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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![and 7 200 long tons of sludge are daily carried 50 miles out to sea by a fleet of six dumping boats. The total cost of treatment .s nearly S900 000 a year (Baker, 1904). The results of the chemical reatment for London are indicated in Table VII and show a removal of some- what over three-fourths of the suspended matter, but only slight improvement in the soluble constituents. The effluerit is by no means purified It is merely so improved by the removal of most ot its solids that its discharge into the Thames is for the time bemg per- missible. Table YU.—Results of chemical precipitation at London, 1894 {Dibdin, 1903). [Parts per million.] Source. Material. Suspended solids. Dissolved material. Total. Oxygen con- sumed in 4 hours at 80° F. Nitrog Free am- monia. en as— Albumi- noid am- monia. JJortliern outfall. . Southern outfall.. - 417 99 441 87 862 910 ■ 1,300 1,420 44.5 46.2 53.1 44.5 35.6 36.9 34.8 28.9 4.1 4.2 4.9 3.9 At Manchester conditions appeared somewhat more favorable for precipitation on account of the presence of certain chemicals in the factory wastes, and only 31 parts of calcium oxide, and 17 parts of ferrous sulphate were added. The results with respect to the total organic constituents are indicated in Table VIII. The figures are five-year averages of the results of analyses made twice a day on hourly samples. The purification of the effluent proved inadequate to meet local conditions,-and the system has been abandoned in favor of newer biological processes. Table VIII.—Results of chemical precipitation at Manchester, England, 1900-1904 (Man- chester, 1900-1904). [Parts per million.] Material. O.xygen consumed in 4 hours. Oxygen consumed in 3 min- utes. Nitrogen as- Free am- monia. Albumi- noid am- monia. Sewage 116 76.4 56.7 37.2 23.6 24.2 5.9 3.9 Tank effluent ;... At Birmingham a number of chemical processes were tested in 1871 and found unsatisfactory. Watson, the present engineer of the drainage board, comments: I venture to say that a similar conclusion would have been arrived at if the committee, instead of trying only seven chemical processes, had tried all the 454 processes which were patented previous to 1886, [Watson, 1903.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21358205_0037.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
