New Britain herald., 1929-12-04

quired manufacturers to install methods for treating waste prior to discharge into public waterway. The great l roblem is to discover some method of treatment for these
 wastes which will comply with the
 law. It seems quite obvious that the legislature, in passing the act creating the commission, was not willing to place in the hands of an executive agency Of the state au-
 thority which would permit destroy ing an industry in order to prevent pollution of a waterway.
 The commission has felt that it was justified in requiring that com munities of the state should treat their sewage before discharging It into a stream. A nationwide sur yey, conducted by President Hoover when he was secretary of commerce, showed that approximately S5 per cent of all pollution reaching the waterways was due to domestic sew age. Whether or not the figure is correct for the state of Connecticut it is certainly true that in volume
 at least it is very much in excess of pollution caused by trade wastes. Moreover, this form of pollution is a public question and concerns every individual member of the va rious communities. The means of treating domestic sewage are well understood There is no great diff fculty in advising any given com munity what form of treatment of it's sewage will best meet the situ- ation.
 This matter has been presented to every community in the state which is now discharging it's untreatcd sewage into waterway. With the
 exception of but a very small num-
 Der, among them New Britain, all of the various communities of the state are at the present time engag- ed in some step of correcting this condition. Very recently as you note in your editorial, New Britain
 has decided to take up the study Of this very important question.
 It might be pointed out that tho
 legal limitation as to the debt limit
 of city is a serious barrier to se-
 curing more rapid progress. Ap- propriations for a sewage treatment
 plant come into direct competition with the demands for all other mu- nicipal projects such as streets. parks, schools, police and fire de-
 partmentS, welfare work, etc., etc. It is only human that the needs 0: the sewerage system are provided
 for after all others have been met. The result is that the sewerage sys- tenn in most Connecticut communi- ties is antiquated, inadequate and in
 bad repair and that no money can
 be found for providing sewage treat ment. We are therefore confronted
 in this day of our modern and much
 vauntcd civilization, with a situation where each community considers it
 quite proper to discharge it's filth
 into the nearest waterway with
 complete disregard of the rights Of
 lower riparian residents.
 Ou EeltT to tHlS Slludl lOll Ill ulS- cussing pollution of the Connecticut
 river by the sewage of MassaChu-
 setts cities. This fact has long been
 used as an argument why COnnecti-
 cut cities should no nothing about
 correcting conditions for which they
 be quite within the bounds of pos
 sibility that if Connecticut proceeds Ito clean up the river within it's
 boundaries Massachusetts will do
 likewise. It is i.lso quite possible that in case Massachusetts did not follow the good example set by Connecticut. Connecticut having
 "clean hands" could go into court
 and demand relief from the pollu- tion caused by her sister state. Without "clean hands" Connccti-
 cuts claims would without doubt
 receive scant consideration.
 The only remedy for this situa-
 cd providing the necessary funds for this essential public utility. The
 sewerage system properly is part
 of the water system and it should
 be financed in the same manner. The householder requires that q clean, safe and ample supply of water shall be piped to his resid-
 cnce. He is allowed to use it and foul it and then call upon the city to remove it from the premise,
 without any direct cost to him. This is illogical, and he should be charged a rate in the same manner
 as he IS charged for the water which is delivered 10 him, or one rate which should cover the cost of
 both is perhaps preferable, The i'm : mediate result would be to place the sewerage system on a self-sustainin5 basis. AS it would then be revenue producing, bonds could be issued for
 T III