Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-07-23
PUR|F|CAT|ON PLANT
By JULY |, %

WAS read before council Monday eve,
which practically makes it incumbent
ON the borough of Danville to prepare
mans for and construct plant for the
notification OF all of its sewage before
July 1st, 1910
| DR. DiX1n's letter covers seventeen
pages typewritten, and is an exhaus-
tive commentary on the drainage and
sererage, the source of water supply
and contamination thereof, and the
relation of these to the spread of dis
ease.
The letter comes as a reply to re.
quest from the council of Danvilie to
the State department of health for pre-
mission to install a sewer TO accom-
modate residents on West Mahoning
street and also to install n sewer to
accommodate residents OF the second
ward that would lead down the bed of
the abandoned canal. Some time after
the borough's request was received by
the department of health, DR.. Dixon
sent Prof. Walker, of State college, to
this city il the capacity of sewer
age expert Prof. Walker, was allowed
to make a minute study Of the condi-
tions in Danville, and the letter in
large part contains data that Prof
Walker gathered during that visit to
Danville.
The letter begins with description
of the borough of Danville followed
by an enumeration of the industries
located here and their sources of wat
er supply. The letter also reviews the
number of cases of typhoid fever in
Dauville during the years since 1895,
remarking that THE presence Of typ
hold fever in the community, since the
Infection has not been traced to priv
ate sources, directs suspicion to the
river water, which is known to be
polluted by sewage. "
Also, DIR. Dixon states, 1t is clear
ly evident that the discharge into the
river at Danville constitutes a menace
to the health of those people below
who rely upon the river as a source OF
public water supply. Therefore, the
borough of Danville should make pre-
paration to purify the borough sew
age at as early date as practicable,
The State has made an appropriation
and its officers have devised plans for
modern sewerage and sewage dispos-
al works for the Danville State hospit
al which plans will be executed as ap.
proved Immediately.
Continuing the letter says:
FINANCIAL CONDITIONS.
1.-The assessed valuation Of the bor-
ough is reported to be two million,
four hundred and twenty-five thousand
dollars and the bonded Indebtedness
one hundred and twenty thoIs-
and. eight hundred dollars If these
figures be correct the municipal bor-
rowing capacity is in the neighbor-
hood of forty thousand dollars, so it
would appear Existing bonds partly
cover the loans for the proposed sewer
extension but additional bonds will be
required to complete the construction.
Entrance fees for sewer connection are
levied upon the property owner. These
are calculated to reimburse the bor-
ough for the cost of the sewers when
the properties have all been connected
to the system; but there is no COM
pulsory ordinance relative to connec'
tion. The borough owns its own elec-
trio plant which is operated in connec-
tion with the pumping station of the
water works. Under these circumst-
ances, while the town is possessed OF
its public utilities which are valuable
assets. its inability to undertake the
immediate construction Of sewage
publication plant is evident because
even forty thousand dollars would be
an insufficient sum to pay for sewage
works.
Before asplant can be installed to
treat all of the sewage, Of the bor-
ough, all storm water and large leak
age and 'most-roof water must be eX-
/ cluded from the sewers Studies must
| be made to determine the best plan of
gathering}ithe sewage Of the entire
borough,at one point and its delivery
| thence to{the,disposal works A site
should be selected forsthe latter and a
detail plan, n,shall be prepared, togeth-
er with estimates of cost and all cf
these as a complete design should be
submitted to the.ssCommissioner of
Health for approval The plan as final
ly adopted should then control all sew
er work
THE borough is amply able to assume
this small cost Of preparation of plans
and it.should be done at once
In view Of the foregoing considera-
tions, it has been unanimously argeed
by the Governor, Attorney General
and the. e.Commissioner of Health that
the interests Of the public health will
be subserved by granting permit, and
l do hereby andlherein grant permit
for the proposed sewer extensions un-
der the following
CONDITIONS g. STIPULATIONS