Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-05-24
BRANDYW|AE SEWER
VITAL NECESSITY
City Solicitors Opinion Fixing
Responsibility on City Means
100000 Expense.

As stated in Every Evening Saturday,
the opinion of City Solicitor John w.
Huxley, Jr., with reference to the liability
for the expense incident to the construc-
tion of new Brandywine sewer holds
that it is up to the city, through the
Street and Sewer Department, to see that
ample provision is made for carrying oil
the waste and sewage from the Bancroft
plant as well as from that section OF the
city using the present sewer.
The opinion of the city solicitor had
been stated verbally to Chief Engineer
Van Trump of the Water Department,
and Mr.. Van Trump this morning gave
it to the board at its regular weekly
meeting In effect, the opinion of the
city solicitor is that as the interceptlng
sewer which takes eff the waste from the
Bancroft plant, is owned and maintained
by the Street and Sewer Department,
that department is certainly liable If 1t
breaks or leaks, and it is up TO it to put
1t in proper shape or TO construct new
sewer.
1t is agreed by everybody that the
sewer Is not nearly large enough to carry
off all the waste and sewage it is supposed
10 handle, and that as a result Of being
overtaxed, breaks have occurred and the
city water has been polluted by its flow
into the Brandywine. One of these breaks
occurred some few months ago, and the
contamination of the city water was par
tlcularly noticeable About two weeks ago
it was noticeable again, though not to
such a degree as formerly.
The Board OF Water Commissioners
will take up the matter with the Street
and Sewer Department right away, and
will urge that speedy action be taken to
tho fNfx nf tho or wafer
ply. The sewer now in use is old and too
small, and has frequently been overtaxed,
causing it to leak or break and flow into
the Brandywine. How soon n worse break
than has ever occurred may happen no
one can tell It might possibly be of such
A nature as to render entirely unfit for use
the city water.
1t is regarded as pretty we'll settled
that new and much larger sewer will
have to he constructed, from the begin
ming of the present sewer and 10 extend
down below the intake, which Will be
distance OF more than n mile. 1t Will
cost not less than 100000, and possible
considerably more. The Street and Sewer
Department has long had the matter
under consideration, and surveys have
been made and plans are being drawn
The question is, where is the money 10
The only recourse other than the con-
struction of q new sewer would be the re-
moval of the intake to a location above
Rockland. and as this would involve a
cost of two or three million dollars, it is
not seriously considered.
On account of the claim that large
part of the sewage IS from the Bancroft
plant. and as the chemical waste from
that plant has been responsible through
overtaxing the sewer and flowing into the
Brandywine, for the contamination of
the city water, it is held by Mayor Taylor
and some others that the Bancroft plant
is liable for the cost or a part of the cost of
building a sewer of adequate capacity.
This view is not shared by the Bancrofts
nor by the city solicitor. who hold in
effect that the city is liable for the con
struction and maintenance of sewers TO
accommodate all manufacturing plants
within the corporate limits.