The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-10-14
FOR ROANOKE'S SEWER SYSTEM.
Mr.. Rudolph Herring Arrives to
Study the Ground.
interviewed by n Times Reporter--"Roan-
oRe 'rown Beyond Recognition"--He
fronounces the Fertilizer Plan I'M
practicabIe--a Review of the situation
What Other Cities Have Done.

Mr. Rudolph Herring, of New York,
VINO mas been engaged to report on n
system OF sewerage for Roanoke, ar
rived yesterday, and is at Hotel Roa-
noke.
MIR. Herring is of medium height.
closely built and of commanding phv-
s1que. He has flowing black beard,
and sharp black eyes. He wears a pair
OF glasses, suspended by dainty gold
chain, which seemed to be fastened
through hole in the right ear some
what as ladies wear earrings. He has
forehead and face that mark him as
more than an ordinary man, and is alto
gether much handsomcr than the aver
age. lie talks Interestingly and knows
how to relieve the scientific subject of
improvements of its dryness
Mr. llerlng is one of the most eminent
sanitary engineers in America. Probably
nfteen million dollars would not repre-
sent the costs of various sewerage sys-
TENS constructed on plans furnished by
nm. Tho few sewers Roanoke has are
supposed to follow the details OF the re-
port he made to the Roanoke Land and
Improvement Company i'll 1882.
TIMES reporter interviewed Mr..
iierlng last night. Roanoke has grown
beyond recognition," said he. 'since |
was here in 1882. l was ono of the first
VINO registered here after this hotel was
completed. and it is the only thing that
looks familiar | have been looking
around this afternoon. but cannot yet
say anything definite as to the plans for
system Roanoke is going to be one
OF the large cities, and l shall recon-
low, Nr 1,
and substantial system, upon the basis
OF much larger population than ut
present. There is great deal more
ground to be considered than was COW
cred by my first report, and changes
may be necessary
The cost, compared with other cities,
VIII not be unusually large. The fiat
ness OF the surface will require larger
sewers than would be necessary with
more fall, and this will increase the
cost. The separate system. in the
main, is best for small cities, and the
natural drainage will be sufficient to
carry off the storm water for some
time"
What about the practicability of
converting the sewerage into fertilizer?"
THAT has not yet proved successful
Nlnety-nine per cent of sewerage is
water. There is q way of evaporating
Thy cumming it oyer lsstaa dpums, but.
1.-The coal niece sssary for tits liz worth ),
moro than the fertilizer. Another way
is to use it in irrigrting truck farms.
This requires an acre Of level sandy soil
ior each 600 of population and would
not be practicable here. The garbage
may be made into n fertilizer, but it
scarcely ever pays for the expense.
Tinker creek is sufficient to carry off
the sewage of the main part of the
city at present, and for some time in the
future. When the population becomes
large enough TO make it too foul, then
the creek must must be converted into
sewer to the river. The western part
of the city can be drained immediately
into the river. When the garbage be-
comes large enough in volume to make
the river too foul, then the best way to
dispose of it will he to burn it, Crema-
ton seems to be the coming way for the
disposition of garbage
what are some OF the cities that have
the best sewerage systcm?n
The systems of the older and larger
cities are not rs thorough as many of the
smaller ones. Sewerage is a modern Inn
provement, and those systems that have
been constructed during the last ten
years arc the best. The early systems
OF tho larger cities were imperfect and
WY i"'b ttti dtiuGu W, III IliHN III
stances, without any thorough work for
basis. New York and Philadelphia, of
the larger cities. have fair systems
Those OF Washington and most of the
New England cities are among the best
IN this country. The recent works
of Boston are magnificent Berlin and
other German cities have the best sys-
TENS in Europe England began to
construct sewers first, but their old
plans have been improved on, but
merely added to in English cities, and
the result is that there is no city in
England with Il thorough system. The
German cities originally had the poorest.
systems and when they found that
something had to be done, instead of
patching up their old system entirely
new works were constructed, mostly
under the direction of English engineers.
In recent years Russia has also begun
the construction of some substantial
systems
THE FIRST DIRT.