The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1911-06-14
NOT MUCH WATER
NEEDED TO FLUSH
Herring PLAN SEWERS
Mr.. Vincent Makes Further Defense of System Calling
for Separate Disposal of Storm Water = Thinks
Sewage Must Ultimately be Taken from Sound

S. E. Vincent. member Of the Board
Of Taxation. today made further reply
] to Hon. >Zalmon Goodsell, also a rnem-
Der of the Board of Taxation, defend
ting the Herring plan for Bridgeport
follows:
There has been much talk OF late
about the Herring sewer plan prepared
for the city Of Bridgeport, under the
supervision Of practical, competent
commission made up Of some of our
best business men who went carefully
and fully into all the details of the
Herring plan and pronounced it desir-
able for our city and recommended
its adoption.
Only One Sewer Plan.
1 should like to ask if any other
scientific, practical sewer plan Is up
for discussion or consideration? If
so, how ancient is 1t? Who drew 1T?
Where Is it? What competent engin-
GERS have figured it over and attach
ed their names to 1t in approval? :?
at stake to be lost If the plan fails? :?
What city commission has approved
of any other plan in recent years? I
think the citizens of Bridgeport should
have an answer to these questions and
know where they are at. Again, how
ID 50 iHuCu HiOucy 10 Do SdV6O Dy lilly
other plan, If there is one? If any
one thinks there Is another plan, did
some individual make it? Is it
patchwork job from a number of an
c1ent plans? Do these other plans
take into consideration our future
growth and probable needs?
Can any opponent of the Herring
sewer plans for Bridgeport produce a
single practical sanitary engineer who
will pronounce them impracticable, or
as expensive as our present system?
challenge the opponents Of the Her
ing sewer plan to produce an approv-
ed modern map or plan in the city's
possession that could be followed in
case we do not take up the Herring
plan. There are no such maps or
plans on record In our engineering Of
flee that I can find. If there is, sure
ly their friends will produce them.
Will they tell us about them?
Officials Approve Herring Plan.
Now let us come back to cold facts.
We have only one modern plan, the
Herring plan. We all know that
Bridgeport has sewers. Some Of them
were built long ago, some only re-
Gently; but practically all that we
have were built without any definite,
well-def1ned plan. We are growing to
be a large city The economic forces
that have made us grow are still
at work, actively and aggressively.
We have got to build more sewers.
Shall we build by a definite plan, well
defined, that has been approved after
careful study, by as good a commits
sion as this city or any other could
pick, and. later by the chairman and
several members of the Common Coun-
ell Sewer committee appointed by our
present Mayor? A plan also approv-
ed by the Mayor. the City Engineer,
City Auditor, Director of Public
Works, chairman of the Permanent
Paving and Sewer Commission, and by
eleven members of the Board of APP
portionment and Taxation, or shall we
continue to work by thumbs and goll,
which necessitates digging up the post,
so that we can saw the bottom off, if
1t needs shortening.
Good business sense demands a plan
and strict compliance with that plan,
especially as 1t is less expensive than
the hit or n}fss, now you see it and
now you DON'T process, of building
sewers without regard to our future
wants and probable needs The near
future probabilities for Bridgeport are,
that we shall be obliged by order of
the State Board Of Health, to carry
our sewerage out into the Sound, or
dispose of it in a way other than by
pouring it into our slow moving rivers
and creeks. If this order ever comes,
and Dr. Townsend Of the State Board
of Health assures me there is no rea-
son to doubt its coming, we shall be
wholly unprepared for IT, unless we
look ahead and build sewers accord
ing to a definite plan which reckonS
with our future probabilities and
wants.
Herring System Cheaper.
Such a plan Rudolph Herring has
prepared for Bridgeport. Now, If we
can always continue to put sewerage
where We are at present, in our rivers
by the Herring sewer plan than to
build in the ancient way, without any
connection or final definite aim, and
We need build no more each year un-
der the Herring plan, than we want;
whether the amount be large or small. |
This is a statement that no citizen of
Bridgeport has to take my word for
or the word of anyone else. He can
look for himself. the plan will show
for If IL is possible to tell how much
1t will cost to build large old-fash-
Toned combine sewers, it is certainly
possible to tell how much it will cost
to build small ones. Twenty or more
of our present city officials, properly
authorized to look into this matter,
have investigated and believe that it
Is advisable for the city to build to
some definite plan in the future, as
the expense will be less and we are
only obliged to build each year what
our necessities demand.
Never Build Pumping Stations Not
Required.
1t really is strange that anyone
should think that dire calamity awaits |
us if we adopt a well-defined sewer
system at a less cost than our pres |
ent no-plan way of building sewers. |
If the necessity never arises and we
never need pumping stations, by all
means never build them. The Her.
ing plan can be carried out up to this |
point just as well and more cheaply |