scour out and sweeten the tank ?

3 Does the water from the river leak into the septic tank ? 4 Does not at the present lime the flow of wafer into the Huatoki from an. overflow pipe stir up such a stench when the river is low as to convince one that the septic tank is a fai'.ure ? 5 Have any of the councillors used the leffluent as a beverage in preference to the borough water supply: 6 Was the septic tank scoured out preparatory to your reporter being invited to inspect?—l am, etc., CENTIPEDE.

"Centipede" asks a lot of pertinent questions. Answering the first and second, it is now an admitted fact that, despite the reports so regularly sent to Mr Mestayer that the tank was working most satisfactorily, it was life custom up till a few months ago to have portions of the tank cleaned out by means of a shovel at frequent intervals, the wo'rk being done under cover of darkness, and the refuse from the detritus chamber I emptied into the river. Upon a 'change being maiJe in the supervising staff, this nocturnal or early morning work ceased, no cine, appal - ently, having the slightest idea of the necessitv for thus assisting the tank to carry out i 1 s functions. Ihe result was a b oekagV of the whole sewage system, which* would have been sufficient to cause an epidemic had the stoppage occurred in the heat of summer instead of during the winter weather. Mr Kendall had the tan)c cleaned out, vainly longing for Mr j Mestayer to see it bef.lie this was done. That gentleman came up later and inspected the tank, and looked inciedulous when told by the Mayoi and engineer of the state of affairs. The Mayor says: "lie stood there, and looked from one to the other of us in wonder. He seemed inclined to think we were exaggerating, in the face of the highly satisfactory reports sent him by the former borough engineer, and in the face of the bottle of water he had in his office, certified t° as having been taken from the effluent pipe. Hut we convinced him we were only teding what |iad actually occured, and he staled that f that sample of water ever passed through the tank it must have been before *any sewage entered the tank at all." Mr Mestayer readily agreed tj the suggestion of Mr Kendall that the six- inch opening into the detritus chamber should be enlarged, and this was done. Thus ended the private sysfcm of periodically emptying this portion of the municipal septic tank, which had always been reported as working satisfactorily. The second questicki cajp be answered in tl»o sjimc way as the fu°t. The necessity for "scouring out" the drains lias now'departed, except, of course, for a regular Hushing <»f the r-vstem. The query prompt- the remark that this up-to-date drainage system of oui« does not provide for liushiiig-ianks, and there are numerous "dead-ends ' about the town. Hut Ihe designer's opinion was that automat)!' Hushing tanks were unnecessary.

The next question opyns up new ground. Ihe river water should not now .cak into the iank\. though it used to do SO, because the Hewage in tae tank is now above the level of the stream, Hut it is reported 11 excellent authority that life concrete leaks, having been _ made of ycry course maierial. lheffilen l e nta l eiial was all ordered out, and the concrete consequently ntade a sieve, instead of a watertight tank. This is rather sl'tious, for if 'Ut excessive amount 01 water finds lis way imo the tank, ii will elfect the working. Moreover, if water can trickle in, tbcro is nothing to keep air (Hit, and t'.ie anaerobic germs only work 'efficiently when light and air are excluded. In answer to qtirsliyn four, dial nuisance has b' en abated by t'tli'inliltg lite eli'luco' nip' 1 . (Ji)l'Sl ion 5 i„ net ! r]ev;i 11 i. 1)!'! 1 lie

i)"' likely i<> t;u kl< ih«.' -tiifV that tin: expert 1 Plus- i' ill ink, although lh«-y loudly de-can

upon its innocuou- and inoitensiv pr< 'p'Tties. Ouesiion (>—W«* don't think s« The Mayor is as vmxiou-* a-» anyon

1• I- 0 to have' the lank working pro ptrlv, and the sanitary enginec would n«»t resort to sueh trickery. So much for "Centipede. and hi little |i-t. Ii ha* been asreilainn ihat M'vt'i-al of 1 h'* decioj>* residence .Mid tin- hospital are tonnecP'd \\ i- 1 .he syM'Mn though ii other towns the liquid froji

etc.. is not admi'-ed t° dr M-ptir tank. lest, the action of ih chemicals should interfile wish <h working of Ihe tank, by the di*infe< tants the anaerobic germ-

Th" st wa only In lie- tank for ?4 hour*, and tin- microbes nurt have i'ud play in o?der to deal etTei lively wi'li 1 h«* - (|ue-ij<»n if t'>'- int roduMion of is oiv on whicli < \pc;t information ■lnuil'l !;■' ohtaim-d. The kjv n .11'wer* t 1»11 -1 be greatly ex ! * nd«'d in the m-ar In. i;:' -•insini- ■ at')'' < ondil evi -1 in vr.iinu- pla<r« —and the (pieilion ;nit' ihe tank rannot cope w'th the s'tiiV i-mpticd into i" now. can it b-- tl , (!er haiml'-ss a still l.irg'T amouni (.1 sewage 3 T|w' confa'nerl in l ; ii flav'- i-~'uc ha* been adapted. an( I i;e 4n IJ H 11! pipe "'X'tended into th< deeper wale? of th'- lluatoki. 1 v. iI! be ta kon si ill fur.her «-i,l v.h'M ihe water resunv'K ordinary tinu. : tM.n-iderab!'' '*Tr-"-'!) T * having fo||o\ve( the pent he:>vv rain-. It is 11:1 deMood that if the tank still fail to act property. Mr Kendall reei-m mends an alteration of ih«* weir, am failing satisfactoty 'loaning then the Mavor favours calling in an un int-.V* ;e.l engineer to give his op .ini n.