New-York tribune., 1909-07-25
An EXAMPLE IN SEWAGE DISPOSAL.

Not the least interesting and suggestive, from
4 practical point Of view. Of the almost in
Vulnerable anniversaries Of this year is thc
tiftieth anniversary Of the creation Of the mod
ern sewage system Of London. 1t is true that
Sir Joseph Bazalgette addressed himself 10 the
mighty task as early as 1856, but 1t was not
until 1859 that his plans became reality In
this fifteth year, it is worth while 10 observe.
plans are in course Of execution for the exten-
sion Of Sir Joseph's work to meet the needs Of
the enormously expanded metropolis but they
are all based upon the principle which WAS
adopted half century ago. The whole matter
forms. moreover. an interesting object lesson to
other great cities which have Jagged behind
London IN this respect, and ahov" all 10 New
York
Not many years ago a proposition 70 stop let
ting all the crude sewage Of this ctg fow d.
rectly into the North and East rivers would
have been considered visionary, if not insane
Nowadays precisely that Is proposed by some
thoughtful men, but still it is too generally re
garded as impractical. Reminders that other
large cities dispose of their drainage otherwise
than by pouring It into rivers are met with the
reply that they are not SO big "a New York.
But now we are reminded Of the fact, which has
been q fact Of record and notoriety for half
century. that the one city of the world which rs
larger and considerably larger than New York
oven II we Include In New York the New Jersey
cities which are properly within the metropo-
tan district--does not let its sewers empty d
rectIy into the river which traverses it. but CON
veys all their contents TO remote places for
chemical and other publication.
The essential feature Of Sir Joseph Bazal
gettes colossal undertaking was the construc
ton Of interceptine sewers al each side Of the
river and running along its shores, into which
instead of into the river the drains of the city
should pour their contents Since his time
other such sewers have been constructed parallel
with the first or convergiHS upon them. Thus
ut the north Of the Thames there IS one begin
ming at Chiswick at the extreme west and run
uinc along the shore of the river TO the extreme
east Of the city. Another starts near Harlesden
while q third beginning at Hampstead, traverses
Stamford Hill and Kentish Town at the OK
treme north. At the south of the river one
begins at Putney and follows the shore, another
al Rochampton. near Richmond Park, and others
start from footing and Svdenham al the extreme
south. All these converge like tlfe sticks Of 3
fan those at the north uniting in trunk sewer
which pours its contents into precipitation works
At Barking and those at the south at Crossness
respectively eleven and thirteen miles down
stream from London Bridge
Thus the vast bulk of the city's sewage and
even most of the surface drainage from rain
outside of the city limits, and even there does
not enter the river until it has been subjected
n chemical treatment and thus rendered com
parativey innocuous and iuoffensiye The
sludge which results from the process Of precipf-
tation. amounting TO about $500 tons day, IL
carried far out into the estuary Of the Thames
and there is dumped into the great hole which
is known as the Black Deep In such fashion
does London dispose Of nearly &00000,000 ga
Ions of sewage daily, and IL time of heavy
rains of more than billion gallons While the
SYSTEM is yet by no means perfect it solves by
far the hardest part Of the problem. The CruG
Of the business was 10 intercept the city's drains
and get their contents into trunk sewers instead
OF the river. That done to extend these sewers
from Barking and Crossness to more remote
points, and to establish bacterial culture beds,
sewage farms, etc, in addition to precipitation
works, would be simple undertakings. The eX-
ample is TO be commended to all great cities
which pride themselves on being able 10 do
whatever other cities can do.