The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-04-02
TIE RILBo CANAL.
me Proposition to Make 1t e Closed
Sewer.

2
Sewer.
While tits understood that the city couu-
I'll has not yet determined to abandon the
RiIbo canal as an open sewer, there is no
oonosition to the measure, and the city
onai,eer was instructed to make plans and
c,sci6ca.ions for an open sewer, and the
oIsrl- of council was directed to advertise
FOR bids for the construction of a
closed sewer, the vote on Alder
man Cams resolution providing for the
-ralin1inarv steps of the changed system of
drainage being unanimous.
Wayor Schwarz informed a MORNING
News reporter yesterday that there is no
,n,osition in the board to the proposed
change. as it is felt that something must be
done TO improve the present sanitation of
che canal. He says that he has heard that
limited States Surgeon General Hamilton
s+ated that the open canal is better than
cIosai saver, but Mayor Schwarz says that
he does not know under what circum-
stances the opinion of the surgeon general
WIS given.
Rudolf Herring, the sanitary engineer,
strongly condemned a system of sanitation
which exposes the fecal matter to the suns
rays in an open canal
Alderman Falligant in an interview yes
ter,lay said that before Alderman Cam
offeredthe resolution he asked him the ques-
tons. whether carrying the house drainage
in q closed sewer on the line of Bilbo canal
would not be better than letting it flow into
the open Bilbo canal, and whether, in view
of the futile efforts made to get some i'm
provemeut in the condition of the canal, 1t
would not be wiser to obtain the good thus
possibly attainable than to delay all I'M
provement until such time as the city might
be able to go to the greater expense of con-
Structing a larger line of outlet.
''These questions" said DIR. Falligant.
presented several problems. First, in my
Judgment, it is better to carry house drain
age by a closed sewer than by Bilbo canal.
The outflow thus confined in given space,
properly graded and ventilated and pro-
vided with overflow openings, gives good
current, and will keep the sewer compar-
atively clean. Instead Of coming to a
standstil most OF the time
ana depositing its filthy sediment on mud
bottom, there to tester in the sun and exhale
its noxious odors into the heavy nightly at
mosphere by which they are carried
through the eastern part of the city, it will
rush along constantly. cleansing the bottom
and sides of the sewer by the sweep of the
current and leave no broad fostering bed
as it does in the open canal Secondly, the
putridities that pass out of the canal empty
into the river now SO that the talk about
Cn5 Qdu&tI VI SiiippNAAE buO OObllOW 1ubO bLo
river at this point by closed duct calls to
mind no new error that does not already
exist
alderman CAMS second view is that
if this sewer will serve our purposes for a
few years the saving in its cost over that
of the nearest Herring line would be $780, 900
if Col. Winn's estimates should prove to be
correct, or $75, 900 if the cost of the line
should be $4,000, and that this saving
could be applied toward the construction of
lines in the improved portions of the city
where they are greatly needed. From a
practical business standpoint Alderman
Cams project was entitled to serious con.
sideration. Ii this could be wisely and
safely done, 50 as to serve our purposes for
a decade, the saving of interest alone in
that period would pay the cost of construc-
ton"
when you say If it could be wisely and
safely DONE do you mean that there is a
doubt about the wisdom of the projectP'
My suggestion to Alderman Cam was
precisely what l now say here, viz. that it
would be much wiser, IN my Judgment, as
sanitarian, to build even Mr.. Hering's
shortest line than to empty the house drain
age in the midst of the wharves. where
strangers come to work and where unac-
climated ships crews gather at all
seasons of the year. DR.. Belot.
the great yellow fever expert of
Havana, says in substance that at the
wharves III Havana, where the sewers
empty. is the ever-festerirg and developing
hot-bed of the yellow fever poison; that
even in winter 1t exists perennially, develop
ing sporadic cases; and that from these hot
beus it spreads over the lower adjacent por-
tions of the city, and as the warm season
comes on, enlarges its field to that of
epidemic influence. He says further, that
whilst it may not affect acclimated persons
who are Injured to these climatic influences,
it quickly grapples the unacclimated and
especially in this class of persons rapidly ex-
hlbits its intensely malignant features.
Reasoning from these observations of
this great and observing physician. one
whose writing abound with evidences of
close observation and dlligent study and
inquiry, and remembering that along these
wharves constantly gather hundreds of I'M
acclmated persons who are 50 peculiarly
liable to attacks of malignant types Of fever
in southern climates, think that the sooner
we get the outpourings of our house drain
age away from these localities the better
for our own safety and for the safety of the
lives of those who come here in ships and
make our wharves blossom with commerce.
Alderman Cams project is like the
plaDtive cry of the sufferer appealing for
relief; but the remedy, if not wisely chosen,
and if given in too large doses, may prove
moro dangerous IL proportion to the dose.
think that not only should the house
drainage be taken out of the Bilbo canal,
but that it should not be emptied along
these wharves, and that it should be carried
further down the river, cost what it may
1t appears to be worry generally conceded
that if the Bilbo canal is once changed to
an expensive closed sewer that it will be a
long time before anything will be accom-
pliShed in the way of an outlet remote from
the city, and that not only will the present
volume of focal matter be emptied into the
river at the wharves, but that this volume
of excrenent will be increased by the sew
age of the new Habersham street sewer
now in process of construction, but still
moro largely increased by the many con-
hections which, under an enforcement of
the ordinances, mast follow present main
sewers and laterals.
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