With the Compliments of 
WARING, CHAPMAN & FARQUHAR, 
NEWPORT, R. 1., 
AND 
874 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 
The 
SEWERAGE 
OF 
Two 
New Hampshire Toms, 
Keene # Laconia, 
by 
GEO. E. WARING, JR., 
M. Inst. C. e., 
NEWPORT, R. 1. KEENE, N. H. 
Flumh funk 
Man.hoh- _•— 
(outnur 
iHntn. uf Sctror, ,S 
inarkr,/ C 
NOTE. 
Plan of Sewerage as executed to 
November 1891. 
scale. 
Geo. e. Waring, Jr., 
Consulting Engineer. PLAN or SEWERAGE 
ro* 
L AGO N I A, N.H. 
AS £X£CU r£D to a€C- /«9/ 
* //v cp/A mq f 
Geo. E. Waring, Jr., 
Consulting engineer. 
SANBOHNTON 
H AY 
D/ton's POINT Reprinted from the Report of the State Board 
of Health of New Hampshire, 1891. THE SEWERAGE 
OF 
TWO NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWNS 
(KEENE AND LACONIA). 
BY 
Geo. E. Waring, Jr., M. Inst., C. E., 
NEWPORT, R. I. 
Ira C. Evans, Printer, 13 and 15 Capitol Street. 
CONCORD,.N. H.: 
1892. THE SEWERAGE 
OF 
TWO NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWNS, 
GEO. E. WARING, JR., M. INST., C. E., NEWPORT, R. I. 
It may be of interest to the readers of the report of the Board 
of Health in New Hampshire to be informed as to the sewer- 
age of Keene and of Laconia, works which have been carried 
out on a system materially different from what had before been 
used in this State ; this being the same system that was intro- 
duced in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, after the yellow 
fever epidemic of 1878-9. 
It is a peculiarity of this system that it is used for the 
removal of foul sewage only, no rain water being admitted 
either from the surface of the ground or from the roofs of 
houses. The sizes of the sewer pipes are proportioned to the 
limited but uniform work of removing the daily foul waste 
of houses and manufacturing establishments. The lateral 
sewers, constituting a very large proportion of the system, are 
only six inches in diameter. When enough building lots 
have been passed to make the future maximum flow of sewage 
sufficient to fill a sewer one half full, its size is increased to 
eight inches, which about doubles the capacity on moderate 
grades. When the eight-inch sewer would run as much as 
half full, an increase is made to ten inches, of which the 
capacity is about 60 per cent more than that of the eight-inch. 
As no rain water is admitted for the flushing of the sewers, it 
becomes necessary to substitute other means for keeping them 
clean. This is done by placing at the head of each sewer, 
below the surface of the street, a small cistern, called a flush- 
tank, and holding, when full to the level of its discharging 
point, about 150 gallons of clean water admitted from the 
water supply in a very small dribbling stream, sufficient to 4 
fill it about once in twenty-four hours. When it becomes 
filled, an automatic siphon is brought into operation, dis- 
charging the whole volume suddenly in a strong flushing 
stream, flowing freely down the sewer and carrying with it all 
matter stranded by the normal flow, which, toward the upper 
end of each line, is not sufficient for the removal of all solids. 
In addition to its effect in cleansing the sewers, this discharge 
from the flushtank drives along the air contained above the 
flow in the sewer, forcing it out at the different ventilators as 
these are approached, and drawing in air through the ventila- 
tors which it has passed. The ventilators of the whole sys- 
tem are the house drains and soil pipes of all the houses con- 
nected, there being no trap between the sewer and the open 
mouth of the soil pipe above the houses. This ensures a free 
and copious ventilation of the sewers at all times; not only 
during the flushing from the tanks, but from a constant inter- 
change of current between different soil pipes, influenced by 
the wind, by changes of temperature, by the discharge of fix- 
tures in houses, etc. If properly cai'ed for in the matter of 
obstructions, and if regularly flushed as above described, these 
sewers with their house drains and soil pipes are so con- 
stantly and freely ventilated that the accumulation of the gas- 
eous products of decomposition is impossible. What is known 
as “sewer gas” cannot exist in such a of drainage, if 
the most ordinary care is taken to prevent deposits of organic 
matter therein. The general principles under which the 
system is constructed are substantially the same as those used 
in other sewerage work. Manholes, inspection holes, facili- 
ties for cleaning, etc. being measui'ably the same. 
