, 1880-12-05
THE NEW SEWERAGE SCHEME. TO COST
TWELVE MILLIONS. =

Readers Of The TRIBUNE interested in
Chicago matters have doubtless read the ro~
port OF the Committee Of the Citizens Asso-
ciation proposing new scheme for the per-
manent drainage of Chicago, and the estab-
lshment Of permanent. system of sewer
age. This report, with the diagrams and
profiIcs, flied a page OF TIE TRIBUNE of
DEG. /. The subject is OF such direct I'M
portance to all the 4inbaoitants of this city
that any efforts made to reach a permanent
and sufficient solution Of the great problem
of what to do with the sewage of the city
cannot fail to enlist public attention. Here
1ofore what has been done in the way Of re-
lief has been Of 4 temporary character.
All the other temporary schemes having
proved insufficient. the Committee has en-
deayorcd to devise scheme which shall be
permanent and sufficient for all time. AS the
plan they recommend is one requiring sey-
eral years to complete, they urge that the
pumps be erected at Bridgeport, and the
water of the South Branch be pumped into
the canal whenever the same may be needed.
The plan is to dig, excavate, blast rocks,
and construct another canal in the i'm
mediate neighborhood of the present ditch
and of the Desplaines River, but independ-
ent of these streams; this new canal Is to
connect the South Branch with the Illinois
River at Joliet, andis to be Of equal depth
with the Chicago River, so as to drain from
it ut tllo bottom rs well rs at the surface.
This canal or sewer is to be OF capacious
dimensions, and able, say the projectors, Of
performing the following service:
eotr rf~rt. 41,n hn n
cavated in tho above sewer. including earth aud
rock. with tho probable cost. | will proceed to
statc the cubic feet Of s'ater shicl, the sever Is
expected to pass ut q point opposft Lock No. J,
win clear width Of - feet, Il depth Of IL feet,
a full Ut foot per mile, and .Eid.h at upper
end Of sewer Of 70 feet, and widening from Luck
mile. us conpcnsa ton; with this area of How of
water, say 10 feet By 20 feet. making wet
charge Of GIL: cubic feet of water per second,
3s9A7 cubic feet inn minute. $50 cubic feet in
hour, and In twenty four hours 81 GU cubic
feet. In seven miles length OF Chicago River hnvc
estimated 53 7 .0sU cubic feet OF wafer from tho
data furnished ,ne. and hence VIC dct'1et II rs
tneorctsnl taet that the sewer r. "t o iifnre i5;nr
River in neutrality-suspicious. and Mtn draw ahnit
1.uDU,0U cubic feet ut clear lake wutcr through
the sewer beside Hut rs theory IS sometimes
doubted rs ngailast practical experience. se can
afford to assume, with tho light We have That in
twenty four hours VIC can drain the Chlcago
River.
Ill plaiiA L<A5aotIt LAlo p'sA ~ hSs&*A @
new canal, to be used exclusively Is "a Sewer.
1t is to he about tl'irty-scven miles long, and
necessarily built of masonry. The engineer
who proposes it estimates the cost Of excava-
tion and contingencies at 50, S40, 1928 and the
Conr1lttcc estimate the total cost OF the work
at ST., ,ooo, 600, the interest alone OH which
would exceed half alnilli0n year. The lis
rict drained by the sewer is to be Included
in drainage district and Board OF Conl-
missioners are to issue bonds for the amount
needed, which bonds and the Interest thereon
are to be paid By taxation. This, in brief, is
the scheme.
The City Of Chicago is now connected by
canal with the Illinois River. For twenty
years and lnble the drainage Of the city has
passed through that canal. For sixty years
the construction of a canal between Lake
Michigan and the Illinois River has been the
grand project of engineers and statesmen.
If, in the days Of John Quincy Adams, the
commercial Importance Of such canal was
SO recognized and admitted that Congress
granted Il quantity Of land to aid
in the construction Of the connect
ing waterway, that Importance is far
greater at this time, when the country
has become peopled, and the roads and high
ways are clogged with merchandise which
the railways are unable to move. The State
Of Illinois; has expended from first to last,
sl2,ooo,ooo upon this great work. 1t IS still
incomplete. The canal needs an expendi-
ture for deepening tito the level Of the Chi
cago River, and for Widening it to the capaci-
ty of the; steamers thht do business OIL the
great riyIrs. The principal cost Of this en-
largeme}f will be the rock-cutttng north Of
Lockpok The canal hasbecome part OF the
river Improvement, by which continuous
steam navigation will be maintained fpm