Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-01-02
THE SEWERS.
Report Of the Board of En-
.gineers.
WHAT THEY RECOMMENDED
The Matter Considered at Length.
To be Discussed by the
COuncllmen.
Los ANGELES. December 21. 1889.

To the Honorable, the President and CoetctS Of
the City Of Los Angeles:
GENrLEMEN-The undersigned Commission
of Engineers. appointed to devise and report
upon plan for the sewerage OF the city of Los
Angeles, h sving examined into all propositions,
data and other matters that came before them,
and which they collected themselves. with
the view to formulate a plan or plans for the
drainage of the city, respectfully submit the
following report as the result of their labors.
The authority by which the undersigned act
as a commission for the purpose aforenamed
was conveyed to us in the following letter:
Los ANGELES, November 20. 1889.
Rudolph Herrinq Esq, George Hansen, Esq,
George C. Knox, Esq, August Mayer. Esq,
Fred Eaton, Esq:
GENTLEMEN-Ata meeting of the Council,
held November 1s, 1889, upon recommends
tion of the Sewer Committee, 1t was ordered
that the rep ort of the Citizens Sewer Commit
tee, together with all plans and propositions
for sewering the city, and all proposals for the
disposal OF the sewage, be referred to Com.
mission Of Engineers, consisting of Rudolph
gust Mayer and Fred Eaton. to devise and re-
July, FsEEnAs 6. TED.
Four members of the, commission-Mr.
George Hansen having declined to serve-met
at the Office of the City Engineer of Los Ange-
les on December 9, 1889. and proceeded with
sabseq uently. upon application by the com
missiona the time was extended to December
The first comprehensive plan for sewering
the city Of Los Angeles was prepared in 1887
by the City Surveyor, Fred Eaton, and was
eniorssd BY Mr.. Rudolph Herring, It was de,
pfoportioned for population Of zoo, 900 per:
sons, allowing 100 gallons Of sewage per head
PSo gallons The system wss o provided % % a's With Il
an outfsll sewer to the SEA via the Centinela
rancho. This route was chosen on account of
prietors OF the above named land. who pro-
posed to utilize the sewage for irrigation when
desired by them: This plan was adopted by
the Council. but failed to receive the final
sanction of the proper authority.
The interior arrangement of the system was
we'll planned and should be substantially fol-
the fnal delivery Of the sewage may be
chosen.
In 1889 City Engineer Eaton presented an
other and somewhat more elaborate plan for
the drainage of the city. The rapid growth of
Los Angeles since 1887, and the vast improve
ments made in street paving. as well as the
prospects for the future development of the
city, have changed the existing conditions
enough to lead him to the conclusion that Los
Angeles had outgrown the requirements of
small town and necessitated more efficient
provision for storm water removal Heaccord-
ingly treated the subject of drainage of Los
Angeles on d larger scale Inau n6Q previously
been done: The new plan was provided with
an outfall to the sea via Ballona. The interior
sewers were to great extent planned on
the com bined" system; i. e., storm waters
were conveye in the same underground chan
of.
be discharged into the river and other natural
water-courses, by overflow openings, In order
that the outfall to the sea might be reduced to
of the city. If desired'by landowners the sew
age might be taken, directly or indirectly,
from this outfall sewer and used for irrigation.
Th sewers were proportioned for the amount
of sewage as had been done for the first plan.
The combined sewers were made large nough
to receive also the storm waters OF heav, rain
falls. The interior arrangement was not ma
terially changed from that of 1887.
The cost of the latter plan was naturally
greater than that of the first. The new propo-
sition, put before the citizens to vote bonds for
abandoned.
this important matter of drainage. of the
city to q committee of citizens, who sug-
gested plan adopting substantially the in.
terror system recommended in 1887. but not
the outfall sewer to the sea. Insteae, they ad-
vocated that all the sewage of the city, for the
present and future, be treated by precipita-
Ii0n filtration, or otherwise, and that several
treating stations should be built at several To-
calities, SO that the affluent might be used for
o by c the a
| this committee is considerably lower than
Neither estimate of 1887 or 1889.
Proposals were made to the city to dis
pose Of the sewage by what is know as coarse
filtration. These proposals were rejected By
The Council.
were presented to the present Commission OF
Engineers regarding the disposal OF the sewage
and the disposition OF the storm waters. All
plans heretofore made for the drainage Of your
town, together with the report OF the Citizens
Sewer Committee. and the proposals for the
disposition of the sewage and the several peti-
nf f1l nv nm
ined by as and due notice was taken Of their
contents. Owing to the short time that we were
able to devote to subject of such great i'm
portance and magnitude we can merely give
your honorable body general outlines of what
can be done, leaving the details to be perfected
sye DEEM to guids TO-
factory and safe solution of this important
problem.
the land south of Los Angeles available for
sewage irrigation. at different times-i. e., be-
fore, during and after the last heavy rains-sc
sible az to the capacity and adaptiveness Of the
soil for Sc age irrieation. We also examined
the river south of the city, inquired into tti
nation as to the legal right which the city
might have to deposit sewage In this wate
course.
The entire subject may be divided into tw'
A. lhe treatment and disposal Of the sewage
b. The interior 81 stem OF sewers.
ssA.D
TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL OF THE SEWAGE.
In considering this most important brauci
of the subjec the com mission has undertaken
to consider tor final comparison only thos'
methods which have been successfully EN-
ployed elsewhere, and have strictly excluded
all methods brought before them which hav
either proven to be failures or which as yet ar
only experimental The city canuOJ afford t,
risk NJ oDey to experiment with patented pro
cesses which are owned by corporations, an(
which have thus far failed to prove what i
claimed for them by their owners.
We shall not undertake to recount the man,
experiments made in the attempt to realize thu
supposed manurial value of sewage aud tn,
failures which have been encountered. 1t II
enough to say that the quantity of fertilizinj
matter is found to be smsH when compared
with the water in which 1t Is carried or dis
that the disposal of sewage practically resolve
itself into the disposal of polluted water In
manner that sh all not cause nuisance.
Various methods of doing this have beer
tried
First-straining the sewage through coars'
strainers.
second-Coarse filtration through artifcia
filters, or subsistence in tanks.
Third-Chemicalp precipitation.
Fourth-Disposal on land by
A. Intermittent filtration.
B. Irrigation.
Fifth-A discharge into the sea or wate
course.
1.-srRAINIEG THE SEWAGE.
In numerous instances before the crude sew
age Is put on land, or into water course, 1t II