The Monitor-register., 1897-08-20
A Successful Sewerage System

A proper sewerage system is one of the
urgent needs of Woodstown, aud the
question is one that is being generally
considered, with pubic sentiment largely
in its favor, but of course as to the kind
of system to be adopted, and regarding he
details connected with its construction
but little definite knowledge is at hand
For this reason and in order to give our
people such light and inform alton as can
be obtained from the experience of other
cities that are trying the experiment, we
CLEAN the following from recent article
In the New York Eoening Post, relative
to the sewerage system introduced in the
city of Plainfield, in this State.
In any comparison that may be made,
as to equipment, cost. etc. it should be
kept in mind that Painfeld is seven times
as large as Woodstown, having a popu
lation of nearly IA 600, and the cost of
system for city of that size would
necessarily be much larger than one for
town the size of Woodstowr. The
Plainfield system, however, could be used
for Woodstown, as the disposition of the
sewage is always the difficult problem.
This is what the ar ticle referred to says:
Engineer Gavett, who supervised the
construction of the Plaipfeld system,
says that the plan of tide alter dispose
was rejected because the nearest avail
able outlet in salt water was at Martins
Dock, in the Raritan River, nine miles
from the city. To reach this point. the
sewage would have had to be pumped
over an elevation of 100 feet, and it was
feared that the shores of the river might
be polluted by the discharged material
A system of disposal beds was therefore
decided upon, and tract of land fifty
acres in extent was purchased for the
purpose by the Plainfi Id Common
Council. OF this tract, only PORTION is
used now for sewaye disposal. Part of
the remainder is dovo:ed to farming, and
part was excavated to procure material
for filling the beds, which are approx
mately 200x225 feet in siz'.
The sewage reaches the farm from the
city through twenty four inch main,
terminating in a screen tank. Under a
frame building are two screen chamb ers
each 5x8 feet, with horizontal screens of
iron rods one inch apart. The sewage
passes upward through the screens, which
keep back all coarse material. Only one
screen chamber is used at time; the
other, meanwhile, being emptied and
cleaned. From the screen tank the thin
sewage flows through wooden distributing
channels W ith openings in the sides, and
is spread over the beds.
Experiment made late last year sho ed
that the beds are very rich. For carry
ing off the overflow from the beds series
of tile drains is laid 10 the subsoil. These
drains discharge bright clear, and odor
less liquid into the brook running through
the tract. The force employed at the
farm consists of the manager and two
iaborers. A horse is needed about one
half OF the time. No rainw ater is
admitted to Plainfield's sewers, SO that
the flow is quite uniform, averaging 1926.
600 gallons day. The system o. sist
of over twenty three and one-half miles
of piping. The cost of the work-includ
ing the $23. 500 paid for dispso GA bed land
was $160, 600. During the short period
10 which Plainfield's system has been in
operation. no troubls from stoppages has
s''sen. and everything is now working
ssti,fActorily.