HOUSE DRAINAGE.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1916, Page 5

HOUSE DRAINAGE.

HOW TO DISPOSE OF IT. . At a meeting of the Borough Council Sanitation Committee last night, Mr. R. Day, the sanitary inspector, .repotted tnat it was a frequent practice, outside the sewered area, for house drains to be discharged itfto street channels, sometimes into concrete gutters, but ofteuer into clay gutters and grasscovered depressions. Large quantities of kitchen and bedroom slops lie about and ate a source of danger. The correct solution of tint problem was to have a comprehensive drainage scheme, but this was out of the question at present. Considering the generally porous nature of the subsoil it was possible to deal with this drainage in another way. In close areas where concrete channels arc laid, the system of a small and constant stream of fresh water could he extended, and when there is room the owner should be compelled to treat the sewage on his own land. This could be done by means of a'properly trapped and ventilated drain to a pit with a concrete top. Were the clay ig not so pervious two pits, could be provided, when the action would bo somewhat similar to that of a septio tank. Now that the nightsoil is being removed by the Council in this area, it should he an easy matter for property holders to treat their own house slops. The matter should be taken in hand at once, bo that the town may be coor siderably cleaned before next summer, Dr. Sydney Smith, District Health Officer, advised: House drainage should not be allowed to pass into street channels on any consideration whatever. The use of water in a channel would minimise the nuisance, hut in vfjry hot weather when the nuisance ig likely to be most obnoxious the water supply would be at its lowest, and there was a possibility of ' there being insufficient water to keep the streams going. Further, the Council had no power to ask householders to discharge drainage on to the street, this being expressly forbidden by the Municipal Corporations Act. With regard to the erection of septic tanks and similar contrivances, the erection of permanent structures for disposal of drainage in a town had been found to materially delay the installation of a proper draiAage system, and when such system was put into operation it entailed unnecessary expense, to the householder in relaying drains, etc. The only methods to be adopted it! a town such as New Plymouth arc those of a most temporary nature, such as subsoil irrigation or disposal by means of digging in trenches. The Officer strongly recommended that the Council, nstead of requiring any special methods of disposal on small sections adjacent to town property, should at the earliest possible moment, go into the question of a comprehensive drainage scheme 'for connecting up these houses. The committee recommended that the inspector be authorised, in such cases as lie considers necessary, to give notice to householders prohibiting the discharge of house drainage into street channels, and to require such drainage to be dealt with in the manner set out by the District Health Officer. Further, that provided ilia Inspector obtains an undertaking in writing, in each case, to pay the usual annual charges he be authorised to remove nightsoil from premises inside tlw; Borough, bul out'tide t)ia sanitation area.