Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-04-04

delphia is about to part OF thiS uNh' ny
the establishment of adequate ana
modern sewerage system. Pollution OF ihe
hns bred preycntabie disensc. This danger
win he reduced, though the processes VIII
be complicated and the cost enormous.
TI7HE sanitary disposal of municipal sewage
i is so closely connected with public health
that more than casual interest and Importance
attaches to the investigation into the subject
which has been under way by the city since
1912. The investigation has advanced far
enough to justify the Director of Public
Works in asking Councils to make practical
the theories developed in the period Of expert
mentation.
Councils has before it a bill providing for
the condemnation of land in Port Richmond
for the first unit in the new plant. This repre-
sents the first call on an item Of $3,2OOOOO in
the proposed loan of $SG,OOOOOO for public i'm.
provements After a decade the scientific eN-
leriments conducted by Director Datesman,
as assistant chief of the Bureau Of Surveys,
will safeguard the citizens of Philadelphia
from impurities in their drinking water. Even
wit, filtration plants for carihcation water
cannot be purer than it's source, and it is a
cause for congratulation that at last the city
Is to have intakes of absolutely potable water
for its filters and pumps to distribute to house.
holds.
The sewage problem has been urgent for
many years. Twenty years ago, before the
installation of modern filters, Philadelphia
drank, literally, mud, and suffered from an.
nual epidemics of typhoid with awful
mortality. 1t is no wonder the State took
cognizance of the situation by an act Of As.
sembly of April 9 1895, providing that after
1912 no wastage should be into the
streams of the Commonwealth, and insisted
o.. other methods of sewage disposition, to
be approved by a commission, inclusive of
the Governor, Attorney General and Health
Commissioner. The time has been extended
from year to year for the completion Of
plans, and those now formulated have re.
ceived final approval. Representing the tests
of years in temporary plants, and investiga-
tlons into the methods of cities here and
abroad these reasonably can be conceived
as the ultimate word in sanitary disposal of
sewage, and hence adequate municipal in
surance against disease. It has been DEM
onstrated too, at the Holmesburg laboratory,
that the sewage plants need not be noisome.
Nosome or not, the plants had to come in
the interest of safety-first and hygieniC pre-
paredness. A revolving condition has existed
for years in the polluted waters of the two
rivers. Raw water taken from various parts
was found to be full of noXOus germs, cul
tured in household sewage anC wastaEe from
industrial plants. Classification literally ter
rfed city medical officers Inspection of the
fluid at Catharine street dock revealed such
impurity that even the catfish scavengers had
succumbed to the poison-laden elements. Pol
luton has almost destroyed the shad fisheries
on the Delaware, once great industry.
Sturgeon also have virtually abandoned the
stream.
The new sewerage system is a permanent
Improvement susceptible of extension with
the expanson of the city. Therefore, it quail
ihes for legitimate appropriation from loan
funds. There can be no cavil at the provision
for the expenditure of millions for the pur-
pose if the Administrations desire is sincere
to bring to fulilment a needed Improvement
that essentially involves the health of the
citizens.
Possibly it has been wise to hasten slowly.
In the Reyburn Administration other public
improvements were under way so far linn
tied funds could further their undertaking.
The Blankenburg Administration could do lit.
tic more than push preliminary research and
experiment with the small means at its com
mand owing TO the financial feud with Coun-
ellis. The construction of the sewerage system
has been delayed up to the limit Of public
patience. 1t should now go forward, with
money provided by loan negotiated in abso-
Lutte good faith. There must, however, be no
repetition of the scandals of filtration con-
struction and contracts which marked the
Ashbridge regime. The public is too testy
for that
The people have come TO realize the vast
Importance 10 their health and that of their
children of an adequate system of sewage
disposal. Nothing else or less will satisfy
them.