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SAMNG A CITY'S SEWAGE 341<br />
straU'd by what llic future will briu^"<br />
forth.<br />
Just now, to Harrison County, the<br />
proposition sounds very much like a<br />
"It may be nice for Mary Ann but it's<br />
mighty toug'h on Abraiiam," story,<br />
being crossed by an uncompleted ditch<br />
that is to drain three counties and form<br />
an outlet for the treacherous West<br />
Fork at liigh water. The residents,<br />
although taxed very heavily, feel that<br />
their present farming chances are<br />
considerably below par and their<br />
future not guaranteed. Given a full<br />
ditch and a low Missouri, results might<br />
be entirely satisfactory ; but given the<br />
full ditch and a level or water-backing<br />
Missouri—<br />
SAVING A CITY'S<br />
By<br />
HARRY H. DUNN<br />
SEWAGE<br />
COMPLETELY deodorizing<br />
500,000 gallons of sewage per<br />
24-hour day, killing all bacteria,<br />
and leaving a limpid<br />
liquid carrying an inconsidcral)le<br />
sediment of iron salts, a plant now<br />
in operation at Santa Monica, California,<br />
has answered the disposal-ofsewage<br />
problem, with which so many<br />
cities have struggled ever since they outgrew<br />
the village stage.<br />
Direct irrigation of farms with untreated<br />
sewage has been found to be disagreeable<br />
and dangerous to human life ;<br />
the deposition of the original sewage in<br />
the sea or in rivers by its odor ruins<br />
surrounding country for residence i)ur-<br />
])oses ; septic tanks are proven failures,<br />
r.erlin alone having spent $2,000,000 in<br />
a futile effort to dispose of its sewage bv<br />
chemical and septic methods.<br />
After the treatment accorded the sewage<br />
of the 11,000 inhabitants of Santa<br />
Monica, however, the result is a colorless,<br />
odorless liquid, still containing<br />
nitrogen and other elements which make<br />
sewage particularly valuable for irrigation<br />
in even greater quantities than available<br />
in the original waste.<br />
And the key to tlie jirobleni ^ The<br />
same key which sends your words and<br />
mine over hundreds of miles of singing<br />
wires ; the same key which reproduces<br />
Caruso's voice in your parlor or in tiie<br />
penny arcade downtown, draws the wireless<br />
message from high heaven and sends<br />
the thundering trolley train on its way<br />
Electricity.<br />
Some one discovered a long time ago<br />
that electrodes, sunk in water, performed<br />
a chemical action by which "nascent"<br />
gases, such as chlorine, oxygen, ozone<br />
and hydrogen are released. These gases,<br />
in the nascent state, act powerfully and<br />
quickly on organic and inorganic salts<br />
occuring in the liquid, either in .solution<br />
or as sediment. Likewise, these newlyreleased<br />
gases start a never-ending war<br />
on all bacteria in the li([uid. The result<br />
is evident, the sewage is. inider all circumstances,<br />
rendered "neutral," which is<br />
to say that neither free alkalies nor free<br />
acids are contained in the treated li(|uid<br />
in excess, but are held chemically combined,<br />
in the easiest form possible for<br />
their application to soil and their absorption<br />
by plant life.<br />
The outfall end of the main collecting<br />
sewer of the city of Santa Monica ilischarges<br />
into a pump chamber at the<br />
shore end of the sewer pier, the outfall<br />
pipe line having been laid years ago along<br />
the beach instead of on the bluff, as<br />
should have been done. This pump<br />
chamber is four feet above mean tide,<br />
and from it the sewage, in its original<br />
condition, is raised In" means of elcctricall\"-operated<br />
centrifugal i">umps to<br />
the foreba\' of the electrolytic i^lant.<br />
Fr
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