HH62/1/DUNBAR/33

Transcription

[Page] 32

from the sewage, which afterwards enters the Canal. The ash-
pits, &c., are arranged as at Barrhill Rows.
Smithston Row. - Along the greater part of the Row there
is an open brick channel about 36 feet from the houses. Near
the lower end this empties into a burn which here passes
in front of the houses, and in a way replaces the channel.
The channel is swept out every day, but the sewage is not
treated in any way. The burn passes under the Forth and Clyde
Canal at Shirva, and enters the Kelvin. The ashpits, &c., are
faulty. They are only 15 feet from the houses, are uncovered,
and badly constructed. In summer they are much complained
of. The roadway, 14 feet wide, bordered on one side by the
houses and on the other by the ashpits, is, as at Twechar, the
scene of all the local traffic in milk and butcher meat. It is,
moreover, in bad repair, and very dirty in wet weather.
Croy Row. - The surface channel is about 36 feet from the
houses, excepting at one end where the distance is only 15 feet.
It discharges into a ditch in a neighbouring field, where the
sewage stagnates and soaks into the ground, any outflow finding its
way into the drain at the side of the railway. The ashpits are
about 18 feet from the front of the houses, are too large, not
covered, and not frequently emptied. It will be recollected that
the water supply here is very defective.
Knightswood Rows. - The channels are of brick and have a good
slope. They are 15 feet distant from the houses, and are swept
out by scavengers every morning. They are connected with the
burn which here forms the boundary between Dunbartonshire and
Renfrewshire, and which discharges into the Clyde. The ashpits
border on the surface channels. They are not roofed over, and
are emptied by a farmer. They were fairly clean at the time of
my inspection of the rows.
Netherton Rows. - There are two rows. In the higher one the
channels are 12 feet from the houses, and in the lower one 24 feet.
The solids are received into a small catchpit, and the effluent goes
into a covered drain which ultimately enters the Clyde. The
channels are of brick, are partly defective in structure, and are
understood to be cleaned out twice weekly. The ashpits here are
at a good distance from the houses, but have no roof and are very
large.

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Garscadden Rows. - Slop water is emptied into whinstone chan-
nels at the side of the footpath, and only about eight feet from the
houses. The channels are connected by a covered drain with
Garscadden burn, at the east end of the rows. They are
scavenged regularly. The ashpits here are not satisfactory.
They are not roofed over, and often contain a large quantity of
foul-smelling liquid, which at some points leaks through the walls
and pollutes the ground outside. They are about 23 feet from
the houses.
Drumchapel Row. - Here there is no surface channel, but instead
a covered drain empties into a cesspool at the lower end of the
row, the overflow entering a burn which, after joining Garscadden
burn, falls into the Clyde at Yoker. Between every two houses,
and at a distance of 8 feet from the front of them, there is a slop-
sink connected with the drain. The ashpits are at the back of
the row, at a distance of 20 feet from the dwellings. They are
large brick structures, with high walls but without a roof.

Throughout the whole county the drainage is principally of slop
and surface water. There are few water-closets, excepting in resi-
dential localities like Gareloch and Bearsden. Hence the drainage,
objectionable as it is in many cases, is yet not nearly so much of a
nuisance as if wet methods of excrement removal prevailed. As I
have said, the sewage does not undergo anywhere any systematic
treatment before finding its way into streams. In a great many
cases, either of single houses or small villages, a simple and inex-
pensive method of treatment, if properly attended to, would go far
to prevent pollution of streams. The treatment would consist of (1)
precipitation and (2) filtration. The precipitation would take place
in a small catchpit, and would depend either on mere subsidence of
the solids, or partly also on the presence of some such agent as
ferozone or sulphate of alumina. In either case the water would
pass from the catchpit into a small filter of sand and gravel, or
polarite, &c. There is, of course, nothing original in such a
proposal, and I mention the matter merely to indicate that the
difficulties of sewage purification on a small scale are not so great
as is apt to be supposed. Both the catchpit and the filter
would have manholes above to permit of regular emptying and
cleaning

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