The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-09-28
LAYING A SANITARY CITY.
New Orleans TO Have Efficient Sew
age and Pure Water Supply.

Until the Crescent City succeeds
in constructlrE q modern system Of
drainage, sewerage end water surrly
II must remain moro or less I'm dam
ger of an annual visitation Of yellow
fever. AS long as there are hundreds
of miles of open cutters spotted with
stagnant pools of filthy sewage, as
long as the water supply of the city
must be caught In 10000 tanks OF
cypress wood, as long as the drain
age equipment Is so deficient that
the streets are flooded for hours after
q heavy raiu-as long as these con-
dtlons exist New Orleans will be
menace to life and business over a
large part of the country.
The people of New Orleans began
to realize this years ago, and have
made several attempts to improve
conditions. In 1901 the work elong
all three trouble lines began in earn
est, with a bond issue of 100000
ms beginning. Already the capac-
ity of the city's drainage system has
been trebled, and only the heaviest
of the semi-tropical rains cause
floods
The only drainage system which
New Orleans had I'm the past was a
series of pumping stations, which
were really little more than great
undershot waterwheels which worked
backward by steam power and pad
died the water which came to them
forward and upward through a series
of canals. These canals were shall
low earth channels. which were al
lowed to become chokcd with hya-
growth. AS the canals were prac-
tically level, the vertical distance
which the wheels could lift was very
small and their capacity Insignificant.
when one considers the vast amount
OF drainage they had to carry.
New Orleans gets sixty inches OF
rainfall in year, which Is more
than in any other large city. 1t Of
ten rains at unprecedented rates,
such as half inch in three minutes,
an inch in ten minutes, eight inches
in six hours, and the like. The re-
suit was that on such occasions New
Orleans's streets In many places
were flooded from curb to curb, and
people had to go about on RATS and
In boats, wear rubber boots, and
drive in hacks. 1t was often hours
before the waterwheels could reduce
the flood.
One of the first steps that George
Il. Earle, general superintendent of
the Sewerage and Water Board of
New Orleans, decided on was to i'm
prove the drainage system. The sew
erage and water systems could come
afterward. Under his direction S5,-
900, 700 has been expended on drain
age, the capacity for removing storm
water is three times greater than 1t
was, and sixty miles OF drainage
canals, which once stood practically
full of water most of the time, are
now kept at the proper level.
The drainage system as now In
operation really consists Of four sys-
tens draining as many portions Of
the city. There is a large central
power station Of eleven boilers and
seven engines, each connected with
an electric generator. The genera
tors have a combined capacity OF
500 horse power, which Is dis
tributed by wires to six separate
pumping stations, where powerful
screw centrifugal pumps-depend-
ing on the lift required-are opera
ted as the occasion demands. Three
Of 20 lnf IL I kp
Pontchartrain and the last in Bayou
Bienvenu, which leads to Lake
Borgne, some ten miles east OF New
Orleans. The final plan Will see the
delivering Of all surface drainage In
TO Lake Borgne, where the deposits
of street washings can do no dam
age.
AS separate problem the board
is treating the question OF sewerage.
In the first place, there is no possi-
BILE point for natural gravity SOW
age outlet. A few OF the larger busi-
ness houses, hotels and public build
ings own or are connected with pri-
vate force mains, through which the
sewage is driven to the river by the
nearest route. Inc DelleT GLASS; VI
residences have modern plumbing.
discharging into cesspools. The great
bulk of premises, however, are
served by closets in the rear.
The Mississippi River appears to
solve readily the problem as to meth
cd Of disposal. 1t carries from 200,-
900 to 10000 cubic feet for a Sec
ond OF silt-laden water past the city
in Its way to the Gulf. one hundred
miles below.
There will be a mighty shout of
rejoicing when New Orleans can do
away with the thousands of cypress
wood cisterns which adorn. or rather
blemish, the tops and sides and ends
of the houses Of the city. New Or
leans has the choice Of tapping the
watersheds above Lake Pontchar-
train, which would furnish plenty Of
soft reasonably claar watcr or ~