THE BUREAU OF SEWERS.

The organization of the bureau of sewers corresponds to
the organization of the bureau of highways. The titular head
of the bureau is the superintendent. As in the case of the
bureau of highways, the superintendent is a purely political
appointment and the present incumbent of the office is a Tam¬
many Hall leader. The practical head of the bureau is the chief
engineer, upon whom devolves the responsibility of maintaining
and constructing sewers.

According to the annual report of the borough president
for 1905, the mileage of sewers in Manhattan on December 31
of that year was 511.36, the number of catch basins being 0,181.
The sewers are combination drains, that is, both rainfall and
sewage ai'e carried off through one conduit.

In the down-town section of the borough below Fourteenth
Street, most of the sewers are very old, some of them having
been built more than half a century ago. Notwithstanding the
age of these sewers^ it is asserted by the chief engmeer of the
bureau of sewers that they generally perform good service if
kept clean and in good repair. If, however, a contractor, in
the course of other sub-surface construction work, happens to
disturb one of the ancient sewers, the walls are more than
likely to crumble and fall in, owing to the deterioration of the
cement.
 

It is obvious, therefore, that these sev/ers cannot be de¬
pended upon to last indefinitely. Sooner or later they must
be reconstructed or replaced. The bureau of sewers has no
fixed policy in this connection and the cost of general recon¬
struction has never been estimated by the borough president's
engineers. The plan now pursued is to rebuild the down-town
sewers as occasion demands, work being undertaken when
there are complaints of inefficiency, or when sewers are in
such a state of dilapidation that rebuilding is imperative.
Should it become necessary to begin general reconstruction,
engineers may have to resort to tunneling, for the down-town
sewers are placed at an average depth of fourteen feet below

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