Removal of excreta and household refuse. Report of the medical officer of health to the health committee.

  • Nottingham (England)
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Removal of excreta and household refuse. Report of the medical officer of health to the health committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    might work well apart from any extraordinary degree of super- vision or serious liability to derangement. Here also the Bii'mingham flush-closets offer the advantages of simplicity and economy both in fii'st cost and in working, with minimum possibility of getting out of order and maximum facility for remedying any accidents that may oceui-. For houses of a superior class there is little to be said in defence of pail-closets. It must not be forgotten that any water-carriage system entails a somewhat greater cost of construction, and a constant outlay for flushing water, except as regards the Birmingham closet. The present house drains are in very many cases not fitted to receive the additional water from closets, and new drains would be required. A more important considei'ation is that a supplementary system of regular and frequent removal of dry household refuse would still be required, so that the saving in cost of scavenging would be only partial. The local conditions in Nottingham are favourable to water- carriage, except in the districts suljject to floods. The water supply is abundant, the town is now well sewered, and I understand that the Sewage Farm is capable of dealing with any reasonable amount of additional sewage. If however the Birmingham system of utilising slop-water proved successful and were adopted upon a large scale, there would be little addition to the bulk of sewage. Possibly a larger flow of liquid might be of advantage in flushing the sewers. It seems to be an established fact that the chemical composition of sewage is substantially the same whether water-closets are used or not. The conclusions to which these considerations lead me are as follows:— 1. The pail system in force in Nottingham, viz.: admixture of ashes and household refuse with excreta, is preferable to any of the other forms of pail collection. 2. In houses of the poorest class it gives better results than water-closets or trough-closets of ordinary construction. But