The system has three preponderating advantages: (a) Its 
cost is, on the average, not more than two fifths of that of a 
system arranged to remove surface water and house drainage 
together. (<s) As it does not depend on the occasional, and 
frequently lacking, flushing by rain, nor on precarious and 
costly flushing by hand, but is, on the contrary, thoroughly 
washed out by automatic process every day, the accumulation 
of deposits, at least unperceived and neglected accumulations, 
cannot occur. It is one great advantage of this system that if 5 
a deposit forms which the flushtank cannot remove, it is 
pretty sure to make itself known by a complete stoppage of 
the sewer and to demand the removal of the obstructing ma- 
terial ; while in systems with large pipes, there is ample room 
for the accumulation of an offensive and dangerous amount of 
organic deposit with ample water way above or around it. 
Such sewers may go for a long time without cleaning, simply 
because they will perform their main office of carrying away 
sewage without being cleaned, (c) The ventilation of the 
system is much more complete than it would be possible to 
secure with the use of the larger pipes of the combined sys- 
tem. (d) There is no opening between the sewers and the 
surface of the street through which offensive odors can escape 
to the annoyance of the people, nor are there the filthy and 
objectionable catch basins by which it is attempted, not always 
successfully, to hold back street dirt, and which often become 
very offensive by decomposition during the intervals between 
storms. These serious drawbacks are entirely eliminated. 
In most towns of moderate size there is no occasion for the 
universal removal of surface water through underground 
channels. It is often, and indeed generally, necessary to 
carry street wash from points where it accumulates to a dan- 
gerous or inconvenient extent. Channels for this purpose may 
either be independent, shallow, and often short lines, leading 
to a near point of outfall; or, if the outfall of the foul system 
is sufficiently near at hand, its main sewer may, from the 
desired point, be sufficiently increased in size to take the 
surface water as well. Whether or not, and to what extent, 
this should be done, is a question, the decision of which 
calls for the judgment and experience of a competent engineer. 
KEENE. 
A movement was made for the sewage of Keene about 1876, 
when it was proposed to construct a combined systenj of 
sewers, varying in size from pipes twelve inches in diameter to 
brick sewers forty inches wide and sixty inches high. The 
cost of this work would have been so large that nothing was 
one toward its execution. The question was taken up 6 
again after xBSo, when the success of the work at Memphis 
had become known, and, as a result, the work of construction 
was begun in 1882 and was substantially completed in the 
following year, the total length of sewer constructed being a 
little more than eleven and one half miles, all of pipes ranging 
in size from six inches in diameter to fifteen inches in diameter. 
The six-inch pipes constitute about 73 per cent of the 
whole. The system then included forty-four automatic flush- 
tanks and fifty-one manholes. The total amount paid for the 
work under the contract was about $84,000. 
There have been almost yearly extensions of the system, 
which at the end of 1890 comprised about thirteen and one 
half miles of sewers with fifty-two flushtanks, fifty-one man- 
holes, and three outlets into the Ashuelot river. The two 
principal outlets, discharging the sewage of nearly the whole 
city, are fifteen inches in diameter. There has never been 
any offense or difficulty connected with these outlets. 
