PART II.

THE PRESENT SUPPLY.

The Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx are at present supplied from the Croton, Bronx and Byram watersheds. All of the supply of Manhattan is furnished by the City, and also all of the Bronx, except about one million gallons daily, which is furnished by a private company.

The Borough of Brooklyn is supplied from ponds and driven wells on Long Island, excluding Suffolk County whose waters a special act forbids that borough to use as a source of supply. All but about seven per cent. of Brooklyn's supply is furnished by the City.

Queens is likewise supplied by wells, about thirty per cent. owned by the City and seventy per cent. by private corporations.

Richmond is supplied by wells on Staten Island, and has practically no municipal supply.

Forty-five per cent. of the City's supply is pumped, and fifty-five per cent. is delivered by gravity; that is, from reservoirs at a sufficient elevation to deliver under pressure. The average daily consumption of all the boroughs in the City of New York was, in 1899, 371,778,000 gallons, an estimated average daily consumption per capita of 103 gallons, distributed as follows:

The greatest safe permanent yield of the Croton Watershed, upon the completion of the Cornell Dam now building, is estimated at from 275,000,000 to 280,000,000 gallons per day. The additional yield from the Bronx and Byram watershed cannot be safely estimated at more than 15,000,000 to 17,000,000

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gallons per day, making about 290,000,000 gallons per day, directly available for the Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, although these amounts have been exceeded in some years.

In Brooklyn and Queens the City's consumption is already about equal to the average yield of the sources of supply116,000,000 gallons per day; the present supply will be increased and improved by building a 48-inch conduit from Millburn to Spring Creek to utilize the water now available, for which bonds will probably soon be authorized. This, together with other improvements, will tide these boroughs over until a new municipal supply can be made available.

In the Borough of Richmond, the daily supply of about 5,000,000 gallons can be somewhat increased, but the conformation of Staten Island is such that any large increase of population would compel that borough to go outside its limits for any considerable additional supply.

The investigation by the Engineering Committee shows. that in Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond the present consumption nearly equals the present supply; that in Manhattan and the Bronx the consumption in 1903 will nearly equal the supply at that time available under present methods. It is therefore necessary for the citizens of New York to take immediate steps to prevent such a scarcity of water as was experienced before the New Aqueduct was completed.

The year fixed above, 1903, as the date when the consumption will equal the supply, may be postponed if some of the waste can be lessened. This measure of precaution must be taken in order to save the boroughs from a water famine until a new and larger source of water supply can be obtained. The lessening of waste is, however, not merely a temporary expedient, but it will be a means of economy and security for the future. Modern hydraulic engineers and managers of water works are agreed that it is quite within the resources of engineering and administration to prevent a very considerable part of the waste. It is estimated by the engineers employed by the committee that the total daily waste is from 120,000,000 to 150,000,000 gallons daily, part of which is in houses, but the larger part of which is underground. A complete cure

for the latter can be found by putting all water mains in subways, where they will be accessible for the detection and repair of leaks; and the leakage can be materially lessened by other methods, all of which, however, are costly and slow of develop

ment.

A well-administered meter service has been found efficacious in other cities in discovering leaks in the mains, as well as inside of buildings, and has led to the repair of both mains and the plumbing in houses, resulting in a marked diminution in the daily waste. The engineers estimate that a substantial saving (ten per cent.) can be effected by the prevention of waste and the present supply thus made to last until the year 1910.

Attention is also called to that portion of the Engineering Committee's report relative to a possible use of salt water for street cleaning and other purposes; some saving of the supply might thus be effected.

We are thus brought to the conclusion that an additional supply for all the boroughs of the City is imperative, and that measures should be taken to furnish the additional supply at the earliest practicable moment. The Engineering Committee estimates that from six to seven and one-half years will be necessary from the inception of the work to the delivery of additional water. Your committee most strenuously urges that immediate steps be taken to furnish an adequate supply of water, to be available, at the latest, in 1910.

