THE C U B A R E \- 1 F. W 



19 



HAVANA'S SEWERAGE AND PAVING CONTRACT 



THE LARGEST CONTRACT FOR SANITARY WORK E\ER MADE — -SECTIONS 

 BENEFITTED CUBAN LABOR VALUABLE 



The Havana sewerage and paving con- 

 tract is the largest sewer contract ever ex- 

 ecuted, and the system will be, when com- 

 pleted by the Cuban Engineering and Con- 

 tracting Company, who have the work in 

 hand, one of the most comprehensive in 

 existence. It meets the present requirements 

 of the City of Havana and its future 

 needs, though the population double that 

 of to-day. It is, says a well-known en- 

 gineering authorit}', up to the present time 

 the record job. "To describe this great sys- 

 tem one must have recourse to a typo- 

 graphical map of the cit}-," says the En- 

 giiieeriiig Record. "From such a map it 

 will be seen that the main Citj^ of Havana 

 lies on a point of land formed by the 

 gulf, the entrance to the harbor and the 

 harbor itself, and east of Belascoain Street, 

 which was at one time the miHtary barrier 

 of the town, and that this peninsula is 

 practically level. There is some high 

 ground, however, just back of the Villa- 

 nueva Station. The sewage of this area 

 is taken care of by what is known as the 

 North Side marginal intercepting sewer 

 into which the branch sewers of the north- 

 ern half of the city proper empty, and the 

 East Side marginal interceptible sewer, 

 running along the harbor front,. into which 

 the branch sewers of the southern half of 

 the city proper are connected. These two 

 7-feet diameter marginal trunk line sewers 

 crossing the Plaza in front of the presi- 

 dential palace unite in a horseshoe-shaped 

 approach to a siphon under the harbor. 



"The districts southwest of Havana, west 

 of the harbor, namely, Jesus del Monte 

 and Cerro, are on high ground and are 

 made easily tributar}- of the East Side 

 marginal intercepting sewer. The Vadado 

 district lying along the gulf to the west 

 of Havana is served by a marginal trunk 

 line which, by means of two electric drive 

 sublifts operated from the main pumping 

 station or by current purchased commer- 

 cially, discharges into the Xorth Side mar- 

 ginal system. 



"By the original arrangement of the sys- 

 tem, the Alatadero and Luyano districts, 

 lying but little above the level of the harbor, 

 were taken care of by a substation which 

 lifted the sewage into a tunnel passing 

 under Principe Hill and made tributary 

 to the North Side marginal trunk line 

 sewer, but by the relocation of the siphon 

 under the harbor and the power plant the 

 South Side pumping station was eliminated 

 and these districts were made tril)utarv to 



the liast Side marginal trunk line sewer. 

 Labor in Havana is generally good. The 

 best comes from Spain and the best of the 

 Spanish labor comes from the Province of 

 GaHcia and are known as Gallegos. The 

 native Cuban labor is not quite so hardy, 

 but for the operation of drills, hoists, 

 telphers, steam rollers and similar machi- 

 n ry the Cubans are particularly valuable. 

 They take a great interest in their machines, 

 keep them clean and bright and in good 

 condition, and feel great pride in the 

 responsibilities of their w^ork. They are 

 quick to learn, ingenious and skillful." 



The directors of the Cuban Engineering 

 and Contracting Co. are Messrs. Samuel 

 Bettle, chairman, Charles K. Beekman, Wm. 

 C. Klark, Erskine Hewitt and Captain D. 

 L. Hough, the latter with :Major James 

 Francis Case being in active charge of the 

 work. For the Cuban government David 

 E. McComb is chief engineer. Ground 

 was broken for the work on September 12, 

 1908. and up to the present time some 200 

 miles of sewers and drains have been com- 

 pleted out of the 300 miles required. Pav- 

 ing over completed streets is also rapidly 

 going forward. 



"The sewage thus assembled in the horse- 

 shoe-shaped approach to the siphon flows 

 under General Ena Street into the siphon, 

 passing under the harbor, and reaches the 

 screen chamber at the main pumping plant, 

 situated close to the harbor front, under 

 the brow of Cabana Fortress in the lo- 

 cality known as Casa Blanca. 



"The sewage of Casa Blanca and of the 

 district south of the harbor, known as 

 Regla, is collected and emptied directly into 

 the pump chamber. 



"Originally, the siphon crossed from La 

 Punta to the power house directly under 

 Morro Castle. There was objection to this 

 location of the power house in that it was 

 a ready target for war vessels in the event 

 of hostilities and putting it further inland 

 made a better arrangement of the sewer 

 system, eliminating, as above mentioned, 

 the necessity for the South Side sublift. 



"The sewage flows by- gravity into the 

 pump chamber of the power house. Here 

 it is lifted 24 feet, so that it may flow by- 

 gravity through a 7-foot concrete-lined 

 tunnel piercing Cabana Hill, just south of 

 the fortress, above the water line and 

 thence onward through a subaqueous out- 

 fall of cast-iron pipe laid in concrete, ex- 

 tending to a point 550 feet ofi" shore, where 

 it is emptied in the Gulf Stream. 



