File:A treatise on hygiene and public health (1879) (14576442000).jpg

Identifier: treatiseonhygien01buck (find matches)
Title: A treatise on hygiene and public health
Year: 1879 (1870s)
Authors: Buck, Albert H. (Albert Henry), 1842-1922
Subjects: Hygiene Public Health
Publisher: New York, W. Wood
Contributing Library: Columbia University Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Open Knowledge Commons

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ngused to supply water for flushing the water-closets, these tanks are some-times in communication with the drains of the house, and instances areon record where the water had been rendered impure by the gases fromthe soil-pipes. The main bulk of the rain-water collected on the roofs ofthe houses is usually stored in underground cisterns built of brick laid incement. These underground cisterns are unobjectionable, provided theyare properly protected and are so constructed as to admit of ready cleaning. It may not here be out of place to allude to the method of collectingand storing rain-water in the peculiarly situated city of Venice. ^ Ferreira : Hydrolo^e generale, Paris, 1867, p. 128.Vol. I.—15 226 ON DKIISTKING-WATER AND PUBLIC WATER-SUPPLIES. The situation of the city prohibits the construction of ordinary wells,although of late years a number of artesian wells have been sunk. Thecisterns have always been an important source of supply; these are con-structed as shown in Fig. 1.
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5 ID 20 30 Fig. 1,—Section of rain-water cistern at Venice. An excavation is made in the soil as deep as practicable, generallyabout ten feet, and a brick floor and walls are built with a backing ofpuddled clay, so as to be water-tight. The walls are sometimes vertical,as shown in the figure, and sometimes they slope outward. A well-holeis built of brick, water-tight except at the bottom, where openings areleft. The cistern is then filled with sand, and drains are constructed asshown in the figure, to collect and distribute the rain-water which runsfrom the houses and falls upon the streets and courtyards. The water isthus subjected to filtration through sand, and, as there are no draught-animals in Venice, the street-wash is not as bad as it would be in otherplaces. The sand, being fine, holds the water and delivers it graduallyinto the well-hole. Of course, the cistern must be made larger than wouldotherwise be necessary, because the sand itself must occupy nearly two-thirds of th

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