City Sewerage System Fails Residents
High water levels turn a poorly installed sewer line into a neighborhood health hazard in South Tacoma.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
House sewage is breaking out of the sewer and running over the street and into private property down in the vicinity of South 41st Street and Thompson Avenue, and a mighty howl is coming to the city hall. This is the sewer over which such a commotion was kicked up for political effect last year when sewage was said to be running into the city water supply. After the election was over, the matter was dropped, although Commissioner McGregor tried to have the council do something last October. The sewer evidently was a botched job and was put in without the pipe being properly cemented. Now when high water comes, the storm water soaks into the pipe, fills it to overflowing and backs the sewage up until it runs out the manholes and covers the street and soaks into the cellars of the people. The commissioner says the only thing to do is take the sewer up and lay it right.
“The sewer evidently was a botched job and was put in without the pipe being properly cemented.”
Infrastructure neglect in South Tacoma has deep roots; this 1909 report of 'botched' sewer work and political posturing mirrors the ongoing modern-day battles over municipal maintenance and the accountability of public utilities for neighborhood residents.
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