Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-24
SEWAGE PROBLEM
BECOMES SERIOUS
New York Faces Task of
SteriIizing Huge Deposits
in River.
By Consolidated Press.

By Consolidated Press.
NEW YORK, July 23.-The action
of New York's health commissioner,
DR.. Louis !. Harris, in putting up the
typhoid sign on 554 miles of New
York's $50 miles of water front, has
stimulated investigation which points
to the urgency of related city, State
and possibly Federal disposal of sew
age throughout America.
New York City discharges 1884
100000 gallons of sewage into its har-
Dor every day. Treatment Of this dis
charge. which would make the beaches
as safe from germs as they are now
safe from cenSors. would cost some
where around SIS. 000. 900 initial outlay
and about $l,000,000 a year for opera
ton of the plants. Father Knicker.
booker has had his hands full with
the transit problem for some time past
and has not been thinking much about
drainage. Now that he Is shocked
into attention by DR.. Harris report.
he wants to know what his neighbors
propose to do. before declaring war on
the army of germs surrounding the
island.
Sanitary District Discussed.
Upstate and New Jersey must be
brought in, as harbor pollution from
the outside would undo anything New
York could accomplish. There is talk
Of an interstate sanitary district. The
Same problem arises In many sections
OF interior America.
COLONIZATION plants are already in
operation, but not in sufficient ca.
pacity to affect the general pollution.
This method is being extensively used
America, chlorine treat
ment having increased by about 500
per cent during the last three years.
Chlorine was brought to the front by
three agencies-tEe great war, PreSi'
dent Coolidge and the oyster. 1t first
got into the layman's vocabulary dur
ing the war as a poison gas; then
President Coolidge put 1t on the front
page by taking it for a cold, while
Army physicians were experimenting
with it at Edgewood, Md. Soon after.
ward it became popular. knowledge
that no oyster was given the keys to
the city until he had first had a chic
rine bath. There are now about 80
plants in Long Island. Massachusetts,
and Virginia where oysters are re-
formed and immunized by dose Of
chlorine. The old Long Island oyster
beds have been put out Of business by
harbor water pollution. No takings
are allowed in polluted regions.
For years past conservationists
have been worrying about fish and
oysters in the harbor waters. Shad,
bass, tom Gods and founders have
gone. Eels are about all that remain.
The shellf1sha industry, has been
dulled. Until now New York appar-
entity has been only mildly interested.
Other cities have been steadily install.
ing chlorination plants. They include
has two big plants
keeping its lake beaches safe for bath
Angeles, Toronto, Chicago,
Pasadena. Calf, and many other
smaller cities. In fact, about IS per
cent of American municipalities now
use chlorination processes, either for
purifying drinking water or sewage
treatment.
Wants Sterilization.
Frank ]. Tone. president Of the Elec.
Society. has been cam.
pafgning for several years for national
on this problem. In. an
address to the society. he said:
THE sterilization of sewage Is as
logical measure Of sanitation as the
of drinking water. To
W 04A AAV lily VA SIMS ANS' O"A 0O"N
age. but some other city generally
does. Why permit Chicago and Mill
waukee. Detroit and Cleveland to pol.
lutte the waters of Lake Erie, Lake
Ontario and the st. Lawrence? Why
should Pittsburgh pass its germ.laden
water on to Cincinnati and Louisville,
when adequate remedy Is available at
reasonable cost? One hundred and
twenty pounds Of hypochlorite will
sterilize 100000 gallons OF screened
sewage. A city of 100000 inhabi.
tants can sterilize it's sewage at a cost
for it's chemicals of $3.50 per day. The
cost per single inhabitant for one year
would be about IL cents"
So far as the near future is con-
cerned. the proposed Ward Island
plant appears to be the most hope
full prospect for New York. The State
has assigned the use of the island. at
the junction of the Harlem and East
Rivers, for the construction Of plant
IL the city wishes to build it. The
board OF estimate figures about ST.,
900, 1000 as the cost of a plant which
would take care Of upper Manhattan.
Officials everywhere agree that. with
their cumplacent little island ringed
round with assorted germs, some.
thing must be done. Just what it will
be. no one knows.