The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-08-23
OUR VALLEY
By S. P. WERNER

Another need for coordlnateo
large-scale planning on cooper
alive or controlled basis is sewage
disposal. This matter deserves to
be adequately treated IN any
scheme for the development OF
the valley. AS in the case OF the
water-supply, methods in use now
vary from the most primitive to
the conventional municipal syS-
TENS.
The increasing pollution of
streams. the use of the french
Broad as the central recipient OF
all the industrial wastes as well
as of the domestic sewage, ana
the prospective increase in den
sitv of population, ought to cause
serious attention to solution Oh
the problem which would make
| full provision for future require
ments as we'll eliminate as many
of the existing undesirable Snai-
tons as possible. 49,,
There are so many different
systems advocated by engineers,
with conflicting claims for each;
that municipal authorities anu
taxpayers are often sorely per-
picked in deciding upon the wlsest;
All of them are expensive; and
MANY of them are Intellectual.
This is one necessity for ettec,,
tive coordination of scattered
units perhaps more urgent than
anv other public function in the
valley The resort bushes is VI
tai to our people; and sanitary
conditions are paramount IN the
promotion of summer resorts. we
cannot maintain our present sue
cessful summer business for many
more years without solving these
problems.
With a central lake, such as
that which has been shown to be
undesirable on so many other
grounds, the necessity of trunk
sewer lines to take the sewage
from all points around and above
the lake down below the dam will
be imperative unless the lake be
made the dump into which local
lines will converge. In this case
the pollution of the lake will be
inevitable and ruinous to its tunc-
ton as source of drinking
water or for pure water for GER
tain manufacturing purposes.
Needless to say. if this sewage
trunk line should empty into the
French Broad below the dam and
lust above Asheville, that city
would hardly be pleased. The nat
ural effect then would be that the
whole watershed above Asheville
would have to be abandoned en-
tirely.
Without such a central lake, but
with the cove lakes advocated in
these articles, the problem of
keeping the sewage out of the
French Broad river still remains.
Up to the present this splendid
stream has been the main trunk
sewer line for the whole valley, a
condition which would not be toll
Grated but for the high rainfall
which keeps it moving rapidly, but
the day is not distant when the
condition will become acute and
urgently require some other dis
posal.
AS long as the water-borne
sewage system is the standard, the
only really practicable sanitary
method of control must remain
that of the natural antisepsiS ty-
pically represented by the septic
tank. and dependent upon anaero-
bic bacterial ferments for the
sterilization of the sewage before
allowing it to enter open streams.
The city of Milwaukee was the
Chassis example of large-scale use
of this system in America. We
must contemplate coming to this
at an early date, if the valley is
to remain a source of attraction
to tourists as we'll as of safety and
comfort to its permanent popula-
ton.
This would involve condemna-
ton of suitable land for central
settling tanks, and an elaborate
system of mechanical disposal of
sludge after it has become sterile
and could be safely disposed of for
fertilizer. Trunk lines on each side
of the valley could then be main
tanned. leading to the tanks locat-