The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-01-27
THE sEwERAGE PLAN.

vas brought here from Denver recently
to examine the city and suggest sew
craze plan, or system, has presented
his report, which is accompanied by
maps, plans. specifications, estimates,
etc The matter will undoubtedly soon
be laid before the Council for action
thereon, when the public will be able to
learn just what Mr.. Lowrie recon-
mends, the cost, and so on. Meantime,
it may De well enough to suggest that
the Council proceed with caution and
elaboration. This sewerage matter is
very important more important, IN
fact, than any other improvement ever
undertaken by the corporation. It not
only Involves the public health and
convenience, but involves a vast sum of
money. Therefore, before going ahead,
we should be reasonably certain
that We are right. A mistake
or blunder in a sewer system is very
grave affair, financially and in other
respects. Nor is the fact that an
engineer presents plan to be accepted
as conclusive that the plan should be
accepted. Engineers who have made a
study Of the business may not be as
liable to mistakes as other persons, yet
the fact that skilled engineers differ as
to plans is convincing evidence that
some OF them err, as different systems
cannot be equally good. We believe
Mr.. Lowrie has not recommended the
best plan, his scheme being what he
calls interior or block drainage" that
is to say, he proposes to lay sewers in
the interior of the blocks, say $50 or
200 feet from the street line, and into
these the sewage will run the interior
sewers are to be connected with lateral
sewers running down alternate streets,
and the lateral sewers will connect with
the main sewer which, for the PRESENTS
to extend from Second East street along
Fourth South to Second West, thence
north to Third South and west to the
Jordan River. 1t is to this "block
plan" that We object, and which we be-
ieve property owners generally will
oppose BY every means within their
power. The engineer recommends it
On the score of economy. He assumes
that as closets, sinks, and so on are usu-
ally at the rear of dwellings it will be
cheaper TO drain into sewers inside the
blocks than to carry the sewage direct
to the street sewers, the distance being
so much greater; he estimates the say
ing viii amount to perhaps 30 per cent
The correctness of his estimate is
doubted, but even if he be right, his
plan ought not to be adopted, because
reasonable amount of money could
compensate for the annoyance, the
danger, the downright nuisance
Of having the blocks bored
with sewers. Nobody wants
his house over a sewer, and nobody
will voluntarily consent to a main be-
ing rum through his lot. There is al.
ways danger from sewers, and that
danger should be reduced to the niAi-
mum by placing the mains where they
will do least damage in the event of
burst or stoppsge. Furthermore there
F is no occasi for depreciating the value
of the city lots. by trimming sewers
through them. Oar streets are wide
enough to accommodate all the sewer,
the gas and the water mains, without
the possibility of these mains interior
lag with and injuring each other.
+ There would be room in abundance if
I the !pipes were thrice as Numerous as
Z there is probability of their becoming
+ within the next century, however much
the city may boom and grow.
Aswe understand the matter. it is
not proposed to make the mistake in
L laying sewers that was made when the
water works system was inaugurated,
that is to say, the only sewer that the
corporation will pay for from the public
treasury will be the main which crosses
the city, and through which all sewage
viii 5e carried to the point of deposit.
The lateral sewers will be paid for by
assessment n the property fronting on
1. tQe SlIS6l, anu nOOSC OelAbCOtIOuS VIII
\ be paid for by the house owners; hence,
/ it will not concern the municipality
4 whether the cost is much or little. AS
I a matter of fact the Intelligent house
owner or lot owner would prefer to pay
E d jubIe fo1 sewer in the street than
& for one under his house or through
his lot. Furthermore, how is the
+ city 10 get the right of way to run
sewers through private property? Mr.
Lowrie aust assume that the lot owners
of Salt Lake are fools, if he thinks they
will voluntarily consent to the impo-
stiou which he suggests. Nine owners
out q tea would resist the proposition
anu Ell the courts to their assistance,
and 1t is believed that the rightto lay
pipes as proposed would be made