The Sewer Plan That Imagined a City of 200,000

J. S. Camp today submitted to the members of the city council his report upon the city's sewerage system, with which they are all enthusiastic. In preparing the plans Mr. Camp states that he has been governed by the most modern experience, that will remove from the city all organic decomposition and waste. All pipes will be provided with means for inspection. In formulating Olympia's system, two difficulties are presented. First, the northern part of the city, the natural outlet for sewerage, is tide-locked, the floor of the principal block being on an average of not more than two feet above highest tide. Second, the city is bisected by the tunnel through Seventh street from Jefferson to the west of Main street. To overcome this difficulty, Mr. Camp recommends the construction of the reservoir, as stated in yesterday's TRIBUNE. This reservoir will be located just east of the long wharf, sufficiently distant from the meander line, to receive the benefit of the tide. The sewerage of the city will be deposited in this by means of a 20-inch main from the foot of Washington street. The reservoir will be about 100 feet square in the interior and will be surrounded by walls eight feet thick, imbedded with puddle clay and supported by a double wall of piling. Into this reservoir the sewerage constantly flows. It is emptied at each receding tide automatically by means of a brass bell about four feet in diameter, in connection with which are air valves, by which it is regulated. The bell works on pulleys and wheels. The weight of the water carries the bell to the bottom of the reservoir, in doing which it opens the outlet, permitting the sewerage to flow out with the tide as the tide recedes; the gate gradually closes and no more sewerage can escape from the reservoir until the tide again comes in and recedes. All the sewers in the south section of the city connect with a main sewer on Eighth street, which in turn empties into a flush tank at Eighth and Jefferson. This tank is flushed by an automatic syphonage periodically into a 16-inch main that passes down Jefferson to Second street with a fall of one foot in 500, and emptying into the eighteen-inch main at Second street. The eighteen-inch main continues down Second to Washington, receiving the laterals between Jefferson and Washington. North of Seventh the eighteen-inch main empties into the twenty-inch main at Washington street, which continues out to the reservoir. The large flush tank at Eighth and Jefferson is connected with one of the city water mains, flushing 2,000 gallons of sewerage from an elevator twenty feet above the reservoir with a velocity that will remove any doubt of an insufficiency of fall in the main sewers from Seventh street north. At the head of each small sewer, or at the point from which it starts is also located a smaller flush tank which will hold from 200 to 400 gallons of water. All these tanks are connected with the city water works and are automatically flushed every twenty-four hours. Inspection pipes are located at distances of 600 feet, and are connected with a manhole brought to the surface on a slant, making it an easy matter to remove all obstructions that may accumulate. The system Mr. Camp submits has been formulated after every detail of elevation and topography has been minutely considered and there is no portion of the city that cannot be made to connect, thus leaving the city in a position to build much or little at the present time, and to extend the system as future needs require. The main sewers will be fully adequate, not only for a city of 20,000, but perhaps for one of 200,000. The report is accompanied by designs showing the profile of every street, and estimates of every distinct section and feature in connection with the system. The report will probably be acted upon at the council meeting tomorrow night.