The Quest for a Clean City

The report of the Committee on Sewers and Drainage, published in the P.-I., is replete with wise and timely suggestions. Every dollar judiciously expended for sanitary improvement will save the city ten by the improved health of its population and a serious diminution in the death rate. Expenditure is, however, not always judicious expenditure, as older cities have already found out. It is to be hoped that Seattle will not copy their mistakes but will carefully inquire into the several systems of sewerage now in use before deciding. A system which has been successfully introduced in Berlin, Amsterdam, and other large European cities, and which is known as the 'Liernur Pneumatic System of Soil Drainage,' is now attracting the attention of eminent sanitarians in this country. It consists in conveying the sewage through sealed pipes to a central reservoir outside the city, where it is immediately rendered innocuous by chemicals and converted into a nearly portable substance called 'poudrette,' which is then sold as manure. In point of efficacy as well as economy, this system will recommend itself; for not only will it effectually prevent water pollution and atmospheric contamination, but it will pay a handsome interest on the original outlay for the construction of machinery. Indeed, the net annual profit to a city derived from the disposal of sewage by the Liernur system has been estimated at $2 for each inhabitant. The Committee on Public Hygiene of the Medical Society of Washington Territory is now in correspondence with health boards in all parts of the world with a view to ascertaining what system will be most suited to the requirements of Seattle. In the meantime, it is to be hoped that the city may be as effectually cleaned as is possible before summer comes upon us.