The Penn's Grove record., 1919-05-16
Drain Pipes ClOgged
Council Decides To Accept And
Improve Several Streets

Oo
session, transacting much important
business.
Mayor Fisher presided. Members
present were Pyne, Keen, Fahy, Bor-
den, Smith. Other officials present
were Clerk Hunt, Assessor j. N. Lay
man, Treasurer D. P. Featherer, Over
seer of Poor Leonard, Registrar
| Yeager, and members of the Board of
Health.
The principal business of the SEES
sion was consideration of the matter
of drainage on Pitman street, prop
erty owners claiming that the drain
pipe was too small to carry off the wa
ter, filling up and allowing the water
to remain on the surface, becoming
stagnant and a menac to the health
II the ne~ighborhood. When appealed
to the local Board of Health said it
had no money to expend for such work,
and the State Board was appealed to.
1t vas their opinion that the local
Board must give the matter attention
and the funds must be provided for
The purpose.
Clerk Hunt notified the State Board
that at the last report the local Board
Lad over 5000 on hand, so the mem
Ders of that body were requested to be
on hand at the meeting of the Council
and straighten the matter out.
Mr.. Yeager, Registrar and Secre-
tary of the Board, said he had inspect
ed the locality in question and while
he had noticed water remaining after
heavy rains he had never noticed any
jtagnant pools. He had been pestered
by the people of this neighborhood for
over a year. The ground is low there
and after heavy rains there was al
ways standing water as the pipe vas
too small to carry it off. Substances
that should not be allowed to run in
the r'pc choked it up and caused the
trouble.
President Harris of The local Boar |
of Health, said he communicated with
the authorities of the Pennsylvania
Railrca d Co. in regard to the open
ditch running through their property,
into which the matter from toilets and
sewage was being emptied, but had
received no satisfaction from them. He
had also written officials at Washing
ton with the same result. In conse-
quence, at the last meeting of the
Board it was unanimously agreed to
begin suit Immediately against the
Railroad Company to compel them to
pipe the ditch as it was a menace to
the health of the community.
William A. Summerill, Borough En-
gineer, addressed the Mayor and
Council on the problem of drainage
and sewerage. He stated that the
heavy rains the previous week had
made many ponds which had not been
taken away by the drains, and it would
be some days before they dried up be-
cause there was a strata of hardpan
clay from one to three feet below the
surface thru which water filtered
slowly. Eventually the ponds would
dry up and the hot sunshine would kill
malignant bacteria. Direct sunshine
has been known by scientists to kill
typhoid germs four feet below the
surface.
Below the clay strata is from ten to
! twenty feet of sand and gravel which
! makes a natural filter for all well
water. Very few wells in Penns
Grove are beyond sixteen feet deep,
yet the fact that the oldest citizens
live to be from 60 to over 80 years
proved this region to be full of good
health. While the old residents have
lived amidst these ponds and swatted
mosquitoes for ninety years, yet none
ever got malignant microbes on the
brain. Only those who came with the
war boom brought them with them.
They see the same visible conditions
as they did in the Canal Zone and
other hot climates, but it does not
mean that the same results follow be-
cause of the different geological con-
ditions and different temperature. The
clay strata and natural filter bed of
sand and gravel keep the wells from
contamination from the cesspools and
suspicious drains and ponds.
Most Of the natural drains thru the
Borough have had terra Gotta pipes
put in and in some cases sewage goes
thru them either direct or where
needed from septic tanks which should
be constructed by the individual prop
erty wners. Several have done so
with great success.
J If a sewer system was put n at an
expense of from $4,000 to 5000 900,
the surface water could not be taken
care of by that according to expert
sanitary engineers who have viewed
the Borough. 1t will probably cost
5 1000 a year to run the system. The
sewage would be taken care of by
septic tanks, the same as some prop
erty owners now have. If some can
do this others can successfully do the
same.
The best for new Corners is to con-
suit old residents and be cured of mi
crobes on the brain.
S. Rushing Leap, Counsel for the
Borough, said the Board of Health was
vested with full power to prevent any
water or other substances other than
natural drainage from being run into
the pipe. There is a sanitary code
which fully provides for and fully CO.
vers these complaints.
Mr.. Leap also stated that the only
thing the Borough had to consider
was whether the pipe is large enough
to carry off the natural drainage. The
matter of sewage, toilets, etc., was up
to the Board of Health to take car of.
Continued on page s