The Savannah morning news., 1901-08-09
COST OF DRAINAGE
CITY HAS COMPLETED ITS FORTY
NINE-MILE SYSTEM.
THEExPENDITURE S264,417.5O
OVER 1000 HOUSES HAVE BEEN
CONNECTED so FAR.


Day-Cost to Property Owners
Runs From Ten Dollars to $35 for
Each House-City Divided Into
Four Sections md Connections
Must BE Made I'm Stipulated Time.
The Municipality Has Finished Its
for Inspecting-work Completed
After Many Backsets and the sys-
tenn One of the Finest i'm the world
The new system of house drainage,
which has just been completed, has cost
the city 1854, ALSO. 1t is 40 miles in
length. The work of making connec-
tons is being rapidly pushed, and up
to date 1000 house connections have
been made. From six to ten connec-
lions are being made daily, at the ex-
pense of the property owners, at cost
of anywhere from $40 to $35 a house.
The city has no interest in this mat
ter, and no fees are charged for the
services of the inspectors.
Since the work of connecting has
been going on Ass dry wells have been
filled up, and Director of Public Works
Gadsden is satisfied with the way
matters are progressing. The ex-
oellence of this valuable and costly
sewerage system is due largely to the
efficiency of Director Gadsden, and be-
cause of the manner in which he super
intended the building of the system, he
was highly complimented by the special
committee on house drainage
The city was divided into four sec
tons and property-owners were given
stipulated time in which to make the
connections. In the case of new houses
| connections are made at once. The
first section consists of the part of the
| city east of Bull street and south of
CASTOR, and the time allowed for MAX
ing connections in that territory has
already expired. The second section is
| east of Bull and north of CASTOR, and
| three months remain in which to con-
meet up all the houses. The third sec
ton is west of Bull and South of Gas
ton, and seven months remain in which
| connections can be made. The resi-
| dents of the fourth section, west of
| Bull and north of CASTOR, have eleven
months in which to do the work, and
all connections will have to be made
| by July /, 1909.
The new system was begun at Bay
and Randolph streets in 1897. The work
was first contracted for, but under
resolution of Council on Nov. Is, 1899,
the Special Committee of House Drain
age with the Director of Public Works
was authorized to complete the system.
| Very little work was done in 1899, eX
| cept to purchase material and organize
| for the stupenduous task. Now after
many baclSsets the system has been
completed, and Savannah has one of
| the finest systems of house drainage
| in the world.
When the firm of Miles & Brandt
notified Council that they wished to
| give up their contract for completing
| the system, Council decided it would
| complete the work by days
labor and abandoned any fur
| Their idea of letting any part
| of the work by contract. 1t was found
that the work done by the previous
contractors, Rourke & Mitchell and
Miles & Brandt, was none of it in con-
| dition for use. The flush tanks had no
| water connections, the lateral lines
! (S-inch) were, in most cases, not con-
nected by so feet with the main sewer
| and only a small part of the main
brick sewer had been built, and no out
let to the river had been made. Coun-
| Gil decided to have the outlet
| for main sewer as far removed from
the city proper as gravity would allow
and an agreement was made with Gen.
| Gordon whereby the necessary right of
| way was secured through the Gordon
wharf property as far as Bilbo canal.
1t was necessary then to build a AZ
inch brick sewer from the foot of Bay
and Randolph streets down Bay
street, across Lamar creek and
| through the Gordon wharf property, to
a point 30 feet from Bilbo canal and
241 feet from the river. At this point the
| brickwork ended and 30-inch iron pipe
was used for the remaining 241 feet
The foundation for sewer this entire
distance was made of a heavy 3-inch
floor with 3-inch mud stills every 10
feet, as the soil was soft mud, inn
| possible, without this plank floor, of
carrying the weight of the sewer. A
great deal of difficulty was encounter
| ed on lower Bay street from the fear
| of undermining the walls of the Lower
| Press. These walls had to be shorn
up the entire distance as they had no
foundation whatever.
The sewer was carried over Lamars
| creek, with railroad iron, with pile
foundation on either side, and 6-foot
water way left. A 6-foot dam was
| built across this creek on the west
| line of Bay street so that the rise and
fall of the tide would not interfere with
the work of building the sewer. The
| rest of the sewer on Gordons wharf
was built parallel with and ten feet
| from an open ditch, which necessitated
| leaving in all the sheat piling along
| this ditch. This entire $500 feet of Az
inch sewer was built, at a depth that
was almost exactly the same elevation
as mean low tide, through a soft blue
mud full of cypress stumps. with the
rise and fall of the tide water 70 con-
tend with all the way, in 81 days. The
iron outlet pipe, $40 feet in length,
presented many difficulties before it
was successfully put in place. Where
| the brick sewer ends and the iron out
| let pipe starts is exactly at mean low
water from this point; it is a straight
| grade to the bottom of the river at the
| harbor line. where there is Is feet of
water at low tide.
OF this work IT'S feet was done be-
| tween tides. The remaining IS feet of
| pipe next to the river was first pointed
up above low water. and after the
proper grade at the bottom of the river
bank had been secured the six
| ty-fve feet of 30-inch pipe was
| lowered as one section into
place. A great deal of difficulty
was encountered in obtaining the
necessary grade for bottoms of this
pipe as the line ran through an old