The Portland daily press., 1877-07-25

| now thoroughly aroused as to the condition oil
the Back Bay flats, and measures will be a,
once taken to abate the nuisance. 1t is wildly
illustrative of the stupidity of the human race
| and its incapacity to learn anything or make
any progress except through suffering, to find
that the present shocking condition of things
was fully foreseen and foretold by VIM. A
Goodwin, ESQ.,, the efficient Superintendent Of
Sewers, in his report to the city government in
March last Nobody needed his warnings OIL
his requests for the means of ayeitng the dan
| ger; but now the City Council under spur of
an awakened. public feeling, has provided
means for removing this fruitful source Of
sickness and death. The following excerpts
from Mr.. Goodwin's report illustrate the
thoughtful foresight Of that gentleman and
his intelligent attention to his official duties
Our citizens may well be thankful that, at
last he has the power to effect the sanitary re-
forms which he has so long desired
Most of our sc wers lie at such degrees of in
cllnation as to ensure speedy and thorough
drainage; but by far the greater number on the
harbor fronts discharge at or near low water
mark directly in the face of our prevailing
storm winds, and it will be noticed that the
drain smell at the culveIts, if not in our
dwellings, is strongest at low water on the har-
Dor front during southerly winds, and in Back
Cove in northerly weather. The sewer outlets
on the southerly slope of the city, being much
nearer the channel and farther from many
sleeping rooms, are not so Objectionable as
those in Back Cove, where the wide stretch OF
flats at low water, with streams OF sewage
running and spreading out towards the chan
mel, is becoming more and more serious evil;
and when the wind is blowing into the sewer s
mouth but few of the ordinary traps of our
dwellings have restraining power enough to
keep the deadly gases on their own side of the
gate, Notwithstanding the ventilating effect of
the untrapped culverts. In modern dwellings
provision is frequently and should always be,
made for the control of these gases by a pipe
or pipes leading from the sewer service pips
into special chimney-hue, leaving the house
with only its own troubles to contend with; but
most of US do not live in thoroughly built
dwellings, and if the ordinary traps aud goose
necks are not sufficient, our senses being the
judge, let us have them extraordinary, by Sc
curing much greater thickness of water in
them. A pipe from the service outside of the
outer trap leading into fiue of good draugbt
would in most cases carry Off these gases
whether under the stress of in-blowing winds,
or of their irrepressible natural tendency; and
meanwhile our usual appliances would proba-
bly, be sufficient with the aid of frequent
thorough open-window ventilation from cellar
to attic, not relying on the usual little ventila-
tor near the ceiling, which is as much out of
place as faucet would be at the top of cask.
The most dangerous of the gases would roll
from the sewer by reason of their own gravity
if not checked by the wind. An inexpensive
trap at the mouth of each of the Back Cove
sewers for the present, with an open drain to
the channel, combining and hastealpg thu flow
of the sewage, would involve no great expense
or difficulty, aud would very much mitigate the
evil.
The most Objectionable locality in our whole
sewer system Is the mill pond lying between
behring's bridge and Grove street. The pond
comprises an area Of about ten acres of mud
flats at low water, the receptacle of four sewers
with sluggish creek. now the outlet of still
another sewer, as its only feeder, the tide
having no access to it except through the mill
gate. Such place ought to bear large share
of our burden of being below the average of
American cities in point of health, instead of
far above, as nature has done so much to eff
feet. The pond is filthy. The lighter gases
are constantly rising in bubbles to the surface
and pile driven in the mud developes the con-
diton of the substratum in unbearabe stencil.
Nothing but removal of the most heavily
tainted mud about the sewer outlets and free
admission of every tide at the mill site, without
mill, can ever cleanse the pond. The owners
of lands bordering on the pond have asserted
their intention to prevent its further use DIS
receptacle of sewage and measures should be
devised to carry the sewage into the cove below
the bridge.
would respectfully and earnestly commend
this, and the general subject of sanitary condi-
tions, to the attention Of the incoming commit
tee on drains and sewers, in preparation for the
question, which must eventually arise, of an in
tercepting sewer, skirtiug the pond for the sys-
tenn of Portland, Green and intermediate
streets, looking towards a deep water conduit
to the arm rather than the fingers of the sea.
1t will be some years before that destination
can be reached, and meanwhile rothng in that
vicinity has been, or shall be. done which will
have to be uEdone in reaching unrestrained
tide water.
A crew of men have been at work for two
weeks in the mill pond extending the sewers to
the creek and widening and clearing the pas
sage and removing distractions in the creek it.
self, so that when the tide is let in the whole
place will be in the way of cleansing.
The majority of the culverts are well con-
structed and effective for their purposes but
are rendered foul by the throwing in of large
quantities of refuse matter from the groceries,
meat shops and other shops in thsir vicinity.
Thus the water which is intended 10 hold back
the gases from the city becomes itself as foul
as the sewer emanations. The attention of the
city marshal has been called to the matter and
the ordinance providing for this situation will
be strictly enforced.