The Ashuelot is subject to high floods. The outlet of the 
central main sewer is sometimes submerged to a depth of six 
or eight feet, and much of the flat area through which the 
Beaver brook main runs is under water, in some cases over 
the tops of the manholes. These conditions indicated that it 
would probably be necessary to make use of jet pumps near 
the outlets of these lines, to maintain a flow during high stages 
of the river. It was found, however, that during the spring 
flood of 1884, which was unusually high, the natural flow of 
the sewers maintained a constant current through the whole 
system. No inconvenience was caused by the failure of the 
house drains, even in the lower portions of the town, to dis- 
charge freely and it was thought unnecessary to carry out this 
part of the plan at present. The indications now (1891) are, 
that such an aid may be required at the outlet of the central 
main. 
The sewerage of Keene was not carried out without the 
opposition that is so often raised, by certain classes of the 
community, to all public improvements calling for taxation. 
Indeed, the opposition was at one time very serious. It was, 
however, overcome by the persistent energy of those who had 7 
inaugurated the enterprise. After the system had been in oper- 
ation for more than a year, Dr. George B. Twitched, to whom 
more than to any one else the credit of the completion of the 
undertaking is due, wrote: “The system has been now, 
after a year’s trial, found to work well, and to give complete 
satisfaction, and the people are constantly making connection 
with it. The croakers have ceased to find fault, and petitions 
are now before the city government for extensions into certain 
streets. The system is working better than its most sanguine 
friends ever dared to hope.” 
Mayor Kimball wrote at the same time: “It seems to me 
that the construction of our sewers is as nearly perfect as can 
be. From the fact that no impediment to a steady flow has 
been discovered from the beginning, and I have not heard that 
any one of the forty-four flushtanks has failed at any time to 
perform its duty with accuracy. In brief, I think if a vote 
were to be taken now, a large majority of our citizens would 
say that our sewerage system, and the manner of its construc- 
tion, meet with their full approval.” 
Mr. P. F. Babbidge, the superintendent of water-works 
and sewers, who has been in charge of both construction and 
maintenance for some years past, writes: “ The whole sys- 
tem here is working like a clock.” He gives the entire 
cost of maintenance, including $4OO of his own salary, the 
compensation of the inspector of plumbing, all repairs, 
inspection tools, and evei'ything else chargeable to the 
account of maintenance in the last fiscal year as $828.53. 
He says of the West and School street main, of which the 
length is about 3,000 feet of six-inch pipe with a grade of 1 
to 400, and flushed by two tanks: “There are forty-five 
connections with this line, all large houses. I have to run a 
ball through this line twice a year to remove the sludge as it 
has such a slight fall; but have not had a stoppage in it since 
the first summer I was here (1888), when, in fact, all the 
lines were more or less clogged.” Concerning this clogging, 
he says, “ I find that considerable sand gets into the pipes 
when connections are made, especially when a Y has to be 8 
cut in. lam also troubled a little with roots, and everything 
that is made by man gets into the sewers dish rags, bones, 
spoons, old aprons, skirts, newspapers, etc. I could fill a 
page with the different things I have found in the pipes. The 
balls locate partial stoppages and so prevent a full stop.” 
There are now, in Keene, about 800 families whose 
premises are connected with the sewers. 
LACONIA. 
The writer also made a plan for the sewerage of Laconia in 
1886. The conditions here were much more difficult than 
they were in Keene, where the chief obstacle to satisfactory 
working lay in the quicksand, of which a good deal was 
encountered, much of the city being low and flat. 
Laconia lies on both sides of the Winnipesaukee river, a 
stream of great volume, with a mill dam in the heart of the 
town, making a deep channel above with an exceedingly 
rapid current below, the discharge into Sanbornton bay 
being within the town limits. The conformation of the ter- 
ritory is such that it was not possible to carry all of the 
drainage from the area east of the river to the outlet on that 
side, a very considerable portion of it had, necessarily, to be 
carried across the river to be delivered by the main sewer of 
the west side, A pipe might have been suspended under the 
bridge crossing the river at Church street, which would have 
resisted the flow of the stream, that point being above the 
dam, but it could not have withstood the rush of logs liable 
at anytime to be brought against it. This difficulty was over- 
come by making an inverted siphon of iron pipe, descending 
to the bottom of the river and embedded in it, and rising at 
the outgoing side to the level of the sewer into which it is to 
discharge. As this pipe will always be full and will conse- 
quently have but a sluggish current, provision has been made 
for keeping it clear by placing a large automatic flushtank 
(capacity 1,600 gals.) near the corner of River street and 
Arch street, in the line of the Arch street sewer. There is 
sufficient fall to the ground here to allow a drop in the grade Laying the Siphon at the Church Street Bridge. 
