MYFBS, MAY(R - the Digital Library of Georgia

204 MAYOR'S ANNUAL BEPORT.an open connection between the sewer and the openrooms of the house. Sewer gas pours in and the diseasegerms are lying in the furniture and draperies,and sickness oftentimes results. If the water is takenout of the traps before the house is closed up, andneutral oil put in its place, that would prevent thebreaking of the seal and there would be no connectionwith the sewers.The bursting of water pipe during periods of lowtemperature has been, as is most universally known,an evil of great dread and the source of widespreaddestruction, and the expense, the inconvenience ofdoing without water, the unsanitary condition, andthe great waste of water, constitute a problem ofhigh importance to the owners of property and tothe. water works department. This stretching andsplitting, or bursting of pipes, is well known to thosefamiliar with hydraulics to be due to the irresistibleexpansion which water undergoes when changingfrom the liquid state to ice. There is no ordinancegoverning the putting in of water pipe through thebuildings, and I would recommend that an ordinancebe drawn up covering this branch of plumbing-There should be placed on the outer curb a stopcockand a box, and on the top the word "water-box," thisstopcock and box to be approved by the Board ofPlumbing Examiners, and inside the property lineshould be put into the supply a drain water-cock andall water pipes be run so that when water is shut offall water will drain out of pipes.Valuable assistance has been rendered this departmentby the two Inspectors of House Drainage—Messrs. Sheftall and McDermott. During the year