No words are necessary to convince the people of the City that one of the greatest calamities is an insufficient or impure supply of water.

PART III.

AVAILABLE SOURCES FOR ADDITIONAL SUPPLY.

Fortunately for the City of New York, abundant supplies of water can be obtained without any great engineering difficulties, and at a much less cost than the proposed Ramapo contract involves.

There are four great sources of supply which the committee has investigated: (1) On the east side of the Hudson River, the

Housatonic and Ten-Mile River watershed; on the west side (2) the Wallkill River watershed; (3) the watershed of the Catskills, viz.: The Esopus, Catskill and Schoharie creeks; (4) the Hudson River itself.

The first two named, the Ten-Mile and Housatonic rivers, and the Wallkill River, are interstate rivers and have been eliminated from consideration by reason of certain legal difficulties set forth in the report of the Committee on Legislation.

The Esopus and Catskill creeks, the sources from which the Ramapo Company proposes to supply the City under its contract, will yield about 260 million gallons daily, and the entire Catskill watershed, which includes Schoharie Creek, will yield about 460 million gallons per day. This is probably the limit of the Catskill system. The Hudson River system, however, is capable of extension to 1,500 million gallons per day at relatively small cost.

For a discussion of other possible sources of supply, reference should be made to the accompanying reports from the Engineering Committee.

PART IV.

HUDSON RIVER SUPPLY.

All the additional water that the City of New York is likely to need for many years to come, until its population shall increase to 18,000,000, can be obtained from the Hudson River above Poughkeepsie. It is proposed to build pumping stations and filter beds on the east side of the river, an aqueduct from Poughkeepsie to the northern limits of this City, and a reservoir near the northern limits. The plant thus constructed would be capable of supplying 250,000,000 gallons daily, although it is not proposed to build a plant capable of delivering at first more than 100,000,000 gallons daily. The 250 million gallons a day, combined with the present supply, will meet the needs of the City for fifteen or twenty years to come. Thereafter increased pumping facilities at the same point, with additional aqueducts, will furnish an additional supply in any amount up to 1,500 million gallons daily. It is proposed to filter this water, the experience of other cites having shown that filtration is a perfect method of

purifying water, being, indeed, only a scientific reproduction of a process of nature. That filtration is effective in removing impurities and germs of disease is amply proved by the experience of Albany, Poughkeepsie, London (England), Hamburg (Germany) and other cities. It has already been recommended by the Health Board of the City for the Croton water.

The watershed from which this supply may be drawn comprises all the streams flowing into the Hudson above Poughkeepsie, including the Adirondack region. The area of the watershed is approximately 11,800 square miles.

In order to prevent the water above Poughkeepsie becoming brackish, by reason of taking so large an amount of water from the river at that point, it is proposed to build in the Adirondacks compensating reservoirs, in which may be stored the freshet waters during the months of excessive rain. These waters are to be delivered into the river during the dry season, so that the flow of water may be kept even throughout the year.

Incidental benefits would be the improvement of the navigation of the upper waters of the Hudson, the prevention of floods and the provision of a uniform flow for the mill owners along the various streams.

That the project is entirely feasible, the report of the Engineering Committee leaves no doubt. It has already had examinations made for reservoirs at various points in the Adirondacks, and has shown that it is entirely practicable to obtain the necessary storage without excessive cost.

As an alternative proposition to the pumping of water from the Hudson at Poughkeepsie, the Engineering Committee suggests the taking of water from the Hudson at the junction of the Sacandagua about eighty miles above Albany, whence it may flow by gravity through longer aqueducts to the City limits. Both projects require the construction of storage reservoirs to equalize the seasonal flow.

The Poughkeepsie project is more advantageous in that the streams below Glens Falls furnish an additional supply.

To furnish 250,000,000 gallons daily from Poughkeepsie, the cost of construction would be $36,880,000; the yearly cost after construction, including interest at three per cent., opera