Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1889-03-27
WATER AND SEWERS.
A CRITICISM ON COMMis-
sloNs AND THE BIG SEWER.
One Who Thinks tho Big Sewer VIII
bo a Nuisance and That There
Should be No Pumping Station
at Tide Water.


Ao Jou ule not hifAiu 10 speak tnronBn
the columns Of your paper, thought an
eye opener might he OF considerable
value 10 the people who raised the
| money Tor some OF our commissions who
use it In building biick walls and In
digging bitches.
One set OF ommissioners seems to be
determ ned to Btipg our drinking water
down To the lowest level before pumping
1t back to q basin some one hundred aud
thirty-lour Zee high above the tide, aud
every year some twenty TO atty Thousand
dollars are spent N putting in new steam
engines or building large water wheels.
Some Diteen or more years Bgo the
hessrs. Bancroft, at Rockford, made q
very fair offer to furnish the city with
drinking water out of tn ir dam, some
Sixty four feet elevation above tide
water, aud any one being familiar with
the situation will say at once that the
| Cily Council maie a great mistake In not
| accepting the oller.
The consequence was that all the refuse
dye and bleach from Rockford and Rid
dies large factories, and all the coloring
| and dirt from thousands OF tons of rage
yearly from Augustine paper mills we've
brought by pipes and dischar red In the
dam OF the north long race to be carried
| down that race aud emptied from that
race opposite the city punlps, und In case
| OF any 'shap to the south ong race the
wa'er had TO be pumped out Of the filthy
aud sllmy uiI up into the basin for the
Inhabitants of Wilmington To drink
Now there Is proposition by some
parties to raise the cry OF pure watsr for
the city use, and they demand sewer to
| start nt the city linz, near Crooked run,
end continue down the creek alongside OF
the south race, say nearly one aud hall
miles, TO the tidewater just below the
city pumps. Now, | will ask any civil
tnglBeer IN this country or any other to
say, II he was making u sewer a mile and
half long with a fall OF about six feet,
whether he would do 1t II II was for him
self and he had to iind the money TO d , 1t
Whit l will venture to say that no civil
engineer of high standing in his proles-
sion would want TO construct any such a
sever
A sewer there of that length would
have 10 be large enough TO carry the
natural drainage OF nearly ght hundred
acres Of land and large portion of tina /
land built up with houses,
The proposition is to drain all the
wells into the sewer, particu arly those
| along Delaware avenue. OF ciurse II
would be very nice for those living in
ihoBe splendid palaces which liue both
tiies OF the avy niue to get clear of Their
offensive refuse, but God help these who
live near the openings end vents of the
sewer along the creek.
Besides, all this miserable, filthy sew.
age will be discharged about two hun.
died yards from where the pumps won d
have TO get he wA'er, IL the race would
be oat of order, which Often happens.
Now, have stated some facts for our
citizens to think over AMI they can con-
clude whe her II sOuld be best to spend
from $S5, ,OCO To 800, 900 Tor sewer, and
after It is finished perhaps have dirtieI
drinking wat.r than they, had before the
! sewer was commenced. 80
} he lass of M n put In the Board OF
| Heath arc generally medical men, but
Judging by some thineB that tiey have
done, they we're hardly competeut for the
position. Our streets are aiways bette
cared Tor opposite the commissioners pro-
perty and the proposed sewers are greatly
for the benefit OF the people living on fine
| streets.
| Our water pumping operations both
under the City Council COmmitte and
| under the Wa'er Commission haze been
| regular sinks where thousands of dollars
1
| s i'll being spent. But perhaps after u
few generations people will get wise
enough TO go couple OF miles farther MP
the creek and get pure water and save all
this unnecessary expense Of pumping It
into q basin,
For years IL hss oc:urred to my mind
that city with as large populatldn as
Wilmington, should be able to get
| twelve or twenty-.our men If necessary,
capable TO run the different departments
without commissioners. But the Old
politicians, like the baruaclee on the bot
| tom OF ship, are hard to get clta oil,
unless you scrape them of and kill them
A leech will get bis ill and let go, but a
political barpacle is always ready to
seize Rnd to hold on.
Fofbcarance, sometimes ceases to be o
virtue. Let me say TO come of those bar
naclss, beware, less the people rise like
the Jews did with old IIaman and hang
them on their own monuments or drown
them In the holes and bitches that they
invented In which to epeGd the money Of
the poor taxpayers.
| 1t would be very serious thing to sec
the w ater Commissioners hanging near
the top of tha high brick stack or drown
ed In the hoes that they quarrIed out of
the rocks along the BrandywIne 10 search
for foundations and fer sewers; aud it
would also be serious thing to see the
| Street and Sew0r Commissioners and the
Street Commissioner wading up the
| miserable streets and blundering over the
bad payements left to cripple people.
| The Board OF Trade complains OF los
ing two or three manufacturing establish
ments that would have located here but
for some cause did not.
New Castle County Is one of the very
hest counties In all this country ior
manufacturing purposes, but In order to
have larger manufacturing concerns 10
come and locate here, thero must be a
better management ol public affairs than
there has been for some time pa /.
i q nHtNrnN