The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1903-07-10
THE BOARD
OF SEWERAGE
Reports Result Of Investigation
to the Board Of Aldermen
at Their last Meeting
MADE CLOSE INVESTIGATION

To the Honorable the Mayor and
Board of Aldermen of the Town of
Morristown.
The Board of Sewerage Of the town
of Morristown, appointed by his
Honor. Abram O. GarretSon, Judge
of the Circuit Court Of the County of
Morris, under, and by virtue of an
act of the Legislature of the State of
New Jersey, entitled can act to
authorize incorporated towns to con-
struct, operate, and maintain a sys-
tenn of sewers, or a system of sewers
and drains, and to provide for the
payment of the costs of the construc-
ton. operation, and maintenance
thereof, approved April third one
thousand nine hundred and two, do
hereby report, under the hand of
their Chairman and Secretary. the
result of their Investigations.
The members of the Board, having
duly qualified according to law, met
on the fifteenth day of May, nineteen
hundred and two, and organized by
the election of Robert D. Foote as
Chairman, and Charles w. Ennis, as
Secretary. Willard w. Cutler, ESQ.,,
was appointed counsel to the Board.
Since their organization, the Board
have inquired into various methods
for the disposal of sewage, giving
careful attention to the feasibility OF
connecting with the joint trunk
sewer, now under construction from
Summit to Arthur Kill, and also in
vestigating divers local disposal .sys-
tens. They have made personal ex-
it,n fhrnI1nh
members of the Board, of the systems
in use in Pasadena and Riverside, in
the State of California, BrOckton,
Lawrence, Andover, South Farming
ham, Natick, Worcester, and Egypt,
in the State of Massachusetts, and
Plainfield, Morris Plains, Essex Fells,
and Princeton, in the State of New
Jersey.
In the course of their inquiry into
the feasibility of connecting with the
Joint trunk sewer, the Board caused
maps and estimates for such connec-
ton to be made by Mr.. Alexander Pot
ter, the engineer of that system, and
they have also caused plan for a SyS-
TEN of sewers within the town, TO-
.gether with an estimate of the cost, to
be prepared by Mr. Rudolph Herring,
an engineer of great experience and
eminence in his profession.
The question whether the flow of
water in Arthur Kill would be sutii-
Gent to dispose Of the amount of sew
age which would pass daily through
the Joint trunk sewer, including the
amount that would be added if Norris
town joined the system, was answered
to the satisfaction of the Board by
report from Mr.. Rudolph Herring, to
whom the matter had been submitted
for expert investigation. to the effect
that the tidal current in Arthur Kill
was sufficient to dispose of all the sew
age that would be carried through the
Joint trunk sewer, allowing for the
probable growth of the communities
through which the line was built for,
at least, generation to come. There
is, however, another consideration af-
fecting the outlet at Arthur Kill which
the Board cannot look upon as unim-
matter can be deposited by NUM-
cipal bodies of this State at or
near the vicinity of New York is at
present unsettled, and will remain so
until some agreement can be reached
by the authorities of New York and
New Jersey, or, until the courts deter
mine the rights of the parties. If it
should be decided that sewage cannot
be deposited in Arthur Kill, it would
neceSsitate the construction of dis
poSal works of some character at or
near the terminus of the sewer, and
would cause an additional outlay, the
amount of which it would be difficult
to estimate, to the various municipali-
ties using the sewer. This, of course,
would affect Morristown, should it
have joined the system.
In order to connect with the joint
trunk sewer, line uniting with that
system would have to be built from
Morristown to Summit, distance of
nine and one-third miles, and the OBJ
stacles presented by Hobart Hill TO any
gravity system would have to be over
come. either by making tunnel
through the hill or by establishing a
pumping station to force the sewage
over it, OF these two methods, the
pumping station is subject to so many
disadvantages that the board have not
been able to regard it with favor They
are advised and believe that tunnel
through Hobart Hill would be perfect
ly practicable, but it has been impossi-
BILE to make any estimate that could
be relied upon, as to what the cost OF
such a tunnel would be, for the reason
that the sum at the disposal of the
Board for the expenses of their inyes-
cations (Sl, 500 was not large enough
to enable them to have the borings
made, upon which alone safe eSti-
mate of cost could be based.
According to the estimate of Mr..
Herring, the cost Of a system of sewers
for the town itself, exclusive of the
connection with any disposal system
or trunk line sewer, would be about
one hundred and sixty-tive thousand
dollars (Sl65, 000). The cost of a con-
nection with the trunk line sewer, in
Guiding Morristown' IS proportion ofthe
cost of the line now under conStruc-
ton, would, according to the esti-
mates received and the best calcula-
tions the Board have been able to
make, amount to, at least, three hun
dred and seventy-tiye thousand dollars
5 (S375,000), making the total cost Of
Morristown 'sSeWerage system i've hun
bred and forty thousand dollars $780,
000), with so strong possibility that
the cost of the connection with the
Joint trunk sewer would be greater
than the sum estimated, that the
members of the Board are not all salts
fed that the total expenditure could
be brought within the limit Of cost
prescribed by the act under which
they were appointed.
The Board have made strenuous ef-
forts to secure the cooperation OF
Madison and the State Hospital at
Morris Plains in making connection
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