Wingohocking Creek System in 1910:
A main sewer case study

SOURCE: Bureau of Surveys Annual Report for 1910, pages 51-52

At the time of consolidation there were within the county of Philadelphia, many towns of considerable magnitude, having their independent forms of government, discharging their wastes into the nearest stream, which in some cases flowed past other populous communities. With the merging of all these interests, governed by one central body, one of the problems encountered in the adjustments of primitive conditions to modern requirements, was to preserve the common good, and to endeavor to relieve one section from a hardship imposed unavoidably by another section.

The problem presented in the case of the Wingohocking creek area is one which, though readily capable of solution, must of necessity by its very magnitude be many years in its consummation. The City is confronted by the condition of a populous community, covering many square miles, larger than many of the larger State cities, which, by reason of its natural position, must drain into the Wingohocking creek, which, in this condition, flows through the confines of another (page 52) very populous manufacturing community, greatly to its detriment.

Although the work of extending the main Wingohocking trunk sewer has been slowly progressing, year by year, dependent upon limited appropriations, the completion of each section brings relief to a large number of small settlements and marks progress toward the ultimate project. Progress in conservation of tributary streams is also evident in the taking for park purposes so that pollution will be prevented, notably a large territory known as Tacony Creek Park.

The construction of intercepting sewers through Frankford has been followed by improved sanitary appearance and conditions, all a part of the major scheme to collect the polluted dry weather flow from the Wingohocking creek before it can enter Frankford creek, and to carry it by means of an intercepting sewer, augmented by the drainage from Frankford, now finding its way into Frankford creek, to some point on the Delaware river to be purified and disposed of in a scientific manner.

The work of construction, a detailed account of which follows, is but a small part of the work of the Bureau. The development of complete, modern, scientific, comprehensive plans to meet all the requirements of the future for a sanitary disposal is not the least of its accomplishments.

[A detailed summary of Wingohocking sewer construction during the year follows]