Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-05-06
SEWAGE DISPOSAL
WoRcESI Err SYSTEM PRONOUNCED
A COMPLETE FAILURE.

"A sewer TO INC SOuuu ING Ohly
Relief For Waterbury-The City Ready
to Pay the Lions Share of the Expense,
There are three principal systems of
disposing of sewage. One is by trunk
sewer to a large lake or the ocean,
where practicable; another the preclpi-
tation system at present in use in
Worcester, Mass. The third is to have
the sewage flow over a large tract of
sandy soil with the view to its being alb
sorbed, as they propose to do in Meri-
den.
In Worcester the main sewer is con-
Quoted for long distonce outside the
city to a large tract of vacant land
alongside the Blackstone river, away
open basins of nearly half an acre each
in extent. From the mouth of the
sewer to the first of these basins there is
a channel about twenty-five feet long
and about five feet wide. In this chan
mel there are bars of iron sufficiently
close to intercept papers, rags, and such
like. While passing through the chan
| mel the sewage gets mixed with lime, a
ton and a half being dropped into it
daily; thence it flows into series of six
open basins before mentioned. The out
flow finally passes into the Blackstone
| river. The plant is very costly to start
| with. The city of Worcester has al,
ready expended $27O, 900 in the con.
struction of what t'ey have got, which
is wholly inadequate. Indeed, it can
not now be estimated what its cost will
amount to when the works are sufi
! GENTLY large to treat the entire sewage
1t cost about $4,000 to run the PLAN
last year, considerable portion Of
| which was spent upon the construction
/ of eleven new basins. 1t will cost $50,
nn0 - knSw kha Sc
| and this cost must increase with the en-
1 larging of the works from year to year.
| Up to the present time the Stag o.
slush taken from these basins has beer
thrown on land in the neighborhood
but this will have to be discontinued
and the Stag, eighty-five per cent o.
II which is water, will have to be burned
at an expense of twenty-five or thirty
thousand dollars annually.
Besides being costly this system has
been found to be inefficient, and Mill
bury, seven miles below Worcester, anC
other towns even further down the
Blackstone river, are still complaining
of the nuisance caused by this sup
posed purified sewage, and are demand
ing further relief. 1t is generally con
cluded that trunk sewer will have tt
| be built from Worcester to the ocean
below Providence, or in the direction
of Boston, the distance either way beint
forty miles. Brookline, Waltham an(
other cities and towns along the Charlie
river have also come to the conclusion
after having discussed every Cthe
method, to build a trunk sewer along
the Charles river, out to the ocean. Tn
lsystem of precipitation does not destro,
the germs of disease generated in sew
age, and they are of the most deadl,
kind. The renowned Doctors Pasteu
and Koch assert, after well authenti
Gated experiments, that water infected
with such germs cannot be rendered
inocuous except by being boiled at tn
highest temperature. They preserv
their vitality even in ice. Certainl.
they are not likely to be destroyed by
little slaked lime.
But neither the Worcester nor Meri
dan systems are practicable in tn
Naugatuck valley, for even if there wer
land enough, which there is not, t.
work either of these systems, the ques
ton would still arise, should series o
iopen basins of sewage be established
or should sewage be made to flow o.
tracts of land along a route so densel
populated? Either of these system
would require land far removed iron
populous centers.
We do not etend to be qualified
the valley, but as each city, borough, o
village along the Naugatuck has now
or will soon have sewage to dispose OF
we would advise them to enquire int
all the systems known, and find out
there be any so economical and so thor
ough in every respect as trunk sewer
Certainly there is no system bette
qualified TO secure the people residin
along the valley against the sicknes
and epidemics that are caused b
polluted water flowing through thes
towns and into factories, and this is tn
most important consideration.
The expense of this trunk sewer eve
from Torrington to the sound would nj
be so great, divided amongst SO man
towns. If the bonds for the princips
, be guaranteed by the state-and it
supposed they would be-then tt
principal could be got at three per cen
or only thirty thousand dollars on
l million. Waterbury stands ready
assume large share of the cost.