Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-11
Board of Trade Committee to
Make an Investigation.
NO DANGER, SAYS PHILLIPS
Superintendent of Sewers Declares
Alarm Needless.
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
Large Sums of Money Being Spent
to Prevent Possibility of Con-
tagion From Suburbs.

A statement to the effect that sewa &c
from the city which is dumped into the
Potomac river from the sewage disposal
plant at point some distance down the
riyer is brought up on the tide to such
an extent as TO make bathing in the river
opposite Georgetown dangerous was con-
sidered at a meeting of the Board OF
Trade committee on sewage yesterday
afternoon.
1t was decided that the committee
would make an Inspection OF the plant
accompanied by the District officials in
charge of the sewerage department OF
the municipal government. with a view
| to learning whether something could be
done to purify the sewage before it is
emDtied into the river, or whether il
could be utilized on land
Dr. }. 3. Arnold, chairman of the COM
mittee, said that trip to the plant would
be made as soon as possible.
Says Situation Isn't Alarming.
That the city's sewage and sewerage
conditions are not such that should cause
any alarm. but are carefully studied and
planned out for the net two decades, and
in some instances even farther ahead
than that. is the statement made today
by A. f. Phillips. superintendent of
sewers of the District of Columbia.
THE present condition of Washington's
sewers and the drainage into the streams
from outside towns and villages Is not
such as to render 1t a matter Of imme-
date urgency" Mr.. Phillips says. But,
have to plan years ahead, and have to
watch the growth Of population and see
where the line Of travel is taking people.
so that in the case of this District. l
have told the powers that there should
be no delay in getting legislation now
to lay the foundations for q big metro
politan sewer system which will take the
drainage from these outlying towns in
the future.
IF the steps are not taken now, then
our children may be menaced
Water Supply Unaffected.
1.-The water supply of the city is at pres
ent absolutely unaffected by any drainage
The city gets its water from a point so
many miles above any drainage that
there is nothing to worry about in that
situation. The cry keep the streams
pure need at present only apply to the
ordinary purity of the streams as they
flow through the city and through the
parks.
Here is a valuable point: All the sew
age delivered into the streams by all the
the ordinary purity Of these streams that
run through our city, and let me add. too.
that we have 1t all figured out just how
we will preserve the purity. Big inter-
ceptors are planned and will be built. Just
at present the East Side interceptor and
the Anacostia river interceptor are being
laid mile by mile and twenty years from
now will be taking care of the situation.
1.-THE Rock creek interceptor will. in all
probability, take care of the drainage
q lQy- Chevy
Chase way. Those are three items of
the big plans for twenty years hence. and
all are being worked on. In the appro-
priation bill reported to the Senate yester-
day there are hundreds of thousands of
dollars for big sewer work. Some Of that
work is of the kind that spreads out over
the District in little network Of small
service sewers. These small sewers are
the things that the average man calls
the sewer system We are pushing
that small, fine network all over the
District.
Trying to Catch Up.
1T is true that there are nearly 1900
houses in the District that have no sewer
connections, but they are scattered in
the outlying district, and it is our plan
to catch up with them. l notice the
report said we had built only ten miles
of sewers last year. That meant only
ten miles OF a certain kind. My annual
report gives the mileage, and shows that
we built within a few feet of twenty-six
miles Of sewers, big and little. last year.
$50 there are two kinds of work going
on. The network Of house connections,
as it is convenient to call them, and the
big tubes that are part of the sewage
disposal system. 1t is true that there
is work to be done. We have not COW
cred the District with sewers, otherwise
all we would have to do would be to
spend money to maintain the sewer sys-
tenn
But there is no immediate danger from
had cop.litinpc',