The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-09-21


charlottesville income from other
towns"
FILTH GOES ON FOREVER.
The last two reasons l think ara worth
particular attention. "Permanency OF
plan." That is. "Time may come and
time may co." but these sewers will go
on forever, and each day their mass OF
NTH will be an increased one. Possible
Income from other towns" Not salts fed
with poisoning the river by the legitimate
drainage of the towns constructing the
hlthy roadway for thirty miles of sewage,
ne proposes to rent them out to any and
all corners. ln his gen erosity he PROBABLY
would permit the entire west bank of the
Passaic River to convey its sewage
through the Orange system to within
one-halt mile of the Jersey City intake.
Chief Engineer Bassett says this concern
ing the flow of 100000 gallons of filth
each twenty-four hours to such close
proximity to the Jersey City intake:-
Section AZ of the bill under which
orange is to obtain sewerage, provides
that no provision of any act which pro-
hlolts the pollution of any of the waters
OF this State used to supply any aqueduct
or reservoir, or which are distributed for
public use, is intended to be hereby re-
pealed; and this act shall not be construed
to authorize the discharge of sewage into
fresh water in such manner as to detlle
source of public water supply"
Regard for this restriction requires
such design for an outlet at Belleville
that the water supplies of Newark and
Jersey City shall not be further polluted
thereby,
ut should be borne in mind that the
proposed outlet into the Passaic River
Is more than one-half mile below the Jer-
sey City intake. which is on the opposite
or east bank of the river, and over one
and One-half miles below the Newark in
take, which is on the west bank of
the river. So that any sewage from
Orange which is discharged where
suggested must travel up stream on the
miles If 1t enters the Newark or Jersey
City Water supplies. In this particular
the sewage from Orange would be .prac-
tlcally on an equal footing with some of
the sewage OF Newark and Kearny. 1t
would be paltry equity if Newark could
prevent discharge of sewage into thePas-
sale river by Orage which was in no wise
more Objectionable than its own dis
charge. But this is not the spirit in which
the present plan is designed. 1t is pro-
posed to discharge the sewage of Orange
into the Passaic so that it will not pollute
the water supplies now-rightly or
wrongly-maintained on the lower Pas
sale.
A TIDAL RESERVATION.
" OAAo ChA ~ 10 plOpOSCQ w COu5GE
receiving vault on the outlet line near
the Passaic, which shall hold twelve
hours flow of sewage and be discharged
during the first half hour after high tide,
or while the tide is full and receding. BY
such an arrangement the sewage will be
carried down stream by the influences of
the river flow and tide combined, while
there can never be greater influence to
carry it up stream than the tide operating
against the river flow
"Orange may confidently reply upon
the demonstration that the proposed out
let will not pollute the water supplies of
Newark and Jersey City. 1t may, how
ever, be assumed that Newark and Jersey
City will attempt to place on some other
foundation than pollution of their
water supply objection to the present
plan. We know that there are limits to
the pollution of stream other than those
erected by needs of potable water. A
stream may become so foul that its very
presence is loathesome to the senses and
menace to health. But such conditions
in the Passaic are remote.
''It should be noted that the actual flow
of sewage from a population of 10000
(Which is not liable to occur before 1910
is $500. 600 gallons in twenty-four hours,
while the minimum river flow is 1875. .OOO.-
600, or forty times the amount of actual
sewage discharged into it from Orange.
This volume of sewage could be increased
fourfold and discharged as proposed with
out serious pollution to the river. The
statements relating to this outlet are
founded on well recognized facts, have
been carefully reviewed and may be sue
cessfully defended to greater length if it
is desired"
WHAT EXPERIMENTS SHOW.
Experiments made repeatedly have
shown that the refuse from The Newark
sewers have flowed miles above the Jer-
sey City intaKe. and these sewers are q
Orange proposes to cast it's sewage into
the river. Without the Intervention of
the courts this vast quantity of poison
will begin to flow into the Passaic River
within two or three months. Its horrible
results can only be imagined. Already
the main sewer leading to the river is
constructed to Belleville aud but a short
distance now exists for pipes to be laid.
One of the original schemes to sewer
Orange was to pump the sewage to high
elevation and then force it through a con-
duir to Newark bay, distance of eleven
miles. The cost of this plan Of sewerage
would be much greater than to empty
into the Passic River, and so the good
people of Orange closed their pocketbOoks
and said. I'VE will take care of ourselves
and Jersey City can do the same"
When Chief Engineer Bassett referred
to the absolute necessity for sewer sys-
TEN for Orange. he said the health Of the
people demanded it. / wonder il the
health of the people Of this city does not
demand wholesome drinking water2
A GIGANTIC cEssPooL.
Inspector leaKe, whose duty it is to
protect as far as possible the Passaic
River from being polluted. in the strong
est terms yesterday denounced the
Orange sewer system.
bad as the water now is" he said.
''when this giant sewer empties its
1000, 600 gallons of sewage into the river
each day, the water will be in such a con-
dition il will be absolutely Impossible to
drink it. or to bathe in it. What we
people in Jersey City will do then the
Lord only knows. l sincerely hope
some legal effort may prevent
the Orange peoDle from carrying
out their plan, but am afraid that none
will be made. The filthy water today
would breed cholera or typhus fever
faster than undertakers could bury the
victims if the germs of the disease ever
got into the water l expect to live to see
the day when an epidemic, such as this
country has never seen, blast Jersey
City through its water supply. No one
knows the actual filthy condition of Pas.
sale river SO well as do for l have trav-
elled up and down it for years, making
careful study of the pollution. Yes, sir:
you may quote me as saying this water
will cause much sadness in Jersey City
some day."
THE CHOLERA AT CAMP Low.