The Portland daily press., 1885-03-11
total drainage area unprovided for. until it is


S215 per cent of the filth now running into
Back Cove, which would be accomplished
without an element of damage bv Mr.
Shedds sewer meets our needs and is far in
excess of the removal that can be ACCOMPLISHED
by the proposed tidal sewer, which certainly
has in addition marked factors of damage. 1
also believe that the time for disposine of the
remaining III per cent would follow closely
upon the completion of the high level sewer
because when properly severed it will make
valuable property OF Lincoln street and all
land between it and the marginal way. The
sanitary improvement of that vicinity can ouly
be brought about by applying the same prin-
ciples as are applied to the Back Bay of Bos-
ton, viz: low level pumping sewer system
which shall pump only the sewage which its
territory contributes. Such a sewer would be
deep and would give thorough subsoil drain
age to the foundation of houses and would be
independent of the action of the tide because
its delivery mouth would be in large tank,
the accumulation in which would be kept be-
low the delivery mouth of the sewer by
pumps. The labor of a good many years to
come would consist simply in pumping the
sewage from the small low level sewer into the
higher sewer which would be alongside, where
it would run off by gravity to the sea.
If this pumping is not arranged for at once.
still when you shall have removed 8215 per
cent of the difficulties from the low level area.
leaving it to take care of its own sewage, only,
a few thousand dollars viii go long way
towards lettering its present condition. The
reservoir on Pomeroy s rock, or elsewhere in that
vicinity, is in sequence and arranged for when
we shall have grown to the population that
demands it,
I have endeavored to present in outline the
recommendations of Mr.. Shedd, and now
word as to cost. Mr.. Shedd estimates the cost
of construction of the high level sewer over
the route laid down, provided no ledge is en-
eountered and subject to changes upon more
complete knowledge of the ground, at 1865 .OOO
My study of the ground leads me to believe
that very material improvement upon Mr..
Shedds profile can be made near its easterly
and westerly ends, but unfortunately with no
street between Lincoln and Oxford. which
economy and the sewerage scheme calls for,
the sewer is confined to Portland and Oxford
nearly as located. The question of extensive
ledge cutting is a serious one, and we are with
out any definite knowledge upon the subject.
[ have thought that it would be limited to
short distance east and west of Elm street. but
all this could be definitely determined at the
expense of a few dollars in boring and we
could then figure the cost anew. Farther than
ting can see no reason to apprehend that the
estimate is too small. l have compared the
work with that recently executed at Brookline
and / find the estimate confirmed. If the
ledge should prove excessive, tidal sewer
system (like that at Lynn, considerably less
desirable but yet valuable in its results, would
still be open to u.s.
Last October at the meeting of the commit
tee above mentioned, members out of the IL
present urged the adoption of Mr.. Shedd's re-
port, but it failed, evidently because the city
government had already determined upon the
method they wished to have carried out Our
city government took upon itself a great re-
sponsibility when it decided upon scheme of
sewerage for an inhabited area. They owe it
to the tax payers that they make more
thorough examination before they say we can
afford this and cannot afford that. feel that
proper investigation must show that the
citizens who are especial sufferers in this
matter, and have been most active in urging the
city government to their present programme,
will not get by it what they want or need.
To summarize:
l. AS matter of economy, the city cannot
afford to build the kind of sewer adopted by
the city council for the reason that when COM
pleted it will not effect its purpose.
2. AS a matter of economy whatever is done
in the way Of mitigating the difficulty should be
in the direction Of permanent and complete
system, which will need no radical change in
the future. The selection of system should
therefore have the approval of the leading
specialists IN sanitary engineering. The inter-
ests involved are too momentous and vital for
hasty or mistaken action to be tolerated.
8. If effective remedy is to be sought, the
city will be obliged to adopt the principles laid
down in Mr.. Shedd's report, viz: high and
low level sewer.
I concur in Mr.. Shedds Judgment, that the
high level sewer will at present furnish, to a
great extent, remedy for the evils from which
we now suffer. These views, concurred in by
the minority of the committee as above men
toned, and by many others, certainly deserve
consideration. Such difference of opinion as
exists among us here in Portland, in regard to
sanitary methods, is not at all unusual in fact
1t is almost the rule. The city of Newark, N.
J., is perhaps the latest prominent illustration.
Doubt was thrown upon the joint plan pre-
scented by the city engineer and specialist
who had been authorized to act together in the
matter Another plan was urged by the mi
nority. The mayor Immediately ordered an
examination by Rudolph Herring and Col
w. Adams, prominent sanitary engineers
whose report commencing the city engineer
and specialists plan carried conviction to the
public. 1t is similar consideration that | con-
slider the tax payers of Portland are entitled to
receive at the hands of the city government,
before scheme involving the expenditure Of
$9l 900 shall be crystallized. The expendi-
ture of that sum, even larger
one, in a direction that would bring
about marked sanitary improvement,
would prove the best of invest
ments for Portland The report made by J..
Baldwin Latham on the sewerage system of
Croydon, where the death rate has fallen from
2315 to l61a per thousand since its completion
illustrates the benefit that accrues from a
proper system of sewerage. The vital statistics
used by Latham are from the table made by
Drs. Lyon Playfair and Farr, and from such
sources I deduce the following in its applca-
ton to Portland.
The death rate of Portland is about 20 per
thousand, and is not high rate as compared
with other cities of the same size and in the
same latitude; but from the fact of its favora-
BILE form for drainage, and opportunities for
successful disposal after accumulation, it
would seem to me that we should not reasona-
bly, expect death rate higher than II in a
thousand. That means that there are in Port
land l05 more deaths each year than there
need be. As a practical question, what does
this cost U.s. And what can we afford to ex-
pend to prevent it, | offer as an answer to
that question the following statement:
The difference between II deaths and 20
deaths per thousand in a city of $4,000
people is los deaths. Hence los funer-
ais averaging 500, $4,000
With each preventible death there aver
age % cases of sickness; value of labor
lost and expenses incidental to each
case of sickness at So each, would be
105X25XS= $1,000
Out of I05 deaths 6-tenths of them would
be adults and 1-tenth of the adults old
men; hence 56.7 actual producers die,
whose expectancy in life was tx years.
Hence the city loses each year, if we
call the value to the city of an adult
$3.50, 56.7x150x61s years 1922
Total per year, $S2,5S2
This proves that the expenses of the people
of Portland are $S2,582 year more than they
would be if it were in good sanitary condition.
u L.,