The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-24
COUNCIL HEARS
 MIR. HERRING ON SEWER QUESTION
At Conc 'usiOn of His Remarks He is In:errogated by U. s.
 Commissioner Peck
Fish Will Not Live in Badly Contaminated Waters-LocaI Harbor Full of Fish Therefore Free From Serious Contam.:na- tiOns

| prepared several years ago an elabor-
 ate plan for disposing of the sewage of Bridgeport of the future as we'll as of the present, attended the spe- cial meeting of the common council called for the purpose of hearing him discuss his plan, last evening" After a discussion of nearly two hours, MT. Herring frankly admitted in response
 to questions addressed him by U. s. Commissioner Eugene B. Peck that without the interceptors and the pumping station that were embodied in the carrying out of his ultimate plans. his sewage system possessed no advantages over the present system of sewage used here.
 After considerable preliminary questioning. Commissioner Peck ask ed this question::
 What benefit can there possibly exist in the sanitary sewer. over the combined sewer, without the pump ing stations and the interceptors %
 'I would not say that there is any, replied the engineer.
 MT. Peck had enough. He was satisfied, and thanking the engineer for his courteous attention, he re- tired to the spectators' seat convinced that Bridgeport did not need the sys- tenn.
 Advocates of the system had claim ed that the separation of the sanitary sewage from the surface water, and the carrying of the two classes of sewage in separate pipes. would be cheaper than the construction of large sewers to carry off the combined sew age. Alderman Paddock brought out from Engineer Herring the fact that the initial cost of construction of the double sewage according to the ex-
 
 the double than the single system. This is because, MT. Herring explain ed, the surface sewage may be car ried in a drain near the surface, while in sewers laid at considerable depth. When the excavation is made for the big sewer needed in the combine sys- tenn, it must be a wide cut if all the sewage is to be carried in one drain. But if the sanitary sewage is carried in a small pipe, the deep excavation is not necessarily so wide because the drain itself is so much smaller.
 Mir Herring maintains that the cost of laying the double system is there fore cheaper, because the cut, while wide near the surface. is not nearly for the smaller sewer laid under meath.
 After the aldermen had asked MT. Herring A number of pertinent queS- tions relative to his system, Commis- sioner Peck asked the engineer if he had made a bacteriological study of the water surrounding the city. MT. Herring said he had not
 MT. Peck then called his attention to a statement of Col Black, U. s. N. whom MT. Herring said he knew and highly respected.
 The statement to which Mir. Peck referred was that where a body of water exists with Saturation of oxy- gen not reduced by pollution below TO per cent, that body of water is innocuouS.
 MT. Herring replied that he would go even further than that Even the Philadelphia drinking water he said sometimes has a saturation of as low as 50 per cent. yet they drink it.
 Going further along the lines laid Peck asked Engineer Herring if he would agree that fish life will not exist under 70 per cent. in salt water.
 Commissioner Peck continued along this line, to show that the waters sur- the city of Bridgeport, hay- ing fish life in abundance, were well supplied with oxygen by which the sewage of the city emptying into the waters, must readily be purified. If there were not liberal percentage Of of oxygen in the waters, there would be no fish life.
 From the start Commissioner Peck has maintained that the city is so situated on the sound that natures great purifier, the salt water, is wait ing to give the sewage of the city treatment and that the Herring system providing for the treat ment of sanitary sewage with it's pumping stations and separate sys- tems is necessary.
 Mr. Herring was introduced to the aldermen shortly after 7:30 by At torney John J. Phelan. He said he wasn't prepared to describe his plans in detail. He said he had designed the system in keeping with certain we'll known and accepted principles. He found the sewage system of we'll built but not extend ing into the territory that was being built up So he had gone ahead to provide for the future needs of the city. Then he explained the two sys- Lems. the combined system which l carries all forms of sewage in ono l system of drains, and the separat te l system, which provides one set of | pipe for the sanitary sewage, and an- other set of drains for the surface l water.
 He said he based his recommenda- tions upon an experience of over 40 l years with visits to all the principal | cities of Europe and America He | the maintenance of the | system that MT. Scofeld had design ad He said that he did not recollect | just how far he had gone with the oIans but believed they were right | Or the needs Of the city when he had made the recommendations and in his