The times., 1901-05-28
MAKING SEWER CONNECTIONS.
The Cost of the Work said to BE n
Hardship to Some Owners.

a citizen of Georgetown has sent com
munication to The Times complaining of
| the practice Of the Health Department in
forcing property owners Of small means
TO connect their premises with water
mains and sewers. He designates the
practice as war upon property unserved
by water and sewerage facilities. The
citizen says:
In many cases the Introduction of
water and sewerage facilities into shan
ties, which rent for 50 and 81 a month.
constitutes a very serious and seeming
| ly unreasonable requirement. General
hygienic results have been so encourag-
ing that the department is making ex-
ceptions only in most unusual cases.
1T is stated by those who aided materi-
ally In the enactment Of the law requir--
ing the connection of all occupied premis-
| es with the sewer that since the abolish
ment of box privies the rate Of mortali-
ty in the District has greatly declined.
THE general Introduction of sewerage
facilities keeps the soil free from con-
taminauOn and prevents, TO a large de
gree, the propagation of various kinds
OF bacilli.
In spite of this general fact, individual
protests go in daily to the authorities
from Georgetown, from those unable to
make the connections demanded Of them,
because of financial embarrassment. Ere
quently 1t is necessary for owners OF
small property TO mortgage the same IN
order to raise funds sufficient to make
connections with water and sewer malus
Dr. William G. Woodward, the Health
Officer. speaking OF the matter said
that the policy of the District has been
to force all property owners along the
lines Of sewers TO connect their houses
with the same. The reasons for this, he
said, are those which prompted Congress
to establish the sewer system at great e&-
pense for the drainage of the city. In
less this is done, he said, there would be
little use in establishing such "A system.
DT Woodward admitted that in some
cases the requirement 20 connect with the
sewers was a source OF hardship 10 the
owners OF small pieces Of property. He
spoke of two classes who were seriously
affected this way. They were the poor
people who owned their homes and those
who had made investments in one or two
small houses, from which they received an
income DIR. Woodward said II was the
policy Of his office to give these people
all the leeway possible He sat1 That IN
some few instances they had been car
ried along until arrangements h4.u r-rh
made to incur the necessary cost.
DT. Woodward called attention to The
fact that one small house would create
nuisance in the way of a box privy or
Kitchen drainage. as great as the largest
and most costly house in the city. lie said
that in considering the matter of public
,anitatiOr there could not be much con-
sidcratiCa shown 10 individual property
holders. He said the best possible was
being done In the way of removing OBJ
jectionabIe sanitary conditions on the one
hand and in making the burden as light
as possible TO the property holder on the
other.
Dr. Woodward stated that one fact
should not be lost sight of, and that was
AS soon as the sewer connections were
made the property was more valuable
and usually rented for a little more than
formerly. He said also that the cheaper
lass OF tenant houses represented a
better investment. dollar for dollar, than
those more costly.