NOTES TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT. SECTION 45.-The Local Board of Health, having the power to construct new sewers, will naturally be desirous to lessen the expense of their construction, and this may at once be effected by lessening the sectional area of the sewer, and experiment has proved, that the smaller that area is, the more perfectly will it perform its duty, due regard being had to the quantity to be discharged. By some engineers the flat-bottomed Sewer is still preferred, though it would seem an almost natural result, that the fluid should flow with greater velocity through one of an oval or egg-shape, the small end being downwards, in consequence of the increase of depth. In a fall of one foot in a hundred, the velocity of running water is thirteen feet; increase this fall four feet, by increasing the depth, and the velocity is immediately doubled, consequently twice the quantity of water will pass in the same time. A sewer may thus be rendered equally effective with only half the sectional area usually adopted. Experience has shown that 1000 drains, each four inches in diameter, whose sectional areas united amount to upwards of 87 superficial feet, would not require for their discharge a sewer with a transverse section of much more than three superficial feet, provided it was properly constructed. To form a circular sewer equal to the united areas of the 1000 drains, would need that it should be ten feet six inches diameter in the clear, and, by the rule we have followed, one, two feet diameter, would be found sufficient. Thus a city might be drained at a very small cost compared with what is usually expended. A special rate will be levied over the district receiving benefit by the works executed under this section; and the rate will be apportioned in such a manner that the principal and interest will be paid off in thirty years. Another benefit is derived from this section, as it enables the local board to drain through the lands of any individual: without this clause it would have been impossible to adopt a cheap and natural system of drainage, which should discharge from the back premises of a house into a sewer constructed for the benefit of all; by such a system the cost of sewerage is immensely reduced: cheap tubular pipes will take the place of the expensive brick drain, and main sewers of smaller sectional capacity will be found sufficient for every purpose. Another advantage will arise from the streets not being broken up, a far greater inconvenience to the inhabitants than suffering workmen to enter their premises to repair any defects that may arise. SECTION 49.-Where the local board are obliged to construct drains or sewers, the expenses may be recovered of the owner of the house, by an application to two justices; and the amount may either be paid at once, or by annual instalments, of not less than a thirtieth of the entire sum, with interest at the rate of five per cent. per annum. Where the expenses come under the head of private improvement, the amount, with five per cent. interest, will be levied upon the occupier, and spread over a period not exceeding thirty years; but owners and occupiers may at any time redeem these private improvement rates. SECTION 51.-A proper water-closet, with an abundant supply of water, is not only necessary, but will be found, in the end, the most economical arrangement for the occupier as well as the owner of every kind of house or tenement: the cost of construction is now so small, and from the total absence of all valves so simple, that it will be soon discovered that this provision is a vast improvement and benefit; henceforth there will be no cesspool to construct or empty periodically, to the annoyance of the whole neighbourhood. The tubular four-inch drain pipe, with its S bend, or trap, will be connected with a main sewer, and the whole flushed as often as necessary, thus maintaining a perfect water way, and removing all kinds of obstruction and filth entirely away from the premises. Where there are courts, or several houses, or large manufactories, two or more privies should be contrived for the use of each sex. It is to be wished that all slaughter-houses, knackers' yards, and such like establishments, could be constructed at a distance from all habitations, as at Paris, Brussels, &c., where the abattoirs are built at the public cost, and have admirably answered their purpose, and the butchers now greatly preferring these establishments, knowing that, in warm weather, the more distant their stock of meat is removed from any putrescent matter the less liable it is to become tainted. SECTION 55.-The cost of cleansing a street is much lessened where there is an abundance of water, the whole may then be flushed, and all that lies upon the surface washed entirely off, and suffered to pass away: no sweeping will so effectually or so economically perform this essential labour. SECTION 57.-In all large towns it is most important that there should be public necessaries and urinals, and that they should be so supplied with water, under supervision, as to be free from pollution and convenient for public accommodation. SECTION 66.