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Page 8
CHAPTER III.
DRAINAGE AND WATER-SUPPLY.
Air and sunshine having been assured for all parts of the house in daily
use, the next question must be an unfailing and full supply of pure water.
"Dig a well, or build near a spring," say the builders; and the well is
dug, or the spring tapped, under the general supposition that water is
clean and pure, simply because it is water, while the surroundings of
either spring or well are unnoticed. Drainage is so comparatively new a
question, that only the most enlightened portions of the country consider
its bearings; and the large majority of people all over the land not only
do not know the interests involved in it, but would resent as a personal
slight any hint that their own water-supply might be affected by deficient
drainage.
Pure water is simply oxygen and hydrogen, eight-ninths being oxygen and
but one-ninth hydrogen; the latter gas, if pure, having, like oxygen,
neither taste nor smell. Rain-water is the purest type; and, if collected
in open vessels as it falls, is necessarily free from any possible taint
(except at the very first of a rain, when it washes down considerable
floating impurity from the atmosphere, especially in cities). This mode
being for obvious reasons impracticable, cisterns are made, and rain
conducted to them through pipes leading from the roof. The water has thus
taken up all the dust, soot, and other impurities found upon the roof,
and, unless filtered, can not be considered desirable drink. The best
cistern will include a filter of some sort, and this is accomplished in
two ways. Either the cistern is divided into two parts, the water being
received on one side, and allowed to slowly filter through a wall of
porous brick, regarded by many as an amply sufficient means of
purification; or a more elaborate form is used, the division in such case
being into upper and under compartments, the upper one containing the
usual filter of iron, charcoal, sponge, and gravel or sand. If this water
has a free current of air passing over it, it will acquire more sparkle
and character; but as a rule it is flat and unpleasant in flavor, being
entirely destitute of the earthy salts and the carbonic-acid gas to be
found in the best river or spring water.
Distilled water comes next in purity, and is, in fact, identical in
character with rain-water; the latter being merely steam, condensed into
rain in the great alembic of the sky. But both have the curious property
of taking up and dissolving _lead_ wherever they find it; and it is for
this reason that lead pipes as leaders from or to cisterns should _never_
be allowed, unless lined with some other metal.
The most refreshing as well as most wholesome water is river or spring
water, perfectly filtered so that no possible impurity can remain. It is
then soft and clear; has sufficient air and carbonic acid to make it
refreshing, and enough earthy salts to prevent its taking up lead, and so
becoming poisonous. River-water for daily use of course requires a system
of pipes, and in small places is practically unavailable; so that wells
are likely, in such case, to be the chief source of supply. Such water
will of course be spring-water, with the characteristics of the soil
through which it rises. If the well be shallow, and fed by surface
springs, all impurities of the soil will be found in it; and thus to _dig
deep_ becomes essential, for many reasons. Dr. Parker of England, in some
papers on practical hygiene, gives a clear and easily understood statement
of some causes affecting the purity of well-water.
"A well drains an extent of ground around it, in the shape of an inverted
cone, which is in proportion to its own depth and the looseness of the
soil. In very loose soils a well of sixty or eighty feet will drain a
large area, perhaps as much as two hundred feet in diameter, or even more;
but the exact amount is not, as far as I know, precisely determined.
"Certain trades pour their refuse water into rivers, gas-works;
slaughter-houses; tripe-houses; size, horn, and isinglass manufactories;
wash-houses, starch-works, and calico-printers, and many others. In houses
it is astonishing how many instances occur of the water of butts,
cisterns, and tanks, getting contaminated by leaking of pipes and other
causes, such as the passage of sewer-gas through overflow-pipes, &c.
"As there is now no doubt that typhoid-fever, cholera, and dysentery may
be caused by water rendered impure by the evacuations passed in those
diseases, and as simple diarrhoea seems also to be largely caused by
animal organic [matter in] suspension or solution, it is evident how
necessary it is to be quick-sighted in regard to the possible impurity of
water from incidental causes of this kind. Therefore all tanks and
cisterns should be inspected regularly, and any accidental source of
impurity must be looked out for. Wells should be covered; a good coping
put round to prevent substances being washed down; the distances from
cess-pools and dung-heaps should be carefully noted; no sewer should be
allowed to pass near a well. The same precautions should be taken with
springs. In the case of rivers, we must consider if contamination can
result from the discharge of fecal matters, trade refuse, &c."
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