Salford Sewage Works
Two pumping engines made by James Watt and Co
1894 'The Salford Sewage Works were included in the list of works to be visited during the Manchester meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. These works are situated not far from the Salford Docks of the Manchester Ship Canal, the effluent water flowing into the canal. About 34 acres of land are occupied by the works, and of this two-thirds consist of buildings, &c., whilst the rest is used for depositing sludge. The works were completed in 1878, having been constructed under the direction of the then borough engineer, Mr. Arthur Jacob, M. Inst. C.E. The population of the borough is about 200,000. The great intercepting sewer of the borough is 8 ft. in diameter ; this sewer collects about seven-eighths of the sewage of the borough, and passes through the works at about the level of the ship canal. The other eighth of the sewage dealt with is from the district of Pendleton, and enters the works at an elevation of about 30 ft. The quantity of sewage and land water dealt with is estimated at 7,500,000 gallons per clay during dry weather ; whilst in wet seasons this quantity will be doubled or even trebled. .... There are two pairs of engines of the compound vertical direct-acting type, with cylinders 26 1/2 in. in diameter and 40 1/2 in. in diameter by 6 ft. stroke. The pumps, which are double-acting, are worked direct, and are 30 in. in diameter. The pump valves are of the ordinary flap-valve type, and are faced with india-rubber. Each pump has four inlet and four outlet valves at the top and bottom end, making 16 valves in all, each with an opening of 17 in. by 18 in. It may be stated that as the working of the engines was not considered satisfactory, they have been recently overhauled by Messrs. John Hopkinson and Son, who have suggested various modifications that have resulted in a marked improvement in their efficiency. There are four Lancashire boilers, 28 ft. long by 7 ft. in diameter, which supply steam at 64 lb. pressure. There is also a Green’s economiser, with 160 tubes. There are surface condensers, the refrigerating water being supplied by the sewage effluent. The condensed water, however, is not used for feeding the boilers. .... The borough engineer, Mr. Joseph Corbett, has recently submitted a scheme for the treatment of the sewage of the borough and the disposal of the sludge, and as a part of this scheme the corporation has provisionally accepted a tender from Messrs. Simons and Co. for the construction of a steel screw steamer, specially designed for carrying the sludge out to sea by the ship canal. The vessel will have a length of 170 ft. and a breadth of 31 ft., and will take 600 tons of sludge each trip. The sludge will be pumped in a semi-liquid state into the vessel from two circular tanks constructed on the low-lying ground below the level of the precipitation tanks, and into which the sludge will gravitate through cast-iron pipes 18 in. in diameter. Each of these tanks will be 100 ft. in diameter and 8 ft. 0 in. in depth. .... The contractors for the tanks, buildings, &c., were S. W. Pilling and Co. ; the engines were by James Watt and Co., Birmingham ; the North Moor Foundry Company supplied the turbines ; and Hamilton, Woods, and Co., of Salford, the lime-mixing machinery.'[1]