Evening star., 1934-06-30
DISPOSAL PLANT
PLANSARE DRAWN
District Engineers Are BusiN'
Engaged in Drafting
Working Details.


rased today in drafting detail work.
ing drawings for the modern sewage
disposal plant to be erected at Blue
Plains. at the southern tip of the
District, under the provision of S.
100000 of public works funds an
nounced Thursday by Secretary 1ckes,
P. w. A. head.
Construction of preliminary fea-
lures is expected to be started before
Fall with actual building of the
plant. proper, scheduled to start some
time in October or November. The
plant is to be erected over four
year period.
The first units to be developed are
a roadway to the site. just north of
Oxon Run Bay on the Potomac, a
pier to be run some 400 feet out into
the river. and the laying of an ex-
tension of the outfall sewer to the
site of the plant, some 500 feet in
length. Water service also must be
provided for the site.
Special Board in Charge.
Drafting Of plans for the plant
have been placed by the District Com
missioners in the hands of special
sanitation board consisting of Mai.
John c. GotWals. Engineer Commits
sioner, chairman; John Blake Cor
don, director of sanitary engineering,
vice chairman: Lieut.. Robert E. York,
assistant engineer commissioner. eN-
ecutive officer of the board. A. D.
Black. District engineer OF sewers.
and the three conSultant engineers
who recommended development of the
plant in a report last Fall: Harrison
P. Eddy of Boston, John H. Gregory
of Baltimore, and Samuel A. Greeley
of Chicago. This board previously
had been at work under an informal
appointment made by Maj. Gotwals.
The accompanying drawing Illus
trates the complicated system OF ma
chinery and tanks and other appa-
latus required in the development Of
the disposal plant,
The plant will be a great step for
ward in eliminating pollution of the
Potomac now caused by dumping the
city's sewage into the river. BY means
of treatment of the sewage at the
plant, the development of valuable by
products in the form of fertilizer
which is to be used in farming oc-
cupations at the District Workhouse
at Occoquan. will be obtained. 1t
is believed that later some of the
fertilizer may find a private market
for farms in this region.
To Pa
One interesting by-product of the
operation of the plant is to be the
generation of gas which will be used
in operation of a pair of engines
which will be a part of the plants
mechanism. 1t is expected sufficient
gas will be created to operate two
engines of 1000 horsepower each.
Special care is being used in the
design of the plant to prevent de-
velopment of obnoxious odors which
would cause a nuisance in the Blue
Plains area. Numerous elements OF
the plant are to be covered, to this
end. Engineers believe but little odor
will be noticeable even close to the
plant.
Reasons for this special care are
that the Home for the Aged and
Infirm is located not far from the
plant site and the line of the pro-
posed George Washington Memorial
Boulevard runs along the river, not
a great distance from the location
Of the plant.
Pumping Station To Be Built.
The first step in the long series
of operations at the plant will be a
pumping station TO raise the sewage
to a level 25 feet above ground. The
sewage then will be turned into a
series of long grit chambers for set
tlement of grit. There will be
battery of eight such tanks, each 80
feet long.
The next of the series of units
will be grease separating tanks, two
in number, each 100 feet long, Is feet
deep and IS feet wide. The fourth
step, a vital part of the mechanism,
will be preliminary sedimentation
tanks. six in number of great size,
where solids will be separated from
effluents. From this battery the ef-
fluent matter will be turned into aera-
ton tanks where air will be blown
through the matter to hasten oxida-
ton. The liquid, with pollution prac-
tically eliminated, then is TO be
pumped into the river.
The other phase of the system,
following the separation process, is
the pumping of solids into slug di-
eestion tanks. of which there will be
II, each 80 feet square and "a feet
deep. There the slug is to be oxid-
lied by a slow process. From there
the matter will be pumped into con-
ditioning tanks and then into de-
watering tanks. Finally. the oxid
lied and dried product. ready for use
as fertilizer. will be carried out the
pier and dumped into scows to be
transported to the Occoquan insti-
tuition.