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344 TI-:CI1.\IC.\1, WOkl.l) MAC.AZINE<br />
The whole problem of >e\vagc purification<br />
lies in the provision of economical<br />
and efficient means for the removal of<br />
the solids, whether such matter be immediately<br />
or successively deposited, and<br />
whether such matter is particulate or colloidal.<br />
The object and aim should be<br />
to 'produce an inodorous precipitate, fit<br />
to be spread upon latid. and to lie there<br />
indefinitely without danq-er of putrefaction<br />
or other nuisance until ploutrhc(l<br />
into the ^s^round.<br />
This jiroblcm is met and solved by the<br />
Santa Monica plant, ^he precipitation<br />
of the or^-anic .matter by the ferric<br />
hydrate formed at the electrodes, as an<br />
inodorous coai2;-ulum, is immediate and<br />
complete. The precipitate in floculent.<br />
easily carried off in the liquid and very<br />
different from the slimy sludg-e produced<br />
by bacterial or septic-tank treatment. At<br />
Ocean Park, near Santa Monica, where<br />
a similar plant was located, the effluent<br />
was run out on the g-round and remained<br />
there for a number of days without sii^n<br />
of putrefaction or fermentation, and with<br />
absolutely no odor.<br />
It should not be understood that the<br />
purification of the sewa^^e is caused by<br />
the direct action of the electric current.<br />
It is not, but proceeds from the electrolyte<br />
and from the decomposition of<br />
the electrodes.<br />
The ora^anic matter contained in the<br />
raw sewage is composed of albuminates,<br />
starch, sugar, uric acid, urine, nitrogenous<br />
compounds of organic constitution,<br />
fatty acids and bacteria. By the<br />
chemical action induced by the electrodes<br />
these organic products are reduced to a<br />
very small amount, leaving no traces of<br />
albuminates and nitrogenous bodies,<br />
which, in the sei)tic tank treatment, are<br />
chietly the cause of a secondary fermentation<br />
of the effluent, a state most<br />
dangerous for future infection when<br />
used on irrigation fields.<br />
Microscopical examination of sewage<br />
treated by the Santa Monica plant<br />
showed a decrea.se from 700 live bacteria<br />
before treatment to six afterwards, and<br />
those remaining showed no signs of<br />
multiplying, an(l. therefore, were com-<br />
])letely destroyed by the nascent oxygen<br />
or ozone generated by the electrochemical<br />
process.<br />
Bacteria, such as bacillus coli communis,<br />
bacillus subtilis, bacillys cavi cida<br />
and bacillus urae, together with the<br />
dreaded typhus germ, all found in untreated<br />
sewage, are completely destroyed<br />
by the electrolytic treatment, while the<br />
free sulphuric acid formed also carries<br />
death to the cholera bacteria which are<br />
first found in the sewage of an infected<br />
district.<br />
In the Southwest, where there is u.se<br />
for every dro]) of water, the electrolytic<br />
treatment of cities' sewage, if everywhere<br />
as successful as it has been at Santa<br />
Monica, is of even greater importance<br />
than anywhere else in the world, for all<br />
the effluent from the troughs can be<br />
Hooded on the land, without the slightest<br />
danger to those who consume the products<br />
of the soil so irrigated.<br />
At Santa ]Monica, inasmuch as it is a<br />
seaside city, the treated sewage is now<br />
run out 350 feet on a wharf, and poured<br />
into the ocean ; for a number of months<br />
the end of the outfall pipe was only 150<br />
feet from the shore, but no bad odors<br />
were noticed. As soon as the wharf now<br />
building is completed, the sewage will be<br />
carried out 1,600 feet before being<br />
dumped.
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