On the contamination of the Water of Leith by the sewage of Edinburgh and Leith / by Stevenson Macadam.

Date:
[1865?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the contamination of the Water of Leith by the sewage of Edinburgh and Leith / by Stevenson Macadam. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    tions on the nature of the sewage discharged into the Water of Leith, and the effect which that sewage had upon the stream itself and the harhour of Leith. The chemical nature of the sewage as discharged by the drains and sewers of Edinburgh and Leith has been ah-eady fully adverted to in this paper, and the details of the analyses made by me of these sewage matters ai-e given in the tables. I have now to refer to the chemical composition of the Water of Leith as con- taminated by the sewage ; and in order that the effect of such may be correctly observed, I will first refer to the nature and condition of the Water of Leith before it reaches Edinburgh, and thereafter to its state when it receives the various accessions of sewage. V. The Water of Leith above Coltbridge. The sources of the Water of Leith are mainly derived from the upland districts on the Pentland Hills, and the waters originally are of a peaty or mossy nature. The water is collected in large compensating ponds or reservoirs ; two of which are situated about eight miles west from Edinburgh, and the outlet from which is known as the Bavelaw Burn, and the remaining reservoir is about 13 miles west from Edin- burgh, and its water flows into the head stream of the Water of Leith. The Bavelaw Burn joins the Water of Leith above the village of Currie, about six miles west from Edinburgh, and the two streams then flow on to Edinburgh as the Water of Leith. There is a flax ropery work and a paper mill on the Bavelaw Burn, and six paper mills, a washing establishment, and a glue work on the Water of Leith before it arrives at Coltbridge and mingles with the scAvage of Edinburgh. The ropery and the paper mills discharge considerable quantities of dark-coloured alkaline solutions from the boilers in which the flax, rags, and esparto fibre have been boiled, and these discharges tend to increase the quantity of saline and organic matters dissolved in the water, as may be seen from Table H., where the analyses are given of eleven samples of water from the Water of Leith before it reaches the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and also the analyses of 23 samples collected immediately above Coltbridge and just before the contami- nation of the stream with the sewage conveyed by the Lochrin Burn From the latter analyses it will be observed that the average of these 23 samples gives 5 grains of organic matter and 15^ grains of saline matter in one imperial gallon, in all 20^ grains. The discharges from the ropery company and the paper mills contain much alkali, s«luble silica, and some organic matter dissolved therein, accompanied by the washings of the boiled rags, and the water from the washing and beating engines and paper machines. These fluids tend to com- municate more or less of a yellow brown colour and slight alkalinity to the Water of Leith, but they do not leave any deposit on the stones in the bed of the stream or on the banks thereof. So far as the chemical observations were carried out, there was no appearance of a putrefactive tendency in the contents of tlie water as it arrived at Coltbridge as a running stream, and though the water was not to be commended for dietetic use and ought not to bo employed for such yet there were no offensive gases escaping therefrom, and tlierefore there was no evidence of the contamination of the nei-]ibouring atmosphere by exhalations which miglit be regarded as unwholesome. There are several villages situated on or nearthe banks of the Water of Leith before it arrives at Coltbridge, but these villnges have no regular system of house drainage, and hence the water is not materially contaminated with sewage in its upper parts, and certainly, it
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