-Public lodging-houses are required in every town where travellers may remain a single night or more: and under the regulations of this Act all vagrants, trampers, and other wayfarers, might be better provided for than at present. SECTION 75.-An abundant supply of water is not only necessary for domestic purposes, but of the highest importance in preserving cleanliness; and it is wonderful that, in our large and populous towns, the pump should have been so long preferred to the more economical method adopted by the ancients. A town consisting of five thousand houses, in general, would require to have so many wells and pumps, the cost of which cannot be estimated far short of £100,000. In every district there may be found a pure and wholesome water, or it may be gathered from the soil into tanks or reservoirs ; the lifting the required quantity to a convenient height is comparatively a small cost, and the labour of pumping is altogether saved where an aqueduct or main leads the supply to the place where it is most needed. An estimate of pipes, &c. is given in Taylor's Builder's Price Book.' SECTION 78.-Public baths and wash-houses may be established in every district, at comparatively small expense, where there is an abundance of pure and wholesome water. PRICES, FOR WATER SUPPLY, DRAINAGE, &c., UNDER THE NEW ACT. THE NEW PUBLIC HEALTH Act requires that we should furnish the Prices at which the several works inay be performed and executed; and as, in all probability, during the present year the artificers of the several towns and cities will be fully employed in carrying out the objects of that important sanitary measure, we feel it necessary to give the following tables for their guidance. Water Supply. By means of a steam-engine, acting expansively, 280,000 cubic feet of water may be raised by one bushel of coals a foot in height, and where a pump is applied for this purpose, its stroke should not exceed 8 feet, and the diameter of its cylinder 14 inches; the velocity of the piston should not exceed 98 times the square root of the length of the stroke. The cost of raising water, as given to the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Large Towns is as follows: Cost of raising 1000 gallons 100 feet high S. d. 0 0.543 1 0 A single pumping engine, the mean power being 95 horses, made upon the expansive principle, working 24 hours per day, during 7 days, was enabled to raise each day 4,107,816 gallons 110 feet high; the coals being 12s. per ton, the total cost for raising 1000 gallons 100 feet high was Os. Od. 150. The expansive engine and plunger pump is now generally employed for pumping water, and where there are several houses to be supplied, the height to raise the water being determined and the quantity necessary for each, there can be no difficulty in estimating the annual cost of the supply. The engine being fixed, and the mains laid down, the cost of management is only to be added. To supply a town with water, giving each householder for his consumption 100 gallons per day, after the first cost has been defrayed for laying down the mains, will be found about a halfpenny per week, per house. Where there are upwards of 5000 houses, 100 gallons might be supplied to each for the sum of £1 2s. 9d. per day, or thereabouts. TABLE showing the Weight and Cost of IRON WATER PIPES. When the price of iron is below £8 15s. per ton, a reasonable deduction must be made from the above prices; and the above pipes should all be subjected to a pressure of 300 pounds at least. Branches and elbows are usually charged 2s. per cwt. more than the pipes. Drainage. It being found far more economical to use the earthenware tubular drains than those constructed of brick, the following are the London prices, but in many parts of the country they are now engaged in manufacturing large quantities to meet the demand at a less price. PRICES OF TUBULAR DRAINS of Glazed Earthenware, exclusive of Laying and Labour. The 9-inch barrel-drain, with half-brick rim, constructed on cement, charged 1s. 9d. per foot run, has a sectional area of 63.617 square inches, whilst the 4-inch tube 12·566 only, yet the latter is found sufficient for all ordinary dwelling-houses; where the Metropolitan Building Act has jurisdiction it cannot be used. SEWERS OF AN EGG OR OVAL SHAPE, including Laying: Glazed Water Closet Pans, with S Traps, 8s. 6d. each. N.B. Wherever these tubular sewers are made use of, it is advisable, if the ground is soft, to imbed them on a solid foundation; viz. when the trench is cut, to throw in a mass of concrete with the proper inclination to receive them. An estimate is here presented of the cost of fitting up a small house, with all that is required by the new Act, to render it perfect in its drainage, and to receive a suppy of water, &c., which expense devolves upon the proprietor. Water Closet fitted up, or to convert the present Privy into one. Drains from House to the Chief Sewer, upon an average. |