Figure i. 9 
of 5.6 feet. The flushtank is placed at this point, receiving 
the entire flow from the sewer above, retaining it until full, 
and then discharging the whole mass in such volume and with 
such head as to ensure the production of a cleansing flow 
through the siphon, the construction of which is as follows : 
It was necessary to lay the siphon at one side of the 
bridge on account of the mud sills interfering with its bedding 
if placed under the bridge. Piles four inches square were 
driven opposite each bent of the bridge and capped and sup- 
ported. A temporary platform was built at the water level to 
work from, both in excavating the bottom and in leading the 
joints. The pipe was supported from timbers six inches 
square placed on top of the cap pieces. There was quite a 
strong current, and guides were driven at every other joint 
to prevent the pipe swinging out of line in lowering. The 
excavation was mostly sand. Clay was encountered in two 
places. A few small stones were encountered but these were 
easily removed with rakes. After the bottom was excavated, 
the lower staging was removed. Men were placed at the 
supporting ropes at each joint; a mark was made on each 
rope one foot from the timber, and every line was slacked off 
as uniformly as possible and held at the mark. This opera- 
tion was repeated until the pipe rested on the bottom. 
The accompanying illustration shows the pipe swung, 
ready for lowering. Figure 1. 
Another difficulty consisted in the fact that as the lower 
portion of the Winnipesaukee river and the adjoining bay of 
the lake into which it discharges are so much used for pleas- 
ure boating (“The Laconia Navy”), it was entirely inad- 
missible to discharge sewage at the shore. Both outlets are 
carried to the deep channel where the river flows into the 
lake, through iron pipes, that on the east side being twelve 
inches in diameter and one hundred and thirty-five feet long, 
and that on the west side being fourteen inches in diameter 
and three hundred and thirty-one feet long. These pipes are 
laid in the sand from the shore to about the point of discharge. 
The placing of the fourteen-inch outlet (Water street) is 10 
shown in figures 2 and 3. The trench was close sheeted and 
it was found necessary in places to drive a board outside in 
order to cover the joint. Pieces of bagging were also used 
for the same purpose. The water was not pumped out at all 
but the sand was so fine in places that it ran through the 
smallest opening. One set of rangers was placed at the water 
line and the sheeting was driven about a foot below the bottom 
of the trench. This held it in place perfectly. The last 
three lengths of pipe were laid on a platform which was 
lowered to a pile support at its outer end. The pipe was 
supported in the same manner as at the other outlet and at 
the bridge. It was lowered nearly to the rangers at the sur- 
face of the water. These rangers were then taken out and 
placed above the pipe. The pipe was then lowered to grade 
and enough sand thrown in to bed it. The sheeting was then 
drawn. 
Except for these peculiarities and for the use of “ inspection 
pipes,” to be described below, the system is substantially the 
same as that at Keene. It comprises 10.28 miles of sewers, 
all of pipes ranging in diameter from six inches to fifteen 
inches, 65 per cent of the whole being six-inch. There are 
forty-five flushtanks, thirty-one manholes, and eighty-two 
inspection pipes. The work is not yet entirely completed and 
exact figures cannot be given, but the amount paid under the 
contract will be not far from $54,000. 
The work was begun July 7, 1891 and was practically 
completed by November 20, 1891. It was all carried out 
under the engineering control of Waring, Chapman & Farqu- 
har of Newport, R. 1., my partner, Mr. Chapman, being 
the engineer in charge. 
