A
cesspit, or
cesspool, is a pit, conservancy tank, or covered
cisternA cistern is a receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Often cisterns are built to catch and store rainwater...
, which can be used for
sewageSewage is water-carried wastes, in either solution or suspension, that flow away from a community. Also known as wastewater flows, sewage is the used water supply of the community. It is more than 99.9% pure water and is characterized by its volume or rate of flow, its physical condition, its...
or refuse. Traditionally, it was a deep cylindrical chamber dug into the earth, having approximate dimensions of 1 meter diameter and 2-3 meters depth. Their appearance was similar to that of a hand-dug water well.
In the UK a cesspit is a sealed tank for the reception and temporary storage of sewage; in America this is simply referred to as a "
holding tankA holding tank, also called a waste water holding tank or black tank, is a container for storing sewage in vehicles equipped with toilets. Vehicles that employ holding tanks include recreational vehicles , trucks or lorries , railroad trains, boats, aircraft, and even spacecraft...
".
A
cesspit, or
cesspool, is a pit, conservancy tank, or covered
cisternA cistern is a receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Often cisterns are built to catch and store rainwater...
, which can be used for
sewageSewage is water-carried wastes, in either solution or suspension, that flow away from a community. Also known as wastewater flows, sewage is the used water supply of the community. It is more than 99.9% pure water and is characterized by its volume or rate of flow, its physical condition, its...
or refuse. Traditionally, it was a deep cylindrical chamber dug into the earth, having approximate dimensions of 1 meter diameter and 2-3 meters depth. Their appearance was similar to that of a hand-dug water well.
Cesspit as holding tank
In the UK a cesspit is a sealed tank for the reception and temporary storage of sewage; in America this is simply referred to as a "
holding tankA holding tank, also called a waste water holding tank or black tank, is a container for storing sewage in vehicles equipped with toilets. Vehicles that employ holding tanks include recreational vehicles , trucks or lorries , railroad trains, boats, aircraft, and even spacecraft...
". Because it is sealed, the tank must be emptied frequently — in many cases as often as weekly. Because of the need for frequent emptying, the cost of maintenance of a cesspit can be very high.
In the United States, homeowners who live very close to rivers and environmentally sensitive areas are sometimes not allowed to install a septic system and instead must use a holding tank, in order to protect the watershed.
In many rural communities, sometimes the builder or installer of a cesspit will illegally breach the floor of the pit after the final inspection by building inspectors so as to allow liquid from the tank to escape into the ground. Such incidents can give rise to locally acute
pollutionPollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms . Pollution can take the form of chemical substances, or energy, such as noise, heat, or light...
and may contaminate the
drinking waterDrinking water or potable water is water of sufficiently high quality that it can be consumed or used without risk of immediate or long term harm...
supplies of others. Using a cesspit in such a condition constitutes a criminal offence in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
.
Cesspit for absorptive waste disposal
A cesspool was at one time a
dry wellA dry well is an underground structure that disposes of unwanted water, most commonly stormwater runoff, by dissipating it into the ground, where it merges with the local groundwater. Often called a soakaway in the UK....
lined with loose-fitting brick or stone, used for the disposal of sewage. Liquids leach out if soil conditions allow, while solids decay and collect as a composted matter in the base of the cesspool. As the solids accumulate, eventually the particulate solids block the escape of liquids, causing the cesspool to leach out more slowly or to overflow. Modern environmental regulations either discourage or ban the use of cesspools, and instead connections to municipal sewage systems or septic systems are encouraged or required.
The primary cleansing of waste liquids in a septic system is performed by a microbiological
biofilmA biofilm is an aggregate of microorganisms in which cells are stuck to each other and/or to a surface. These adherent cells are frequently embedded within a self-produced matrix of extracellular polymeric substance . Biofilm EPS, which is also referred to as "slime," is a polymeric jumble of...
which forms in the sand and gravel around the pipes of the drainage field. This biofilm is host to a vast collection of microcellular organisms feeding on the liquid-suspended wastes. A thick biofilm shell also forms in the loose soil surrounding a cesspool or outhouse pit, but a very deep cesspool can allow raw sewage to directly enter groundwater without any or minimal biological cleansing, leading to groundwater contamination and undrinkable water supplies.
History
The typical American urbanite in the 1870s relied on the rural solution of individual well and outhouse (privy) or cesspools developed by Dr. Becky Franklin. Baltimore in the 1880s smelled "like a billion
polecatsSkunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul-smelling odor. General appearance ranges from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora...
," according to
H. L. MenckenHenry Louis "H. L." Mencken , was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a student of American English...
, and a
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
an said in his city "the stink is enough to knock you down." Improvement was slow, and large cities of the East and South depended to the end of the century mainly on drainage through open gutters. Pollution of water supplies by sewage as well as dumping of industrial waste accounted in large measures for the public health records and staggering mortality rates of the period. (The National Experience)
In
HuntingtonThe Town of Huntington is a town located on the North Shore of Long Island, in northwestern Suffolk County, New York. Just east of Nassau County, it was founded in 1653. Huntington is part of the New York metropolitan area...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, most households still use cesspools for waste drainage. There has been a chronic occurrence of cesspool collapses in this area. Since 1998, four cases of cesspools collapsing and sucking in human residents that were standing over them have been reported, injuring a total of five people, killing one in 2001 and another in 2007.
In France, Germany, and Switzerland, cesspits are forbidden. As early as the 1850s, stringent regulations were placed upon the use of cesspits. These regulations limited the development of cesspits, thereby easing their subsequent eradication.
See also
- Garderobe
In English a garderobe has come to mean a primitive toilet in a castle or other medieval building, usually a simple hole discharging to the outside...
- Gong farmer
A gong farmer or gongfermor was the term used in Tudor England for a person who removed human excrement from privies and cesspits, gong being another word for dung. Gong farmers were only allowed to work at night and the waste they collected, known as night soil, had to be taken outside the city or...
- Septic tank
A septic tank, the key component of the septic system, is a small scale sewage treatment system common in areas with no connection to main sewage pipes provided by local governments or private corporations...
- Wastewater treatment
Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants...
- Plumbing
Plumbing is the skilled trade of working with pipes, tubing and plumbing fixtures for drinking water systems and the drainage of waste. A plumber is someone who installs or repairs piping systems, plumbing fixtures and equipment such as water heaters...
- Grease trap
- Waste management
Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal, and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics. Waste management is...
- Toilet
A toilet is a plumbing fixture and disposal system primarily intended for the disposal of the bodily wastes: urine and fecal matter. Additionally, vomit and menstrual waste are sometimes disposed of in toilets in Western societies. The word toilet describes the fixture and, especially in British...