The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-02-24


sewage DIS limited, the practicablity of
the methods is demonstrated. The most
serious errors made do not appear to have
been in the methods, but rather in the
failure to make sufficient provision to
meet the special case and the. increasing
demands
Fortunately, the district drained by
Lower PasSaic River was not SO far
from the sea as to prevent the use of sea
disposal if land disposal We're found to be
Objectionable, or too costly in plant and
maintenance. The report of the engineers
OF the Commission discusses this subject
In detail and presents the facts ascertain
ed BY numerous surveys, to which the at
tentfon of the Legislature is respectfully
referred, with all confidence. But it may
be added. as the judgment of the Com
nllssioners, that they regard the feasibil-
1ty OF any permanent system of land
disposal, in such thickly settled districts
as the Passaic Valley, as of doubtful
merit, more especially as the soil appears
to be i'll adapted for that method of treat
ment 1t is, moreover, a kind of treat
ment which appears to be successful only
where all parts of the local sewerage
systems have been constructed with that
end in view, and where the most care
full attention to details of operation can
be assured.
These and like reasons, which are more
fully indicated in the report of the en-
glneers, have determined your Commits
sioners to prefer system of trunk sew
ers leading from the falls of Paterson
" the ueduOWS DelOW Newark the pdrtl-
cular account of which will be found in
the engineers report with accompanying
maps. 1t has been with the desire of
meeting future conditions to their full
extent that the Commissioners have
reached this determination. and they are
satisfied that the arterial system of sew
erage is best calculated to meet the needs
OF the great population which must soon
collect in this valley. 1t is to be remem-
bered that the distance between the
southern bounds of the city of Paterson
at the head of the system and the north
ern bounds of the city of Newark at the
FOOT is only ten miles, and to crowd in
disposal systems would be likely to ere
ate nuisance scarcely less serious than
that sought to be removed; and that in
tercepting sewers to collect the sewage
would be necessary within each of the
several municipalities, under any system.
Indeed an intercepting sewer from the
northern boundaries of Newark to the
Newark Bay is contemplated by plans
which We're long ago adopted for the
sewerage system of Newark; and a simi-
lar construction from the Great Falls to
the southern boundaries of Paterson is
necessity in that city. The additional
construction required, therefore, for a
trunk sewer for the whole distance, over
and above the sewers soon to be needed
for local collection, would be a compare
lively moderate proportion of the total
cost.
The engineers of the Commission pre-
sent the facts concerning the methods by
which the volume of sewage of the Low
er Passaic district (noW estimated at TO-
100000 gallons daily could be conducted
to the outlet of Newark Bay. Tide water
reaches above the city of Passaic i'm
medlately below Paterson, and the con-
the route would therefore be requisite.
These offer no difficulties and would con-
stitute no nuisance In themselves.
The place of final discharge for the
sewage is fixed in the engineers report
a ( ary RAJ
The volume of water passing out into
Kill Won Kull at this point is very great
the Passaic River having been joined by
the Hackensack River The present
quantity of sewage of the district could
be added to this vast water flow without
perceptible injury, so great would be the
dilution 1t may eventually be necessary,
in the Commissioners opinion to estab-
lish works for mechanical precipitation
or partial chemical treatment of sewage
ion the Newark or Elizabeth meadows
or, as suggested by the engineers to con-
vey- the sewage across Staten Island to
New York Bay That practicable meth
DDS could be devised to meet exigencies
as they arose, and still maintain the
comparative purity of the waters un-
harmed, is the opinion of the engineers,
and is the belief of those who have stud
led the conditions. The existing condition
of engineering science must, of course,
govern estimates and actual plans, but the
Commissioners cannot doubt, in view
of the attention the subject is receiving
in all parts of the world, that there will
be practicable developments in the treat
ment of sewage which will solve some of
the difficulties in the present problem.
And the salt meadows, whittier 1t is pro-
posed to first conduct the sewage of the
Lower Passaic district, offer remarkable
facilities for adapting new methods, as
well as for applying those which have
been tested.
1t would certainly be fatal error to
merely tranfer the existing nuisance in
fhN In ptxrhT- 20, 1arxh yn,,Ir Dow
and 1t was only after thorough exani-
nation had convinced them that this
danger need not be feared, that the Com
nissioners determined to select this place
of discharge.
The great merits of the proposed plan
The direct relief afforded the river.
The fact that 1t proceeds upon methods
demonstrated as practicable.
The prospect that 1t will cover future
needs of sewerage for the district, and
that it Is adapted to changes and i'm
provements which experience and engi-
strate to be desirable.
The Commissioners have observed in
nearly all works Of this kind that the
serious mistakes have been made in fail
ing to make the basis sufficiently broad.
In this work, they have endeavored to
plan according to the largest possible
need, without placing. too great a burden
upon the present A considerable in
crease in the size of such works as this
does not imply a proportionate increase
of cost, and it has therefore been prac-
ticable to plan trunk sewer upon a
scale adequate for a population of 1,500,-
600, which is estimated as the extreme
limit of probable growth by the year 1880,
for the district under consideration. This
increase of more than million In thirty
three years may perhaps prove an ex-
cessive estimate, yet In view of the limi-
tation upon growth which difficulties OF
transportation are placing upon New
York and Brooklyn, there is reason to
expect a great flow of population toward
New Jersey; and with purified river,
no location would offer greater attrac-
tions than the valley of the Lower Pas
sale.
The estimated cost of this trunk sewer
is placed at $6,500,000 and the annual cost
of maintenance is put at $127,000 at the
ject to revisions which more extended
surveys would require, they are not dis
proportionate to the actual cost of COM
pleted works elsewhere, and they pro-
vide a margin for unforeseen needs. The
sums named are very great, and the
Commissioners have vainly striven to
ascertain wherein they might be reduced.
1t is to be remembered however, that the
practical benefits sought for property in
terests, are also very large. and that the
preservation of public health requires inn
mediate action.
The provisions to meet the expenditures
required for this work in the Lower Pas
sale district, have been the subject of
long and careful consideration by the
Commissioners. They were confronted by
the fact that four counties and twenty
seven municipalities and harnlets or parts
thereof, were directly concerned; each
with its own interest to conserve, and
all having needs in other directions which
required their income from taxation. The
necessity of pursuing the work by some
method which would do equal justice and