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Home Sanitation and Hygiene: Tank
Overflow Anic Tank.
Hot Water Circulation Pipes Jo Kitchen Sink Return Water Front Ist Floor Feed Pipe Expansion Pipe.
Boller Supply.
Soil. Pipe to Roof.
Boiler. ------ Hot-water circulation. (E. T. Wilson.) Soil Pipe. tank is full. Take care to avoid stoppage of this pipe in winter by freezing. As a rule indoor elevated tanks are not advisable in cold climates unless the whole house can be kept warm by an adequate heating system. An outdoor tank properly protected against the weather is safer.
Pneumatic Tank. -To avoid these difficulties use the modern pneumatic tank built of steel plates. Locate this in the cellar, or protect it by a small building outdoors, or even bury it in the ground. Water is distributed from these tanks by means of air which is pumped into them with the water. This may be done by hand by means of an ordinary force pump, or by any of the above means of using power. The return of the air and water is prevented by means of a check valve in the pipe. The air in the upper part of the tank is compressed by the water which is forced in from below. The pressure is increased by pumping more water into the tank. It decreases as the water is drawn off. A 10-pound pressure will raise the water 22 feet, or a 15-pound pressure 33 feet. A 40-pound pressure will deliver water to points 85 feet above the tank. A little pumping each day will maintain an average pressure of 50 pounds.
A tank 30 inches in diameter and 10 feet long will supply the needs of an ordinary family of five. It can be filled in from 10 to 20 minutes a day with a good hand force pump. But if more than 100 gallons a day are required, it would be better to employ some kind of mechanical power. If an engine is used, a large tank is more economical. Twenty minutes pumping once or twice a day should furnish the supply. a The first cost of a small tank for an ordinary family of five will be from $100 upward. The expense for repairs and maintenance is slight. A large neighborhood plant with pneumatic tank and suitable engine or other source of power capable of supplying water to several houses could be installed at greatly reduced cost to each householder. This would give a much higher pressure in case of fire.
The pipes should be run as nearly as possible in straight lines and free from sharp bends or elbows. The farther they are carried horizontally the larger they should be. This decreases the loss of pressure by friction. If a windmill is used, it should be supplied with an automatic regulator which will throw it out of gear when the pressure reaches a given amount and start it again when the pressure is relieved. The advantages of this system are complete security HOME SANITATION AND HYGIENE against freezing in winter, coolness of the water in summer and incidental fire protection. The tank is wholly closed to dust and light and has the advantage of resting upon the ground.
Hand Force Pump.-If water cannot be supplied by gravity or power 日 Water distribution by pneumatic tank system. Courtesy State Board of Health of Maine. it should certainly be brought from the cistern or well to the kitchen sink and also to the bathroom, if any, by means of a small hand force pump.
The steps saved and health gained make a convenient water supply a necessity rather than a luxury. A small force pump may be located at one end of the kitchen sink with a suction pipe reaching to the cistern.
If an attic tank is used, this may be connected with the rainfall leader and supplied with an automatic cutoff which will send the water to the cistern when the attic tank is full.
The kitchen force pump can also be connected with the tank and used to fill it in dry seasons.
Sources of Water Supply. For domestic purposes water should preferably be what is known as soft rather than hard, and must be clear, pure and palatable. The essentials are freedom from disease germs, turbidity, color, odor or taste. The source of supply of drinking water should be absolutely pure. It is a good plan to have drinking water, especially from wells and cisterns, tested at least twice a year. Water from artesian or other deep wells, springs, cisterns and from the deepest portions of large ponds and reservoirs is to be preferred in the order mentioned. Running streams are not a desirable source of water supply.
They may be contaminated at any time without the knowledge of the user at any point above the source of supply. Water is often contaminated by its proximity to stables, privy vaults, cess-pools and open drains through underground leaching in sandy or other porous soil. Bacteria of typhoid, cholera and dysentery may be taken into the system by impure drinking water. When there is any reason to suspect the water supply, especially if these diseases are prevalent, all drinking water should be boiled. A little lemon juice will take away the flat taste of boiled water.