The inspection pipes referred to above are an improvement 
added since the work at Keene was done. They take, very 
largely, the place of manholes and are placed at intervals of 
about two hundred to three hundred feet, average. They 
consist of an iron pot or chamber built at the surface of 
the street with an iron cover, all being strong enough to stand 
the concussion of traffic. This chamber which is about 14-Inch Outlet Being Lowered 
Figure 2. Figure 3. 
Arrangements for Lowering the 14-Inch Outlet. 11 
twenty inches in diameter has two oblique arms, set at an 
angle of forty-five degrees and pointing, one up stream and 
one down stream. The openings into these arms are closed 
by cast iron doors, held fast by an ii'on bar between them 
which is fastened in place with a Yale lock. The arms are 
long enough to enter the collars of eight-inch pipe, which rise 
obliquely toward them from the top of the sewer. The lowest 
pipe of this oblique connection, on six-inch sewers, reduces 
in size from eight-inch to six-inch and enters the branch of 
the sewer. By removing the cover, releasing the bar, and 
uncovering the arms, a straight line of sight is given into the 
sewer so that by throwing down the light from a bull’s-eye 
lantern, the condition and character of the flow can be per- 
fectly inspected. 
The details of these appliances are shown in the accom 
panying cuts. Figures 4 and 5. 
Figure 4. 12 
Figure 5. 13 
Cords can be floated from the down-stream arm of one 
chamber to the up-stream arm of the next below, by which 
ropes may be drawn through, carrying steel brushes, or what- 
ever other appliances may be used in cleansing. When 
sewers are to be cleansed by passing balls through them 
slightly smaller than their interior diameter, so as to produce a 
cleansing current as the sewage flows around the ball, a strong 
cord is attached to the ball by which it is kept under control 
until it shows itself at the inspection pipe below, where it may 
be pulled up, or it may be drawn back to the starting point. 
In case of stoppage, the sewer may be easily plugged, 
through the down-stream branch of the inspection pipe next 
below, and then filled with a solid column of water, which 
being churned with a plunger from the up-stream pipe, produces 
a direct movement on the obstruction and sets it free. These 
pipes have the advantage that they make it possible to do all 
cleansing work from the surface of the street instead of work- 
ing in the contracted quarters at the bottom of a manhole. 
As their openings are locked fast, one of the most serious 
objections to manholes, the opportunity offered for malicious 
persons to throw in obstructions, is obviated. 
Some difficulty was caused in construction by the uncer- 
tainty as to the location of water pipes. “ These were laid in 
the centre, at one side, or diagonally across the streets as the 
case might be. No record of their location was kept, and a 
margin of five feet from where the pipes were supposed to be, 
proved to be none too much. 
The material used for these sewers was granite pipe, manu- 
factured by Knowles, Taylor & Anderson of East Liverpool, 
Ohio. It was very satisfactory save that a considerable 
amount of the smaller sizes had to be rejected because it was 
not straight. “ The bells were especially large and there 
was not a single pipe that required chipping.” This is a 
great recommendation. 
The joints of the pipes were inspected and carefully 
covered before the cement had set. Damage to be caused by 
jarring the pipe and cracking set cement was thus avoided. 14 
Wherever water was encountered even to a small amount in 
the holes dug for the bells of pipes, the cement was held in 
place by a strip of muslin tied around it. Where the water 
was very troublesome, Stanford’s joints were used with very 
satisfactory results. 
During the whole time of construction, from July 7 to 
November 22, only one whole day and five half days were 
lost on account of rain. 
The ground in which the sewers are laid is varied, some 
of it difficult. Much trouble was caused by unexpected cav- 
ing and sliding, largely due to the proximity of old water and 
gas ditches near the line. 
At this writing, the system is being tested by passing 
through all of the lines balls two inches less in diameter than 
the bore of the pipe. These balls are attached to cords and 
are flushed through from one inspection pipe or manhole to 
another, demonstrating the safe condition of all the work.