The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1908-04-28
THE PASsAIC VALLEY SEWER.
Plan of the Commissioners Involves a
Cost of $1s, s,s5o,OOO.

plan of the Commissioners Involves
Cost of $1a, a,s5o,OOO.
The report of the Passaic Valley
Sewerage Commission was made pub
lie Tuesday. The construction OF the
gaint sewer, which is designed to pur-
ify the Passaic River and discharge
the sewage of twenty municipalities
in four counties, will cost S12, 25O, 900.
Whether Paterson and other towns
and boroughs which have looked ask
ance at the proposition agree to parti-
cipate in its contraction or not, the
Passaic River will be cleansed OF the
filth which now makes it one OF the
dirtiest streams in the world, as under
the law dissenting municipalities must
desist from discharging refuse into
the river within five years. In this
event, other giant sewers will be built
by other municipalities.
The proposed sewer will be approx
nately eighteen miles long. Starting
at Paterson and draining the refuse
from cities, towns and boroughS along
the Passaic River banks it will dis
charge 120,O00,0OO gallons of sewage
daily into New York harbor, d mile
from the New Jersey shore. The great
pipe line will traverse the Newark
meadows, burrow under Newark Bay,
under Bayonne and the narrow neck
of land upon which that city is built,
through the soft mud underlying New
York Bay, distance of three miles
underground, to a point several hum
dred yards from the line dividing the
waters of New York from those of
New Jersey.
The commissioners report that the
sewer can be completed by 1912.
From twenty-four-inch sewer at
the beginning in Paterson, the pipe
line will gradually enlarge to thirteen
feet at the outlet. The commission
estimates that it will be of sufficient
size to care for the disposal of all sew
age within the district until the year
1910, at which time, it is estimated,
the amount of sewage daily passing
through the pipe to the harbor will be
10000 900 gallons. The cost of main
tenance, once the sewer is built, is
Dlaeed $4,000 annually to S283, 900 an
nually, according to the volume Of
refuse discharged.
The west bank of the PasSaic River
is chosen as the location, and the
great pipe line will follow the river
Windings and turnings to Newark Bay.
The estimates of its cost were fur
nished by Herring & Fuller, engineers.
The commission submits that the
cost of construction would be about
Slit per 81, 900 of tax ratableS; the
cost Of maintenance is placed at about
rs cents per 81, ,000 The district in
cludeS an area of twenty-Seven square
miles, with population of 575, 900 per-
sons. There are ia subdiStrictS each
emptying into the main sewer or
the sewage that is enptied into the
harbOr, Newark will contribute about
one-thhd.
The matter will be taken up in earn
est IN a score of towns, cities and bOr-
0ughs, and local politics will give pre-
cedence to the issue, which has been
momentarily expected for the past
month. In Passaic county sentiment
is strong against the sewer, and citi-
zens from Paterson have fought the
proposition from the start.
Members of the commission are
julius A. Lebkuecher, Francis Child,
Peter Hauck, w. 5. Ackerman and
William Mckenzie.