The New York herald., 1875-11-21
OUR Sc " ERS.
A Graphic Exhibit Of Their
Defects.
Valuable Suggestions as to Future
Construction.
SUGGESTIVE SEWAGE STATISTICS.

SKw YORK, Nov 10, 1874
70 rHE EDITOR HERALp:-
Ia compliance with your request regarding my
Views 81 the existing system 81 drainage ana
sewerage y this city, and of which proper regard
to the health and convenience of citizens and
economy q maintenance requires submit the follow
ing
The formation Of this island peculiar consisting
principally or rock having very irregular surface,
with the plane OF It's laminanon approaching to The yer
tca and ln consequence thereof rs surface s inter
spersed with natural water courses, which empty az
recy into the adjoining rivers except where me vol
ume or their aow Is small and their basins impermeaoe
70 its subsdence By gHsvaton, ID which case i forms
marshes or ponds which discharged only when they
are ovoraowed and SO THIS primeva condition
was not arrested By dng ofthe river shores
bulkhead line and by the dlling Or lines Of
and streets which across The threads OF these
courses whoutany provision being made for their pas
sage under them: this operation vas not disturbed
and the land with the exception Of the marshes and
ponds was freed rom surface and spring water. But
when the discharge Of the water courses WIS arrested
by mpermeabe aning across them, the water con
sequence remained and upon the earth, evidenced
in the lower portion Of the city cellars, and in
the upper portion cellars pools and ponds the result
or which is the generation and exhaation of masma
prolific with disease and death.
50 manifest is the fact and evil result or this arrest
Of drainage that the area Of different embayments
can be defined BY locating the points At which malarious
diseases have been contracted
SEWERAGE
Air charged with decomposng matter will sustain
animal life in health as the oxygen, or lfesustanng
portion Of IL Is absorbed BY matter undergoing decou
position The health and life Of individuals therefore,
depends upon the observance Of such sanitary
ures as Will afford them pure air and, in communities
az in popuous cities alike this this requirement OF
pure air IL the more important lnasmuch as the vita
ton Of II BY inhalation and decomposition, IS nversey
IS the and volume OF occupation
Communities with some late exceptions, have neglect
ed sanitary measures and it is only when disease
alike cholera other epidemic has decimated them
chat sanitary measures have received that considera
ton and attention they are entitled TO-
The preservation OF the health or all IS important
10 all Health to the laborer his wealth and nfec-
ion generated the dwellings or the poor may extend
10 those Of the rch
Sanitary regulations and provisions give power and
lttan results in communities which individuals acting
sngy effect Il becomes necessary, therefore,
that they should comprehensive in construction and
effective in operation
The FIRST aud most important element in this
don is sewerage the operation of freeing dwellings,
factories, &c, from decomposing and noxious matter,
and u embraces Two distinct OperatOnS-pne tue coli
ecton sewerage and the other the disposal of il.
In metropolis alike this With its dense popala-
uon houses ana cellars the impunity With
which many Of its ordinances neglected i becomes
imperative that deficiency OF municipal control should
De met; that citizens should have regard to their
sanitary requirements and learn, that IN default Of DO
nestle and municipal safeguards and measures, physical
constructions and operations must be resorcd % and
relied upon.
As regards the sewers OF this city constructed prior
70 1866 years after, further descr pton
,ftheir construction and condition becomes unneces-
Eary after that which appears report or the Com
nssioners ofthe Croon Aqueduct the Common Coun-
Ill in 1866 the following extract from il wherein
hey refer the existing sewers, the entire
ground
'Nearly an or which Csewersl have been but without
regard any system Notwithstanding that under
the provisions or Of the Legislature OF 1855 they
had authority to construct sewers upon a devised
system) place Or the irregular and faulty work
which has heretofore rendered operations under
this head SO expensive ineffective and pcstentia and
that 10 lessen the evils resulting from
so many years of msmanagemenL Is a task requiring
much study, care and time. y
Tho sewers or this city constructed either OF
brick masonry or ofvitriGed clay pipe, and when of
brick Il required that the lower should Be laid
free Of mortar cement that the OF the
earth might them and thus be led OF 70 the river
into which the discharges IN pipe sewers there
be such provision and method BY which
tcrnal them but through the assures in
their joints
Il however, that the operation Or the open
joints of o. bricks and Tie oose1ttng joints
or the pipes very effective carry or the sub
soil water because Or tile great proportion of
matter tte sewage which u iry weather induraIes
tntcr~faI lI1ur tlus arrests he
ofthc external water through il, ana II locations
of city, where the son open aud the elevation
much above tdo-yatcr level, the sewerage in dry
weather pcrmeaes through their joints the earth
So manifest the necessity of sanitary operations
In communities by tho aid of sewers 50 universally
has tho system practsed that from the earliest
ages sewers boon constructed III populous cities
as evidenced by the constructions that have withsfood
the disruption or time Carthage Alexandria
salem Hcrculancum, Rome and other cities In Rome
the coaca pazima OF twenty-five centuries Is
lstencc and operation.
RESULTS or SEWERAGE.
The sanitary results TO be derived from the
of town Is very forciby illustrated in the records n
the medical officers Of the Prvy Council OF England,
from which appears thirteen towns Of England,
into which sewerage had introduced that the aver
age death rate per 1000 or the inhabitants before the
introduction of sewers 2s4 IN 600 and that since
their Introduction the average was out Z14 per LoVo
being decrease In of IL per cent yet this
city With less than two half miles In width At its
widest part cncompasscd BY water which washes
its shores twice day. added to the nuviaI current Of
The Hudson possesses he elements Of health % rs In
habitants advance = any city in the world, and
yet is death twenty per cent greater th an
the inland cities Or London and Paris
SEWAGE
The sewage q our city under existing constructions
and operations "a discharged into the slips bordering
the rivers rom which the nsoiuhe portions peri
odcany removed by dredging ana transferred 70 the
Lower Bay whence the light portion Or il IS horne By
the dotrita action Of the tidal currents 70 qucscent
parts 70 on the lesser bays and ndcntatons of the
shores Of Island and New Jersey tai up.
on the bay whereby The tidal area and volume of the