Having lately had to report officially upon the sewerage of the City
of Hobart, it has struck me that it might be useful to place before
the Royal Society some facts and considerations connected with the
subject. It is so important that the more it is discussed the better,
provided that the discussion leads to the adoption, and the early
adoption, of the best means to ameliorate the present condition of
things.
To place the matter before you, allow me to make the following
recapitulation from my official report to the Central Board of
Health: The area of the city is 1,270 acres; the population
is about 25,000; the number of houses is about 4,500; the water
supply is said to be equal to 65gal. a day to each inhabitant, or
330gal to each house. There are probably 400 houses with waterclosets,
600 with privies with moveable pails that are periodically
emptied by the nightmen in the service of the corporation, and the
remaining 3,500 have ordinary privies, the cesspools of which are
emptied at much longer intervals of time. The length of public
sewers is not accurately known, but the greater part of the city is
without underground drainage. The length of streets is about 37
miles.
No plan of sewage treatment is at present proposed,
but the outfall sewers are so arranged as to admit of the construction
of depositing tanks and other works, should such at any time hereafter
be found desirable.
Various problems had to be solved before any complete system could
be properly formulated. In the solutions herein proposed it will be
found that the greatest efficiency is invariably accompanied by the
greatest economy
