Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-24
THE SEWER PLANS
Captain Derby Explains Them in a
Public Address.
THE NECESSITIES OF THE DISTRICT
Folly Of Building the New System
by Piecemeal.
THE PRESENT CONDITION.

Capt. Geo. McC. Derby, assistant to the
Engineer Commissioner of the District, de-
ivered an address last night at the Column
bian University lecture hall on Sewage
Disposal in the District of Columbia" Capt
Derby set forth in clear and interesting
manner the present condition and needs Of
the District as to sewers, and the plans
made by the sewer commission, designed to
meet all the needs of the District for forty
years, as calculated by the sanitary engi-
neers composing the sewer commission.
Capt. Derby emphasized what he consid-
cred the absurdity OF congressional action
in making annual appropriations to carry
out the project at rate that would require
forty-five or fifty years to complete the sys-
tenn, which will be outgrown in forty years
time, or before it is completed. Capt Derby
exhibited several maps and charts to illus
trate the subject
His audience included the District Com
missioners and many well-known engineers
and sanitarians. The address was delivered
at the invitation of the Sanitary League,
and Capt. Derby was introduced by DIR.
John S. Billings. first vice president of the
league.
Capt Derby said 1t had been frequently
a matter of surprise to him during the past
year to discover how very rudimentary the
ideas of the public are on the subject of
sewage disposal II believe he said, this
audience could almost count upon it's fin
gers the number Of our fellow-citizens who
have ever asked themselves the question,
what becomes of the sewage after it has
PASSED from the soil pipe to the sewer lat
eral, thence to the pipe sewer in the street
or alley, has been gathered from the whole
community into some main sewer, and
finally passed on to join with the flow from
many more main sewers, in some big trunk
sewer down in the older parts of the city?
What becomes of it? What should become
of it? These are the questions which We
present for your consideration tonight.
The Existing Conditions.
Let US begin with the first question:
What actually becomes of our sewage to-
day? Here" he said, lis map of Wash
ington and Georgetown and part of the
county.
THE surface of the city Is not a level
plain, nor yet an even slope back from the
river, but is divided by ridges of high
ground into a number of different drainage
basins There are eleven of these. First,
a large basin west of Georgetown and the
Tenleytown road, which drains into Foun-
dry branch and other small streams. and
in which We have as yet no sewers. in spite
of the fact that it is the natural outlet for
the drainage of the villages of Tenleytown
and Reno. Second. another large bisin east
of the Soldiers Home and Trinidad, which
drains into the Eastern branch but which
Is also without sewerage, though it con-
talnS Brookland and some other growing
suburbs. In these two basins, there being
no sewers, the sewage from houses and out
houses is drained INTO cesspools, and is alb
sorbed by the ground, polluting the soil at
the risk of communicating the local water
supply. Fortunate the population in both
of these basins is as yet not so dense as to
have caused any serious Inconvenience
though BrOokland and Tenleytown have
both become aroused TO the danger ahead
and have peutioned for sewers within the
past year.
The third basin is a large one. being
the main valley of Rock creek extending
from Georgetown and Tenleytown, on one
side, to Mount Pleasant the Soldiers
Home and Takoma, on the other Most
of this area is yet unsewered, yet it con-
tains a very considerable population. Ia
kCma, BrightwOod and Brightwood Park
are still able to get along with cesspools
but parts of Mount Pleasant, Holmead
PetWorth and the settlements adjoining
Brightwood avenue are quite too thickly
settled for this, and with Mr.. Loeffier's
slaughter house-where our sausages come
from-as a starter, these communities pro-
duce an amount of sewage which it is
quite impossible for them to take care of
themselves. Until a few months ago the
only thing they could do was to let il all
run into Piney branch and a little brook
parallel to Spring road. OF course il did
not take long to convert this little brook
into an open sewer, and last summer its
bed had become so foul that you could not
escape the odor of it anywhere in its
whole valley, nearly mile long and half
mile wide. Fortunately, my able prede-
cessor, Capt. Lusk. succeeded in getting
a congressional committee to take drive
along Spring road and its doors were so
eloquent and convincing that the neces-
sary funds were provided. and We have