Exchange of Correspondence with State Department of Health in 1907 Regarding Sewage Pollution of Hutchinson River

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

In 1907, the State Department of Health directed Mount Vernon, the Village of Pelham Manor and the Village of Pelham to stop dumping untreated, raw sewage into the waters of the Hutchinson River. There followed an exchange of correspondence among the three municipalities and the Department. Below are transcriptions of the letters relating to the Village of Pelham Manor and the Village of Pelham and a citation to their source.

"ALBANY, N. Y., November 14, 1907.

President of the Village, Pelham, N. Y.:

DEAR SIR: -- Complaints have been made to this Department with reference to the pollution of the Hutchinson canal. [Page 548 / Page 549]

A thorough investigation has been made by this Department and I am advised that the sewage of several hundred persons in your village is discharged into the Hutchinson river, and it does not appear that any plans for these sewers were ever approved by the Department as required by provisions of the Public Health Law.

I therefore bring this matter to your attention and urge that you give it your careful consideration. The Department is taking up with the city of Mount Vernon and the village of Pelham Manor the question of the proper disposal of their sewage and I urge that you give this matter your immediate and careful consideration.

Failing to receive assurances that proper disposition will be made of your sewage and that steps have been taken to see that the necessary plans required are approved by this Department, I shall feel it my duty to take such steps as I can legally for the enforcement of such provisions of the Public Health Law as may apply hereto, and to secure better conditions than at present exist.

Your attention is called to the provisions of the Public Health Law regarding the matter of the discharge of sewage, approval of sewer plans, etc., and I shall be glad to hear from you with reference to this matter with as little delay as possible.

Very respectfully,
EUGENE H. PORTER,
Commissioner of Health

-----

PELHAM, N. Y., November 29, 1907.

DR. EUGENE H. PORTER, Commissioner, New York State Department of Health, Albany, N. Y.:

DEAR SIR. -- I am in receipt of your favor of the 14th inst. relative to the sewer plans and sewage disposal of the village of Pelham.

Regarding the former -- all the sewers in this village were constructed by private parties (Mr. B. F. Corlies and the Pel- [Page 549 / Page 550] ham Heights Company) about twelve years ago and all the streets in which they are located were at the time owned and controlled by these parties. Within the past year Mr. Corlies dedicated his streets to the village but the balance of the streets (over 75 per cent.) still remain the property of the Pelham Heights Company and over which the village officials have not control.

As you can readily appreciate the authorities are placed in a rather peculiar position as regards the sewage question in this village but I can assure you the officials will willingly co-operate with your board as far as their jurisdiction extends. I understand that communications have been received by the villages of Pelham Manor and North Pelham relative to this matter and I would, therefore, suggest, that a representative of your board meet in joint conference with the boards of trustees of the villages of Pelham, Pelham Manor and North Pelham in order that the recommendations and requirements of your board may be more fully explained.

Awaiting you [sic] reply, I am,

Very respectfully,
S.L. JACQUES,
President

-----

ALBANY, N. Y. ,December 9, 1907.

Mr. S. L. JACQUES, President of the Village, Pelham, Westchester county, N. Y.:

DEAR SIR: -- I am in receipt of your communication of recent date with reference to the sewers in your village.

I note that these sewers were constructed by private parties and that a few of them have been turned over to the village, but over 75 per cent, remain the property of the Pelham Heights Company.

That being the case I wish to take up, without delay, this apparent violation of the law by this company and wish you would kindly give me the names of the officers of the company and I will communicate with them directly. [Page 550 / Page 551]

A little later on I will endeavor to arrange to meet the officers of your village and Pelham, Pelham Manor and North Pelham, and go into this matter more in detail.

Very respectfully,
EUGENE H. PORTER,
Commissioner of Health

-----

ALBANY, N. Y., November 14, 1907.

President of the Village, Pelham Manor, N. Y.:

DEAR SIR: -- Recently complaints have been made to this Department with reference to the pollution of the Hutchinson canal by the sewage from the city of Mount Vernon and the village of Pelham Manor.

A thorough investigation of the situation has been made by the Department and I have before me a detailed report showing the exact situation with reference to the discharge of sewage from the municipalities mentioned.

It appears that a public nuisance is created by the discharge, without purification, of the sewage from the city of Mount Vernon and the villages of Pelham and Pelham Manor, intot the waters of the Hutchinson river. Your attention is called to the fact that at the time of the approval of the plans for the sewer system in your village plans for a sewage disposal plant were also approved, which has never been constructed, and no permit has ever been issued for the discharge of raw sewage into the Hutchinson canal by your village, nor was such discharge contemplated at the time of the approval of the plans. I have taken this matter up with the city of Mount Vernon and the other municipality involved, and wish to urge upon you a prompt and careful consideration of the matter of the future disposal of the sewage of your village.

I will be glad to arrange to meet the officials of your village to discuss this matter if you so desire. As the matter is one which cannot be longer delayed, failing to receive satisfactory assurances that the necessary steps will be taken at once to provide for the proper disposal of the sewage of your village, I shall [Page 551 / Page 552] feel it my duty to take such steps as I can legally for the enforcement of such provisions of the Public Health Law as may apply hereto, and to secure better conditions than at present exist.

Very respectfully,
EUGENE H. PORTER,
Commissioner of Health

-----

PELHAM MANOR, N. Y., November 22, 1907.

DR. EUGENE H. PORTER, State Commissioner of Health, Albany, N. Y.:

DEAR SIR: -- Mr. C. H. Pond, president of the village, asks me to acknowledge for him receipt of your letter of the 14th inst. about sewage discharge, and to say that the board of trustees would be pleased to meet you or your representative at such time as you find convenient; please give him two or three days' notice.

Yours respectfully,

HENRY N. BABCOCK,
Village Clerk"

Source: Twenty-Eighth Annual Report of the State Department of Health of New York for the Year Ending December 31, 1907, Vol. II, pp. 548-52 (Albany, NY: J. B. Lyon Company, State Printers, 1908).

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.