The age-herald., 1900-02-22
ANNUAL REPORT
 OF CITY ENGINEER Submitted to Board of Mayor
 and Aldermen. SOME INTERESTING DATA Vast Amount of Work Done by Depart ment-Shows Detailed Statement
 ofCost of Improvements.
 Sanitary Question
SOME INTERESTING DATA

| drick for the year 1899 was submitted to the
 mayor and board of aldermen last night, | and shows that an immense amount of work was done in that department. The report showed careful preparation and contains some interesting data The re- port is as follows:
 Birmingham, Ala, Dec. 31, 1899. ''To the Hon. Mayor and Aldermen of Bir- mingham: Gentlemen-I have the honor of submitting the report of the engineering de- partment for the year 1899. 'sThe repair and street cleaning forces having been removed from fhis department early dn the year and placed under the street commissioner, their operation will be covered by his report.
 ''DuIdng the year, fonty-five improve ment ordinances have been drawn by this department and careful estimates made Of the cost of the Improvements, authorized by them required by the city charter. This has improved a vast amount of field and office work aus much of the contem- plated Improvements lying in sections of the city not previously surveyed. 1.-The estimated cost of the improvements authorized by these ordinances is $321, ,3A cost of work completed during the year $36, ,3S2.92; estimated cost of completing work, now under construction, $4O,60O; estimated cost of work under contract (not begun)- $S2, ,041.OS; estimated cost of work authorized
 but not contracted for $162, 300; total $S21, ,S24
 DetoiIed Statement
 "For a detailed statement of the cost,
 location, etc., of the Improvements com
 pleted during the year you are referred
 to the attached figures. The expenditures
 were made under the following general
 heads:
 "Curbing $9e59.35; sanitary sewers, $0,-
 GOO Oi9; storm sewers, $6042.9S; grading and
 macadamizng, S15 0S010; total, $36, ,SS2.9
 ina atnd Of thp work under
 construction and contract is proportioned
 as follows: Curbing, $22, ,310.G5; street grad
 ing and macadamizing, $17,23l.9O; street
 paving, $31 900; sanitary sewers, S3,999ol;
 storm sewers, $4S,09902; total, 22,641.0S.
 "The estimated cost of the work author
 ized by ordinances, but not contracted for
 is proportioned follows: Sidewalk paw
 ing, $11 5c0; curbing and guttering, $27 800;
 street grading and macadamizing, $71,00O;
 sanitary sewers, $1,000; storm sewers, S5l,-
 0eo; total $162 300.
 "A great many improvements in addi-
 ton to the foregoing have been pettioned for by property owners and the ordinances and estimates are being prepared. ''The following statement shows the number of permits issued and plumbing in- spectors made during the year: 34S sewer permits, $348; 442 street permits SAP; 706 inspections of plumbing, $706; total, $l,496. "In addition to the above, 729 permits were issued to corporations whose fran ohises gave them certain rights in the streets.
 Birmingham Sanitiry District "In my last annual report I recommended l to your honorable body the advisiability o1 l Birmingham, her suburbs and certain por- 1 tions of the adjacent territory uniting 1 themselves into a sanitary and drainage district
 l "The further investigate the problem of l ultimate drainage for this portion of Jones l valley the more firmly am convinced that, l viewed from either the sanitary or financial l point of view, it can be best solved as a l whole rather than separately by each | neighborhood.
 "The greater portion of Birmingham and l all of Bessemer and the villages between l them lie in the area bounded on the north l west by the ridge which Is known here as the North Highlands. on the southeast by l Red mountain and on the northeast by a l low ridge crossing the valley about Twenty | ninth street. This territory is drained by l Valley creek.
 "Ensley, Pratt City, Thomas, the north ern and eastern edges of Birmingham, East | Birmingham, Avondale, Woodawn, East l Lake and Gate City lie in the drainage area bounded on the southeast and south l west by the first described territory and 1 Red mountain, on the northwest and north l east by well defined ridges. This area is | drained by Village creek
 | l these basins ds so low that it would be l practicable to extend Birmingham's sew CTS through 1t so as to drain Avondale | Woodlawn, East Lake, etc., through the | Birmingham system.
 This upper portion of the Village creek ! basin Is building up very rapidly and is l beginning to feel the want of sewers es- l pecially is the latter true of Avondale and Woodlawn and will apply to other sections | before drainage can be provided for them. Two Solutions There are two solutions to the drainage | problem of the upper Village creek basin. "Fdrst, to construct sewers discharging i into Village creek; but since the creek low | CT down passes through sections which are | rapidly building up, and many industries | are located on her banks, it would be out | of the question to discharge the crude sew craze into the stream hence one or more | purifcation plants would have to be con- structed and maintained in order that the | sewerage might be purified before entering the creek.
 Second, by constructing sewers to con l meet with the sewerage system of Bir- mingham.
 But Birmingham is now polluting Val | ley creek with her sewerage, and must 1 shortly provide method for purifying the | sewerage before discharging it into the | stream. Just here several questions arise; 1 shall Birmingham provide for the disposal l of the sewerage from the upper Valley | creek basin, and have a united system Of | sewers and one purification plantY Experience elsewhere tends to demon- | strate that one large purification plant can | be constructed and operated much more | economically than several smaller ones with combined capacity equal to that of | the larger plant.
 "Again, should the plant for the purffica- | tion of Birmingham sewerage be located | far above or below Bessemer? Clear