Physicians frequently recommend drinking water in large quantities, say a pint half an hour before each meal, and the same quantity before retiring at night. The effect of this is to increase the muscular activity of Pollution of water supply from open privy vault and manure pile. certain internal organs by distention, and to dissolve certain poisonous secretions-as, for instance, uric acid which causes rheumatism. The same course is also recommended in cases of threatened diabetes or kidney disease. It is probable that few persons drink as much water as is advisable from a hygienic standpoint. But, of course, the more water taken into the system the more important it is that the source of supply be pure. Approximately four-fifths of the human body consists of liquids, of which over 60 per cent is water. This fact suggests the importance of supplying drinking water of the best quality.
SOURCES OF WATER SUPPLY Wells. An artesian or other deep well driven through hardpan and drawing water from a deep underground stream by means of a tight pipe is perhaps the purest and best source of permanent water supply.
The first cost is considerable, but such a well may be regarded as much the most desirable of all permanent improvements. Open shallow wells dug just deep enough to strike running water, usually not more than 20 or 30 feet, are the ordinary source of supply in most localities. Such wells may become contaminated in two ways: by surface water washing into them, or by underground seepage from some source of pollution. It was formerly taken for granted by most persons that the soil acted as a natural filter and freed the water passing through it from all its impurities. Recent experiments have shown that this is far from being the case. The capacity of the soil to purify water by filtration varies greatly. It depends upon the nature of the soil, the lay and dip of the various strata and the kind and extent of the contamination. Under favorable conditions organic matter and most visible impurities will be filtered out of polluted water before it reaches the well. The water may then be clear and cold, taste all right and be free from odor, but it may, nevertheless, contain chemical poisons in solution. It may also contain the germs of typhoid and other filth diseases in great quantities. For these are entirely colorless and so small as to be wholly invisible without the aid of the microscope.
Another common mistake is to assume that underground percolation follows the same lines as surface drainage. This, too, is by no means the case. If the top of a well is on higher ground than the open vault or drain, cess-pool or other source of pollution, it will be protected from surface washing. But if the bottom is lower than any of these nuisances there may be a dip of the hardpan underground from them toward the bottom of the well. This, if covered with a layer of porous soil or loose gravel, may be almost as good a conduit for polluted water as an open drain or sewer. The continued pollution of the soil causes these underground strata to become charged with various impurities in ever increasing volume. With the lapse of time these creep steadily into closer proximity to the well. Eventually attention is attracted to the danger by the presence of a marked taste or odor. But meantime various degrees of ill health may be observed in the family. Or even an epidemic of sickness may break out from this cause. Yet these diseases may have been attributed to some other source.
As a general rule it may be taken for granted that a shallow well anywhere within convenient distance of a barnyard or an open vault or drain is dangerous to health. This danger is constantly increasing with the passing years, although meanwhile the family may be lulled into a false sense of security. Among the remedies which suggest themselves are piping water from high springs or other suitable sources beyond contamination, the use of cistern water, or if the shallow well seems a necessity, a change in the location of the barnyard and the elimination of open vaults and drains by means elsewhere recommended.
Dug wells should be lined all the way up either with stone laid in water cement and smoothly faced on the inside with a trowel, or preferably with large tiles or tile piping. This compels the water to come in HOME SANITATION AND HYGIENE from the bottom. It thus increases the depth of the soil which serves as a filter. The lining of a well, whether of stone or tile, should be TV a b (a) Proper method of walling up and protecting private wells from surface drainage; (b) unprotected private well. (Ritchie's Primer Primer of of Sanitation.
Copyright, 1909, by World Book Company, Yonkers, New York.) brought 18 inches or 2 feet above the surface of the soil and banked up with a mound of earth. This will prevent contamination from surface leaching. Take care that the upper 4 or 5 feet is made absolutely watertight. Then lay a heavy tight-fitting stone over the mouth to keep out small animals, angleworms, dead leaves and other organic matter.