Reports of Dr. Parkes and Dr. Sanderson on the sanitary condition of Liverpool / by E.A. Parkes and J. Burdon-Sanderson.

Date:
[1871]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports of Dr. Parkes and Dr. Sanderson on the sanitary condition of Liverpool / by E.A. Parkes and J. Burdon-Sanderson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    The results of the experiment were precisely what might have been antici- pated. In consequence of the innumerable channels permeable to air by which the interior of a sewer communicates with the exterior, and the relative slowness with which the tide rises and falls, the displacement of air during flow, and its replacement during ebb has no appreciable influence. So far therefore as relates to ventilation, the closure of the outlets and the filling of certain of the sewers by the tide are matters which deserve no consideration. 2.—Discharge op Warm Water into the Sewers, On the 26th of April one of us had the advantage of an interview with a Committee of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce on this subject, in presence of your Chief Magistrate. The gentlemen who were present on that occasion,who represented many of the most important manufacturing firms in Liverpool, afforded us very valuable information with reference to the enormous extent to which the practice of discharging warm water into the sewers prevails. It appeared that with- out taking into account any other Manufactories excepting those whose representa- tives were actually present, no less than twenty-five million gallons enter the sewers weekly ; of this quantity the greater part is water which has been used for the purpose of condensing steam and is discharged at a temperature which varies from 80° to 100° Fahr. The remainder is derived from the Sugar Fac- tories and has been used for washing the animal charcoal after its employment for the decolorization of sugar. Thus water enters the sewers at a temperature of not less than 110° Fahr. We were further informed that nearly the whole of this enormous quantity of water was derived, not from the water supply mains, but from private wells, whence the important fact is arrived at that in addition to the 10,000,000 gallons of water which daily pass down the sewers derived from the ordinary sources of water supply a relatively large quantity is conveyed by them derived from the Manufactories j so that the whole discharge if the accuracy of this statement is to be relied upon, amounts to fourteen millions daily or about 26 gallons per head per diem. After our interview we availed ourselves of the opportunities which were obligingly offered to us of visiting the principal manufactories. The main purpose of our visit was to ascertain more precisely in what way the discharge of warm water is regulated, for it was apparent to us that, although under any