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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    tlie wood of this piev is nearly eaten through in some parts by the Teredo, a bivalve (Laniellibranchiate) mollusc, which is well known to bo destructive to wooden erections in the sea. But the East pier is washed by the sewage water, and apparently from the disengagement of sulphuretted hydrogen, which is specially formed when sewage meets sea water, there is not a single Teredo to be seen at its work of drill- ing holes in the wood. The sewage in such circumstances therefore appears to be beneficial in retarding the ravages of this troublesome molhisc. Independently of the putrefaction of the sedimentary deposits fish might live in water which contained nearly the proper proportion of oxygen, but the water of the Water of Leith from Coltbridge down- wards is almost devoid of oxygen, and fish can no more live in water containing no oxygen than laud animals could live in an apartment destitute of air. It it worthy of note, as evidence of the state ol the water ot Leitli and its incapacity to support the life of fish, that during the sumraei- of 1864 a shoal of young herrings attera^)ted to enter the harbour ot Leith, and those herrings turned over on account of the foulness of the water and the majority died upon the spot. XII. The Purification of the Water of Leith. The foul and abominable condition of the Water of Leith when polluted by the sewage of about 100,000 of the inhabitants of Edinburgh and Leith, and the consequent danger to health of the communities ot both towns who inhabit houses in the vicinity of the stream, led to strenuous efibrts being made to remove the cause of the evil and pro- vide for the purification of the water of Leith, which at the present time is practically an open sewer, by the interception of the sewage and its conveyance by a main drain to the sea. The scheme which was suo-gested and approved of by both corporations, and which, having received the sanction of Parliament, is now in course of being carried out provides for a main drain from Coltbridge down to Leith, and then ■ out to sea to the Black Eocks. The whole length of the pipe and cul- vert will be about 5^ miles for the main work, and 2 miles for branches, and the gradients will be from 1 in 40 to 1 in 600: the atter being he .rradient at the outlet. The length of main ])ipe and branches in the Edinburgh district is from 4 to 5 miles, and the estimated cost^of hat part of the work, viz., from Coltbridge down to the boundary ofTLdinburgh and Leith is 29,314Z. ; whilst tlie length of the main pipe and branches from the boundary of Edinburgh and Leith at Bonnington to the Black Rocks at sea is 9,600 feet, and the estimated cost of Pf^'l i^f work is 25,686L The Avhole estimated expense of the work is oo,UWl. which is a small sum in comparison with the 5,000,000/ now being cxnended by London in a similar measure, and the cost ot the works is To be defrayed by a rate limited to 2.. 6rf. per pound rental for one year, on 111 the property, within the parliamentary boundaries of Edinburgh and Leith, draining into the water of Leith, and con- tributing to the sewage, with the addition of a grant of 4,000/. iiom the I-eith Docks Commission, r. The main drain is to be an iron pipe throughout the greater pan oi its length, though at a portion of its course it will be a brick culvert. Atthc LochrinBurn sewer and the Broughton Burn se^ve^ there wdl be cesspools for the arrestment of dead cats and dogs and other materials thrown into these sewers where they run as open ditclies, but all tne other di-ains and sewers will be directly connected with the mam di-am,
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