The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-15
PLAN OF OUTLET SEWER
FOR THE CITY OF SAVANNAH, PRE-
PARED BY PERCY SUDDEN, c. e.,

ment OF BiIbo Canal Nuisance, and
Read by Him Before Committee of
the whole of Council, Monday At
tcrnOOn, July 1, 1895.
To Messrs. j. S. Collins, d. G.. Purse, F.
ID. Papy, d. Grimm, c. II. Dorsett, J.
Paulsen, j. L. Whatley, Committee rep
resenting 1900 Petitioners:
In answer TO your request for a fuller
report on my plan, Of outlet sewer for the
city. of Savannah, beg to submit the fol-
lowing:
In deciding upon the outlet for the sew
age of a city there are several considera-
tions that should govern our final decis-
ion.
upon an outlet that shall finally dispose
Of the sewage in permanent and inof-
fensive manner Then we should be very
careful in considering our own interests,
in carrying the outlet to a distance. that
we do not disturb or impose upon the
rights of others.
Where there are two or more points of
outlet equally good, the question Of cost
and maintenance should be the primary
considerations, irrespective of sentiment
Natural lines and outlets should be used
when practicable and not conflicting with
any of the preceding provisions
We can only consider the plan for final
disposal In comparative manner based
upon the estimated increase of population,
together with the life of the sewer con-
struction itself. In this way a work may
be considered permanent If. under varying
circumstances, it is planned to cover
period Of from fifty to 100 years.
The city of Savannah occupies one Of
the best possible positions for natural
drainage, both as regards ease and econo-
my in construction and having IA wide
range of outlets, which may be reached
through natural or artificial channels.
situated upon high plateau, with sandy
soil, almost free, at average depths, from
subsol water the construction of sewers
In and about the city is robbed of much OF
the labor and contingent expenses so Of
ten met with In works of this description.
That Savannah does not have one of
| the most complete systems of sewerage in
the world is not the fault of the city's
| formation or contour but of the citizens
| Themselves who have been content to see
at various times a few sewers buried I'M
| foreground, there to remain until the time
| for their resurrection, which, in the case
| of one sewer in a leading thoroughfare,
| is an annual event. Before discussing the
| question of outlet let us look for a mo-
ment at the manner in which Savannah is
| at present severed.
There are several large main sewers.
| which have been constructed at consider
| able expense and which act as leaders into
| which smaller arteries run.
There is a large sewer along Broughtou
| street to East Broad street and running
| down East Broad street to Bolton street,
large main in Perry lane. Another her main in
nuns out Hall and Abercorn streets to
| Bolton street where it unites with one
| coming from Duffy street. The two COM
| bined then run out Bolton street to East
| Broad street, where it unites with the
| first mentioned sewer. The whole then
| combine into one large sewer which runs
out Bolton street TO its outlet into Bilbo
canal
The section west of West Broad street
| sewers directly into the river on the line
of West Boundary street.
Along the river front of the city there
are several smaller outlets from various
streets. The internal portion Of the city
| has no system or plan for the sewers
they being scattered around promiscuous-
They are the growth of years, many
| being there before the advent of modern
| work of that kind. Most of them have
| been put in at different times for purposes
of surface and subsoil drainage while
| some few were put in for the purposes for
| which they are now used.
The portion of the city south of Ander-
| son street relies for its drainage upon the
sixth street sewer, which runs across the
! plateau from west to east and empties
! Just across the Savannah, Florida and
Western railway into an open ditch, where
| it commences its journey across country
for eight miles to the Vernon river.
1t viii not be long before we have a
| duplicate of BilbO canal, only six miles
| longer. If this state of things is allowed
| to continue and Intensity In the southern
and growing section Of our city.
What is wanted, and what 1 have Of
| ten advocated, Is complete survey of
| the city, old and new and Of all the ex-
listing sewers in good condition. plan
should then be prepared for the drain
| age OF the whole city, using as much as
possible the sewers already there
The advantage of this work would be
! that any new drain put in by the citv
! however short, could be made a part Of
| the general plan, and thus In time com
plete system would be evolved of marked
efficiency as compared with the present
| heterogeneous network of drains of max
imum expense and minimum utility
The preliminaries Of this work would
cost the city very little compared with
the ultimate good that would be obtained
and that spread over a number of wears
Several plans have been made bV emil
nent engineers of house drainage for the
city, but they all ignored any existinp
sewers, and thus made it a double ev
pelfse for those who had already contrib
uted to the cost of the present constr7ic-
tons. Neither did any plan take in fur
Their south than Anderson street
one point of unanimty in all the plans
Is that the sewers are made to converge 10
the one point, in the neighborhood Of Boil