New-York tribune., 1875-03-08
SEWERS OF WASHINGTON.
THEIR INADEQUACY TO CARRY oEF ANY
UNUSUAL FALL OF WATER.

MUST SOON BE NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. or THE
CITY EXPOSED TO AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
MADE BY LIEUT.. HoxIE-now MONEY WAS
sQUANDERED.
70 the Editor OF The Trtb"He.
SIR: Every one familiar with the numerous
asd conflicting reports OF the late washington boao OF
Public Works must have observed with what conn
ao a,d Do,i,n,tv they have always spoken OF their
,ocauca sv.torn OF sewerage" The system" itself,
and the work done upon IL always represented as
admirable In all respects But one OF the successors oi
the Board Lieut. r L. Hoxie. now IN charge OF the CITY
work and engineering tells quite different story In
bis late report the present condition Of things he
,ays that large proportion Of the very costly main
sewers are IN a deploTable condition; that they are
sraeked distorted and falling In. 30 that In many eases
they are utterly worthless. This report confirms 10
part the confident predictions OF persons expert In such
matters at the time the were building Unior-
tuuatclv Lieut. HoXe has yet failed to discover the
greatest Of the late Board Of Public Works IN con
nection with the sewers; Otherwise. ne would have
made his condemnation broader and have dOue more
than be has to stop the work planned and begun by
the Board also feared that some points OF vital
Importance he has himself sadly failed or that at least
~ has not duly weighed ali the conditions involved IN
tho somewhat complex questions connected with the
sewerage and drainage OF this city. But as he is
young maa. with little practical experience in engineer
ing AZ il not surprising that he should have fallen into
some OF the numerous planned and so confidently
advocated by predecessors. Some OF these errors
now propose pOin out that the authorities may
see the importance OF speedily taking such other
measures as the excencies OF the case may require
Will beg N with the Bst sewer extending along the
hre Of the old cana, from Seventh to Seveneenth-s
which ts nov generally admitted 10 be exceedingly
expensive and most dscraceful failure. In describing
It, characteriscs cut. Hoxie has adopted some OF
the erroneous aud deusve terms so often used by the
late Board such a. diameter" instead Of "span 10
pIlafa anil d a. .hsff
the onal area capacity Of the sewers have been
exaggerated. He also speaks Of sewers being tide
To- keI" when the trouble Is manifest want OF ca
pacity Or tho B-s sewer he says: The capacity OF
fhe upper part o. this is probably insufficient,
ahouch the majority of complaints on this account are
from the iii locked section Of the city south Of Penn
syyauiavr." Thus. he first conveys the idea that the
per end only i, wanting in capacity; But in referring
o. tlat part o. tn c south Of fPennsylvaniaave" as
The section from which the complaints come he In fact
bnt apparently without intending it, declares the Bst
az aelng inadequate along rs whole length Aud
ths l. most empdataly true. Bat how very far from
adequate from one end 20 the other he does not
indicate IL does say. however that careful tnvesti
Catian Of complaints hereafter Will be sufficient 70 de-
term ne the question 0f caplclty" How absurd He
viii future time make investIga-
ton what ~ row patent! He viii wait for such
Iriut- rs nav ma e. in the indefinite hereafter"
ascertain what apac:y OF sewer Is now required
w engineers determine such questions first, before
beginning the cous'rrc ion OF sewers.
In this ease the o. t.on OF capacity had been well
eOnsd, red by some OF the most eminent engineers OF
iis country aud Their conclusions published long
before S5TA mon ihaI sewer was begun But, untor-
iuhately. tho niueers al IIcd TO we're not OF the
Board of 7 bile Works ana the Board has totally dis
regarded their opinions; hence the expensive
and very damaging blunders that sewer.
And with all these facts before him Lieut.
Hcxie proposes u wait for further developments.
Ater seeing the surface Of portions Of the strees
deeply submerged by moderate freshets so as TO max
wacng 20 r. ich the Potomac Rlilrold depot
tho Central Mir,cr, and many other places Il import
ancc after seeing many cellars and Easements inun-
dated with foul sewage, only south Of Pennsylvania
AVE. bat also uorta " in localities never before
reached b greatest foods after thousands on thou
sands Of dollars have been thus lost in damages which
are expected 20 amount to millions whenever full
food snail come Lieut. Hoge proposes TO wait IL is to
be hoped Congress WI. not wait, but will see the In
portanc- OF Immediate action. Lieut. HoNe suggests
that "thc oay means relief f0r those who reside
upon the low c-ould IN the vicinity Of the sewer Is to
adopt e trcammcndatiou C, the Board Of Public Works
aud ulAc ..c q Il OI-vaves.' What nonsense p! Is 1t
not quite plain that nJoJ-ya,yes cannot prevent the
water backing up 20 nigh elevations IN the sub-main
severe conI. 10 does from the high grounds in the
rear, and uJt from lie foods tides in the river
H.th.fto the damages alluded to nave resulted wholly
from rain falling ia the city ani north OF IL, when the
river and tides have been Consequently the nun-
lati0ns Of the streets and cellars cannot have come
from tde condition m the Bst. sewer, their
common outlet That such trouhles along that sewer
arise wholly f,om It's inadequate capacity 20 receive
and carry q Tue ils Of is contributing branches
with sufficient raDidy becomes quite plain in view Of
the fact tAa tdco ed outlets cannot cause the water
10 rsc or baoG Tie branches much higher than the
surface Of the tides. But the times alluded TO the
water tie licrals as hgA as TO- 20, and even
more than 30 ieet above tide level.
On Che y August 1873, inch Of rain fell'in 26
minutes AZ that time Is said to have spOued
10 The hi-h O. three four feet from the man-hoes at
Eitst aud ptunJ 7dniaaYe., tne surface Of which Is
fuy u CT a40vo The tide level. Other manhoes at
like elevations were by the force Of the water
issuing them. In other places. at various eeva-
tons up 10 GO feet above tides, heavy iron covers
are SAID 10 have been forced of from manhoes Surely
none Of these Effects could have from the tides.
That Lieut. H0xie mistaken and that the oyerhOws
named have resulted from want Of capacity at the oat
Ies o. the sewers Bst. VIII become st more clear In
view Of The following facts: TIE B-st sewer lies On
dead level and therefore, canDOt by Itself lmpart any
current to it water. Whatever outward movement OF
the hguls may be produced within, II must come
wholly thc pressure of the water flowing In from
the higher elevation its contributing branches the
mean hight OF which is supposed TO be about IS feet
From these water AOws with an average velocity OF
about II miles hour. The aggregate sectional area OF
the branches along the north side alone is about 80
square feet greater than hc section OF the largest part
Of the Level B-st sewer into which the branches dis
charge with tie great velocity mentioned To this must
be added the drainage OF 19j aOngthe.south sde
flowing In VITA veoctes of some or egat miles an
hour As the branches quite full In times OF great
rains possessing the least sense can fall to
see that the conductive capacity OF the Bst sewer Is
utterly inadequate; that this deficiency, and its being
level form the sole OF the OyerAowing and dam
ages: hence, the term tide locked" used by the
Board and by Lieut.. Hoxe, is strangely inappropriate.