The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-25
A SEWAGE OUTLET.

10 safest and Most Sanitary Method
Cor the Disposal of the Sewage of
savannah and other Southern
cities.
rha people of Savannah have been
ring against the Bilbo canal NUS
20 ever since early in the seventies,
-, when that improved method of sew
4 20 the separate system. had been sue
4 ..4,,1lv inaugurated at Memphis after
i =. Yellow fever epidemic of 10, they did
In mat our city would soon be severed
n .sa same way. But their wishes in this
.ns,t were never expressed with suf-
.s,t force to compel the city authori-
70 carry out this most important
&ssnitary measure.
rbe public sentiment against Bilbo
anal caused several plans for improve
nsnt to be submitted; the first was by
-. citv surveyor, and his idea was to
-. the sewage in a brick sewer of
IN dimensions. starting from the pres
M outlet of Bolton street sewer, to be
en- in one side of Bilbo canal, and so
ulranred as to allow the storm water
E l..9rAoU into Bilbo canal. This was
I've in6uence of the Citizens Sanitary AS
s;ation the city council sought the adj
~ of Col. George e. Warning, Jr, one
" The most noted sanitary engineers.
- we're at that time no political or
M influences to be brought to bear
. mon him, and in my judgment that first
ranort made by him was an honest one
"a the best that has been submitted
orv one since. Col. Warnings project
y, an outlet sewer contemplated
.,[b+ line to Timber Landing creek
90. 1,uch shorter, better and much less
& 'v1srsive than any of the lines suggested
Tbe separate system, with its small
& 1a7ed pipe and automatic f1ush-tanks, as
|ssacommended by Col. Warning, did not
B aoona 70 nlease one of the aldermen, who
smmediately prepared a plan of his own,
md induced council to call in another
s "vnerr whose idea was that the Savan-
IN river was a good enough place to
#,7iscbarge the sewage, and VINO agreed
.,ttb the alderman in urging the use of
Ehorge sewers, allowing rain water to dis
#cbarge in the drains. These plans were
No. accepted and the city engineer was
sent in 1888, to look into the systems IN
#,,se At Memphis and Norfolk. The result
of his observations was a very practical
- submitted by him, which contem-
SFIoted the division of the whole system
B 81 house drainage into sections, and an
outlet also on Timber Landing creek
About this time some lands bordering
lon Bilbo canal changed hands and prob
#aoly quite a sum was spent by the new
oWners to level it down and make 1t at
tractive as a residence tract; but the
#Bilbo canal nuisance interfered, and the
Enterprise was not a success. Efforts
were now made to get rid of the canal;
sanitary engineers were again called. Col.
#Waring being, on this occasion, of the
same opinion as those who had sought his
aid that the outlet of Btlbo canal would
do very well for an outlet to the new
sewer, that the sewage would be so largely
#diluted as not to injure the water OF the
Savannah river. At this juncture our city
Engineer in a very thorough and scientific
&renort to council condemned the scheme.
EBut the parties interested in the property
again came together and appointed
Committee who secured 800 signatures to
+ q petition. to council urging that the sew
#age be discharged into the river. am
5 glad to say council had the courage to re-
E sist all the influences brought to bear upon
#them by these parties.
& Feeling that the citys committee on
#dralnage was seriously contemplating an
81 early commencement of actual work upon
n some plan Of sewage disposal, 1 wrote to
6 bay cousin, Mr.. Paul LeHardy, civil en-
|gneer who has devoted much attention to
SANITARY matters, and after giving him
& BONE hints upon the condition of our sew
bragg controversy, urged him to communl-
bate his views on the subject TO our mayor
bnd offer his services to the city.
At the request of the chairman of the
Drainage commission, the city engineer
bid request my cousin to make known
Upon what terms he would submit a plan
for the disposal of our sewage. The an
s. swer came, offering valuable services at
s. The lowest possible rates and the matter
*rested here, except that certain prelimi-
&8nary examinations, that had been sug
|gested by my cousin as necessary to the
preparation of plan, were at once made
#fy the corps of city engineers, and the
result of these were incorporated in re-
port recently submitted by the
#cly engineer. But cannot
understand why he wants to
#f1tend the outfan sewer all the way to
#tausten's Bluff, nor why he should wish
10 carry this sewer around the piece OF
#roperty mentioned above. BY this plan
the city would have to fill up Bilbo canal
\ and otherwise improve that piece of
#Pfoperty without any expense to its own
FRS and go to a very great expense in con-
EFructing large brick sewer of such
geat length.
have therefore, again called upon my
cousin, asking him to prepare for the
#penefit Of our citizens, an outline of his
#NeWs on the sewerage question as it
fands now, and to suggest a feasible
method for the disposal of our sewage. In
answer to my request he has generously
flomtted the following:
MY Dear Doctor: You ask me to give the
public an opinion upon the present sew
H fage condition in your city, and to sug-
gest some remedy. ! win try.
me Information l have been able to OBJ
gam confirms my belief that the whole sys-
lem as it now exists is in horrible condi-
+ ton.
II would seem that no close and careful
senglheering supervision had been given
I the construction of the large drains that
were built in the seventies, so that the
Ipronle Of their bottom is not an even
downward grade, but there are many de-
Ifesslons and elevations in the bottom
me- The inevitable result is that accum-
uiauon Of filth occur in many places; this
Aihd Of filth is one that is not easily re-
proved by the action of bodies of water no
matter how considerable, being passed
loVer It so that the flushing of storm water
,lds not removed the sticky accommodations
put on the contrary, much of street dirt
carried down into the sewers by storm wa
ler' has been added to fecal and other sew
|ef hl'h thereby increasing the accumu-