WORK PROGRESSES ON LEY CREEK SEWER
Glenn D. Holmes, Director and Chief Engineer, Onondaga
County Sanitary Sewer and Public Works Commission, one
of the originators of the Ley Creek plan, has this to say about
the project:
"WPA is deserving of great credit for this fine accom¬
plishment. The project has been operated with splendid
efficiency and dispatch and the result reflects full credit
upon the leadership of State Administrator Lester W.
Herzog of the Works Progress Administration and the
Federal agency itself.
"I could have asked for no finer spirit of cooperation
than that shown me by the WPA during the two years that
this outstanding physical enterprise has been in progress."
The project has presented many new and interesting engi¬
neering phases, and some idea of its magnitude and impor¬
tance can be had from the fact it has excited the attention
of representatives of several foreign countries which propose
to undertake similar improvements as a part of city rehabili¬
tation schemes. One of these representatives, an official of
the Chilean government, spent several days in observation
of the project and in examination of the plans for the gigantic
concrete disposal plant. He went away greatly impressed
with the job and intent on recommending copy of its plan by
his own government.
The peak of employment on the Ley Creek project was
reached a year ago when 2,000 men busied themselves with
the preliminary construction work. Five hundred men are now
engaged in the work on the 28 units of the treatment plant.
This project includes the construction of five and one-half
miles of sanitary intercepting sewer and three miles of lateral
connecting sewers, pumping station and sewage treatment
plant to serve the Ley Creek Sanitary District, which com¬
prises a portion of the City of Syracuse and adjacent por¬
tions of the County of Onondaga and will ultimately serve
a population of 30,000 people.
The main line sewer is of "U" shaped construction, built of
concrete with a reinforced concrete slab cover and varies in
size from 36 to 48 inches. The depth of this sewer ranges from
two feet below ground surface to a maximum of twenty feet.
Unusual engineering features of this line were the construc¬
tion of three inverted syphons for carrying the sewer under
several creeks, driving a tunnel under a three-lane heavy
traffic state highway without interfering with its operation,
and driving a tunnel under a four-track main line railroad
without disturbing the railroad's operating schedule. Con¬
struction of a temporary roadway of approximately five miles
alongside the sewer so that materials could be brought to the
site of the work was another feature. The main line sewer
was completed during 1936.
There are seven lateral sewers totaling three miles in length
of which six are now complete and the seventh nearing
completion. Unusual features are three tunnels under the
N. Y. C. R.R. main line passenger tracks and Venture Flumes
for measuring the discharge of each lateral. The laterals are
built in accordance with standard sewer construction of con¬
crete and tile pipe. These lateral sewers serve several por¬
tions of the City of Syracuse and the villages of East Syracuse
and Eastwood.
The estimated cost of the sewage treatment plant is
$750,000. It is the latest type of activated sludge sewage
treatment. The plant is built on a twenty-three-acre tract of
land which had to be graded before construction activities
could begin. The grading and excavation operation involved
the handling of approximately 100,000 cubic yards of earth.
An unexpected difficulty was encountered in the form of a
practically inexhaustible supply of ground water which could
not be handled by the ordinary pumps used on construction
work. This hindered the work considerably and required much
thought and study before it was solved by the installation of
an extensive system of wellpoints which successfully lowered
the ground water from the original elevation of plus twelve
to an elevation of minus twelve, a drop of twenty-four feet,
which enabled the project to commence operations.
The treatment plant is composed of twenty-eight struc¬
tures which will require the placing of about 12,000 cubic
yards of reinforced concrete together with a large amount
of special form work. About 200 tons of cast iron pipe will
be required to connect the various structures and approxi¬
mately two hundred tons of structural steel will be used in
their erection. The principal structures are the pump house,
72 feet by 76 feet; primary settling tanks, 80 feet by 85 feet;
aeration tanks, 128 feet by 148 feet; pipe gallery and final
settling tanks, 83 feet by 88 feet; effluent filter tank and three
sludge beds each 80 feet by 190 feet; five digestion tanks,
and a garage. At the present time the foundations of most
of the principal structures have been completed and the
garage is approaching completion.
Although the Ley Creek sewer system is not yet complete,
it has already provided an outlet for several sanitary sewer
districts and already two of these sewer systems are under
construction. One system totals five and one-half miles and
the other eleven miles of sewer, and other systems have been
projected or will soon be in the construction stage. The Ley
Creek Sanitary Sewer System will be of tremendous benefit
to many thousands of people who as yet do not enjoy the
benefits of modern sanitation. It will remain an enduring
monument to the progressive and useful character of the
work accomplished by the Works Progress Administration.
200
SHOWING SECTION BENEFITED BY LEY CREEk SEWER
ARCHITECT'S DRAWING OF LEY CREEK TREATMENT PLANT
67/7) hen the works progress administration
WJ became operative in July, 1935, numerous upstate
New York communities were faced with serious and troublous
sanitary problems.
Unable in these difficult times to finance the necessary
work to remove these hazards to public health, many em¬
braced fhe opportunity offered through the WPA. With
WPA assistance more than I, I 20 miles of storm and sanitary
sewers have been constructed.
Not only has this work obliterated a constant threat to
the public health, but it also has enhanced property values
to the extent that it is fair to state the expenditures thus
made will be returned to the public purse in increased tax
returns.
In each instance the work has taken away a public nuisance
and has made residential land out of territory previously
considered undesirable.
As an outstanding instance of this may be cited Ley Creek
Sewer in the City of Syracuse.
This project, pursued jointly by Onondaga County and
the Federal Government with fpad^ encloses for five
and a half miles Ley Creek, formerly a sewage-laden stream
that flows through the northern section of the city, which is
populated by some 30,000 persons. The sewer is of mono¬
lithic concrete construction designed to shut off the eyesore
and health menace forever.
Constructed at an expense that eventually will reach
$2,500,000, this monolithic sewer has replaced a germ-dis¬
tributing creek which for more than thirty years threatened
to undermine the health and happiness of 6,000 families
within an area in Syracuse of some thirty square miles.
The ground floor contains an engine room, transformer room, work shop, chemical room, storage room, chlorine room and office.
The second floor on the right wing will be outfitted for a testing laboratory, storage room and locker room. The building is to be constructed of Matt Texture face brick.
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Compiled and issued under the direction of
LESTER W. HERZOG
New York Administrator, Works Progress Administration
SAFEGUARDING PUBLIC HEALTH
30,000 Onondaga County residents benefit from
WPA'S $2,500,000 Ley Creek sewer project