Investigations on the purification of Boston sewage made at the sanitary research laboratory and sewage experiment station of the Massachusetts institute of technology, with a history of the sewage-disposal problem / By C.E.A. Winslow and Earle B. Phelps.
- Charles-Edward Amory Winslow
- Date:
- 1906
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Investigations on the purification of Boston sewage made at the sanitary research laboratory and sewage experiment station of the Massachusetts institute of technology, with a history of the sewage-disposal problem / By C.E.A. Winslow and Earle B. Phelps. 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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![The oconomic advantage of sewage farming is somewhat more doubtful. Enghsh chemists estimate the manurial vahie of sewage at from I to 4 cents a ton (Rafter and Baker, 1894). This value can no doubt m part be recovered, since the crops grown on sewage fields are often astonishingly heavy. Wliether it really pays to recover it depends on local economic conditions. In many English towns the operation of farms has proved improfitable, and there is some tendency toward their abandonment. Lieut. Col. A. S. Jones and others are, however, ardent advocates of the process; and in certain cases the farm, besides paying all running expenses, yields in some years as much as $12 an acre toward rent (Baker, 1904). McGowan, Houston, and Kershaw, in their valuable report to the royal sewage commis- sion, conclude: Although we are of opiniou that sewage farms in general can never be expected to show a profit if interest on capital expenditure is included, the fact that in favorable seasons some of them more than cover the working expenses is a point in favor of cropping in con- nection with the land treatment of sewage. [R. S. C, 1904 c] With regard to the question of the sanitary quality of the produce grown on a sewage field, the experience of Berlin and Paris indicates that there need be no serious danger of the spread of disease from irri- gated crops. The writers believe, however, that fruits and vegeta- bles to be eaten raw should never be so treated; and McGowan, Hous- ton, and Kershaw (R. S. C, 1904 c) would limit sewage farms to stock raising, saying: We are, on the whole, not in favor of sewage farms being utilized for the raising of crops for human consumption. In the western part of the United States the conditions for sewage farming are specially favorable. In the arid regions some form of irrigation is essential and the manurial value of sewage is reenforced by its water value. The first plant in this country was laid out at Cheyenne, Wyo.; in 1883, and to-day there are a score or more of sew- age farms in operation, of which those at Los Angeles and Salt Lake City are the largest. The experience of Los Angeles is of considerable interest as indicating the value of sewage in such a region. Prior to 1889 the sewage from the city, amounting to 7 million gallons, was carried to the so-called Vernon district, where it was taken b}^ the South Side Irrigation Company and distributed to adjacent farms. So useful did the sewage prove that the value of the land rose from $2.50 an acre to from $15 to $25. A boom followed, house lots were developed, and the population so increased that the sewage, which had built up the district, became a nuisance and had to be taken elsewhere. In the East the problem of sewage irrigation takes on a different aspect. The high cost and poor quality of land and the hearj rains of spring and autumn combine to make the success of such a venture](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21358205_0034.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
