Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-03-30
SEWAGE DISPOSAL.
Interesting Report Presented by
 Members of the Board of Health

Interesting Report Presented by
 Members of the Board of Health
 Al the meeting of the board of pub lie works yesterday afternoon the fol lowino report was presented and read and afterwards referred to the city engineer:
 The Honorable Board of Commission
 CTS of Public Works;
 Gentlemen-No plan for disposal of the sewage of this city not rulnously expensive in construction or in opera tion appears to have been proposed. Health boards, state and municipal, advisory boards in matters of sanlta- tion, are disinclined to volunteer ad- vice but as citizens and taxpayers. permit us to offer the following plan sufficient for present requirements and in the line of any extension hereafter necessary.
 Build q trunk sewer of ample size in continuation Of the southerly sewer termini at minimum grade, three to five feet per mile. passing under the tracks of the Naugatuck railroad, and continuing parallel thereto along it's westerly side to Platt's Mills, thence souther1y or southwesterly, tunnelling for two or three thousand feet, moro or less. thence continuing until point near Hop brook is approached, at which the annexation as shown upon the annexed map is two hundred feet above sea level. Here we recommend sedimentation and In the summer months septic purifcaHon.t Should sedimentation ever occur at the dam in Naugatuck we suggest that the ef fluent De carried below this dam and discharged directly into the river. It will then be many years before the people of Naugatuck complain Of this city's sewage.
 The elevation of the present south erly sewer outlets has been stated at about two hundred and sixty feet: that of Hop brook at some distance above its Naugatuck railroad bridge is shown at two hundred feet on the typographical map of the state With an allowance of fifteen feet fall in a sewer three miles long. and of five feet for corrections and contin gencies, sewage can be discharged forty feet above the level of the stream at the point indicated by tho two hundred Foot contour line on the annexed map. A section of the sewer before it leaves
 
 init overflow when storm water tx- ceeds certain volume. At Danbury, In any considerable rainfall, every thing is discharged into Beaver brook
 Advantages as compared with dis. posal at Platts Mills are avoidance of pumping and lessened cost of opera tion. As compared with tunnel un- der the hills to the east suggested xvoo Ysc Ivy x>4 the present health board. as an engi- 1leering possibility, and as compared with a trunk sewer to the Sound, or even to Beacon Falls. the enormously less expense of construction To the above tunnel project aside from it's cost which can be estimated after deep borings, it has been suggested that manufacturers may object to the diversion of the water in our sewage from our own valley to another. Lax- islative action might be required, but It IS difficult to see wherein objection to such diversion would be greater than if by trunk line to tide water direct. Manufacturers are every where the chief obiectors to contam- nation of rivers like the Naugatuck, but If they require towns to expend many thousands in sewage disposal, it Is not likely that they will seriously or successfully object to the carriage of sewage by or away from their plants.
 We propose acquisition of land sit uated on the easterly side of Hop brook from a point about opposite Field street so-called. extending east erly to the summit of the sand hills that separate Hop brook valley from Union City, and as much land between the hills to the north and south Of this line as may be found necessary and available.
 No doubt difficulty will arise in the acquisition of property available for sewage purifcation; this cannot be valuable unless reclaimed by the lev cling of the hills and is owned by one interested in the development and inn provement Of this valley. Although if sewage can be delivered at an ele- vation permitting sand filtration, the hills are available to supply material for the construction of filter beds, we recommend only sedimentation and septic treatment in tanks which may be invisible from the highway and from which there will be no atmos, pheric contamination. Pollution of the river from storm water renders 1t useless to produce drinkable effluent. A trunk sewer about three miles long. perhaps twenty-five per cent of tunnel or deep cutting, is suggested because nothing more practicable has been proposed. It is in the direct line of a sewer to tide water, and would leave this city iii position to cooper ate with Naugatuck if extension be- comes imperative. A drive along the Town Plot road southerly upon the hill west of Platts Mills. crossing Hop brook below the viaduct of the New England railroad. and thence to Union City, may satisfy any member of your board that the engineering difficulties are not greater than herein suggested.