New-York tribune., 1873-12-13
WASHINGTON SEWERS.
ENGINEERING BLUNDERS OF THE BOARD
OF PUBLIC WORKS.

|
COSTLY AND IyExcUsABIE MIsrAKEs-rHE SEW
Frs WORSE THAN USELESS DURING HEAVY RAINS
| CORRUPT CONTRACTS.
| To the Editor OF The Trfbune
SIR: The Washington Board of Public Works,
In It's annual report figures up tho Indebtedness OF the
General Government TO the District Government Tor WORK
done since last at than y 0O This immense
sum IL charged not only for work done around Govern
ment property without authority Of law, but In defiance
OF the provisions the act OF jan 8. 1879 which
prohibited the Board OF Public Works from ncurrIng
contracting further liabilities behalf of the United
in the improvement OF streets avenues ana reser-
vations beyond the amount Of appropriations previously
made by Congress- and from entering into any contract
touching such improvements on behalf OF the United
States, except in pursuance OF appropriations made by
Congress-" The President has recommended In his mes
sage a liberal policy toward the Board, and spoken IN
very complimentary terms of the manner IN which ts
work has been done the Board expects not only to
be paid for the work already illegally performed, but TO
get large additional appropriation for work stl ID
view. These facts make IL matter 0 great puoc l'n-
portance know what the Government is getng IN TO-
turn for the expenditure OF between O0Oo ana s5oO-
COO that has within the last two years been maze on S
account by this local Board and where TINS thnB Is 10
| stop.
| The common argument with which members OF Con-
gress are oneng their for their prospective
votes this question is that 10 city In the world ms
in short time been transformed irou DeihE oH0
of worst paved worst drained. and in almost every
respect one Of the most disagreeabe cities IN inc
country TO be as it is now, of the most beautiu
and that while there have probably been MISTAKES anu
| perhaps some abuses. the people have magnihceht
system of public improvements for their money whch
s more than can said of most cities. II this was All
true submit that it would be no excuse ior exra'"
gance and dishonesty. The beautiful streets Oh fis
may have sufficient answer In the oplhoh vi 'no
IN
plants Of tyranny aud usurpaton, but such arguments
| are out OF place here.
| While admit that the Board has wonderfully In
proved the streets OF Washington hough at an expense
at great as it should have Deen assor'
that some OF the works which they have spent the
largest defective in design and In construction;
that they and will fulfill the purpose
for which they intended aud VIII at no udy
| have to be rebuilt at an immense cost
One year ago the Board reported that, after rntrre
deberaon, it hadlbeen concluded to construct three
large main sewers and that Nov. /. 1872 the work
| already done on them follows:
2.i7s neal feet of Tiber sewer, 80 feet span:
52OO neal Of Bs interceptng sewer, II rect span
900 hneal feet OF S.ashrun sewer, 10 rect span'
Beside these there had beenabuit 2OS lneal feet Of
brick sewers from TO feet in diameter, OF about
eight miles OF main sewerage. Since that time the
Board has made assessment OF s9,OOooO upon the
property holders othe District for main sewerage pur-
poses As they right 10 assess but onethlrd OF
the expense any Improvement upon the property ben
eted it would appear that the Board intend to expend
at least sO000 the main sewers OF the Distet ID
addition TO the work done previous TO November, 1872.
How they are doing this work Is legitimate question
for Congress to ask and to answer through special
committee of investigation before any more money Is
appropriated, aud before Mr.. Shepherd, who - re-
sponsibe for what has been done, Is confirmed by the
Senate to be Governor of the District
The Board their recent report that their sewers
shave stood the OF the heaviest ram storms that
have ever occurred la this latitude THIS statement Is
far from being All observing residents OF TINS city
well know that no such great rain storm has occurred
here since the Board began operations on the sewers as
has before been known, and consequently theiri ca
nacty and strength sustain the action OF great Hoods
cannot have been fully tested On the contrary the
ely moderate rains that have occurred have
proved quite much for the capacity or some OF the
sewers, which inadequateness has. as is well known.
greater damages IN some parts OF the city than
have before occurred when twice as much rain has
! fallen That the Board know that their statement is
untrue, and that the sewers have actually failed Is
proyed by the fact that they have been engaged for
months COSTLY and in the main, futile efforts to patch
I'D their bunders, by taking some OF their inadequate
and rotten pottery pipes and substituting larger ones, or
brick drains crude and inadequate efforts TO re-
eye the main arch OF the Tlber by dyeriiDg portion
of its water towards the eastern branch OF the Poo-
mac-a work the necessity OF which has been discovered
since the report of Now 1872 when the Board said that
the main arch had then proved to be Of abundant ca
pacity TO supply all the demands made upon IT, and when
in describing the complete system OF main sewerage they
| did not mention the sewer loading TO the eastern
branch This they have but recently begun, and IL Is
not likely TO finished i'll less than six months. When
IL is finished notwithstanding its enormous cost. IL will
certainly be almost If quite worthless This work is
designated as the boundary interseptng sewer.
But will not follow the bad example Of the Board by
.,p1t- hrf Gfeh
and demonstrations support of my statements as can
be comprehended and proved. Beginning with the
boundary interceptng sewer, will say first that 1t Is
divided sections, and Is being constructed by
two contractors 1t is intended to intercept at the
northern boundary orhe city the waters OF the man
and branches of the Tber and convey them to
the eastern branch OF the Potomac. The first section
extends westward as Eleventh-st east where tho
first branch of the Tber enters and this part or the
sewer has diameter OF nine feet nine inches The sec
ond section extends from the lastnamed point west
ward $500 the next or main branch and this part
OF the sewer has clear diameter OF six feet. Tho
gradient is intended TO be uniform through both sec
,,ons and equal to fall of four inches in 100 feet.
And here appears one OF the great blunders Of tho
Board After 25 feet OF tho lower or eastern section OF
the sewer had been constructed in accordance with the
lines given by the Board it was found TO be 81 feet too
high to receive the water from tho section above It,
Consequently the whole Of that length had to be taken
up the whole line excavated and lowered to this extent
and the read to make it agree with the
era grade This change must Of course greatly increase
the cost Any student in engineering, with three
months instruction, who should make such blunder,
would be degraded by his teacher Some 1000 feet OF
the western section still TO be constructed and that
il TO pass through hill that will require an excavation
sbout ss feet Deep it Ia yet to appear whether they will
not make similar blunders in the grade OF that part
Buhe disparity between the capacity Of this section
and the voume of stream proposed to be intercepted
by IL is manifest and prove fatal for the following
reasons:
The meteorological records show that the rains OF this
latitude sometimes amount to from TO two inches an
hour and that they occasionally continue falling these