Sewage Disposal Science Project Idea

Sewage Disposal in Villages and Isolated Houses Science Project Idea

If we live in a city in which there is a well developed system of sewers there is really no concern for the individual home, other than to make sure that there is a proper connection with the sewer. In the home or school not connected with a sewer, the septic tank system is the most satisfactory. This consists essentially of two or sometimes three concrete underground tanks.

In the first tank, solids are acted upon by bacteria and liquified. By an overflow pipe this liquid passes into the second tank, from which it may be removed through the top ; or, in the country, it may be conducted away by a series of drains and permitted to escape into the surrounding soil where it is soon completely decomposed by the soil bacteria. Any method of disposal of waste from the toilet in which the material is open to visits of flies, or in which it is permitted to become mixed with the soil before it has been acted upon for a long time by bacteria, is bad, as it may mean exposure to typhoid fever and hookworm disease.