On Schoharie Creek, also, eight reservoir sites have been examined. These have an aggregate water surface of 5.75 square miles, and may impound, for use in equalizing stream flow, 39,530,000,000 gallons of water. The dams range from 50 to 110 feet in height and from 710 to 1,840 feet in length. The yield from all the reservoirs might be about 200,000,000 gallons daily in dry years. Catskill Creek Mr. Fuertes depends upon to furnish about 110,000,000 gallons of water per day, by constructing five reservoirs in the main creek valley. The dams would range from 60 to 100 feet in height and from 620 to 1,600 feet in length. The reservoirs would have a combined area of water surface of 3.08 square miles, when full, and would afford about 18,550,000,000 gallons of available storage. The watershed of Catskill Creek, above the first dam, is 192 square miles. The Esopus watershed, above Olive, is about 245.5 square miles, and the Schoharie watershed, above Gilboa, is 305.4 square miles. The building of the reservoirs would require the removal, in part or in whole, of several small villages and the reconstruction of several miles of railroads. The sewage from the villages near the reservoirs or tributary streams would require purification or some satisfactory disposal, to prevent the pollution of the water; this has been provided for in the estimates of cost. A serious element of danger in the use of the natural waters from the streams in the Catskill Mountains lies in the possibility of pollution from isolated houses and hotels, in which probably over a hundred thousand tourists and summer boarders reside during the summer months. Many of these are present on account of their suffering from disease. The only effective protection of the proposed water supply that can be secured against such pollution is a filtration of the water before it supplies the city, and we have allowed for it. These watersheds have not, as a rule, a very large amount of timbered land, as often supposed. Much of the land has been cleared for cultivation and is used for farming purposes. The principal villages in the watersheds are all in the main valleys of the larger streams. On Catskill and Esopus creeks there are several water powers that would be destroyed by the diversion of the waters, and in the estimates of cost a liberal allowance has been made for them. On the Schoharie Creek the abstraction of the water would not only destroy the powers on that stream, but would reduce the power now available on the Mohawk River. The powers on the Schoharie would have to be purchased, but the damages along the Mohawk could be adjusted by a money compensation. It is proposed to conduct the water to New York in an aqueduct located on the east side of Hudson River to a short distance above Peekskill, where it crosses under the river in a tunnel and then runs along the high ridge parallel with the river, to Kingston, crossing Rondout and Esopus creeks in pipes to a point in the hills about three miles northwest of Kingston; here the aqueduct divides, one branch going to the Olive reservoir on Esopus Creek, and the other to the reservoir near East Durham, on Catskill Creek. The waters of Schoharie Creek would have to be diverted into the valley of Esopus Creek, through a tunnel ending near Shandaken. The estimates of cost for three dams are based on masonry construction, and for eighteen dams on earth or rock fill with core walls; fifteen dams are over 80 feet high. As the geological formation of several of the valleys indicates a considerable depth of drift, it may not be practicable in the suggested reservoirs to retain so large a quantity of water as Mr. Fuertes has assumed. A larger number of dams of less height might possibly be required. Even then it seems questionable whether as much as 260,000,000 gallons could daily be secured from the Esopus and Catskill creeks. Regarding the Catskill project, we, therefore, conclude that the estimates are probably too liberal as regards the quantity of water to be obtained. They are as follows: $59,653,000.00 For Daily Supply of 250,000,000 Gallons, Filtered. Cost of construction...... Annual cost of interest, operation and maintenance 2,498,000.00 Cost of water, per million gallons, delivered.. ..... 27.35 For a Daily Supply of 460,000,000 Gallons, Filtered. Cost of construction...... $118,881.000.00 Annual cost of interest, operation and maintenance 4,838,900.00 Cost of water, per million gallons, delivered.. 28.82 The Adirondack Mountains. The Adirondack Mountains have been mentioned even oftener than the Catskills as a favorite locality towards which the New Yorker has turned his hopes and expectations for a future water supply. The small population, the almost complete absence of farming with attendant manuring of fields and muddy water in the streams, has made this territory exceedingly attractive. In order, in the short time at our disposal, to present some tangible facts, sufficient to judge of the practical merits of this source, we asked Mr. George W. Rafter, M. Am. Soc. C. E., who had previously investigated the hydraulic aspects of the Adirondacks, to make us a special report on the subject. We have examined into the cost of bringing only 500,000,000 gallons daily to the city, but a further development of the watershed would readily yield over 1,000,000,000 gallons per day. The least summer flow of the Hudson River, above the Mohawk, is insufficient to supply New York. It would be necessary therefore to equalize the seasonal flows by the construction of storage reservoirs to retam the water of the wet months and of floods, with which to increase the flow during droughts. We have examined two available projects, one taking the water at a dam at the lower end of Schroon Lake; the other taking the water at Hadley, 29 miles below. The Schroon watershed has an area of 518 square miles. It has a population only of about 14 per square mile, has but a small area of swampy ground and only about 15 to 18 per cent. of the area is cleared of timber. Granite rocks prevail, with large areas of fine sand. The topography is rugged and contains the highest mountains of the State. The water in its natural condition is, therefore, of a high order of purity and softness, and excellently suited for a municipal water supply. Mr. Rafter presents tables which assume that if this reservoir had been in existence since 1888 it would have yielded water to the extent of 18 inches of rainfall per annum upon the watershed a rather high figure. In a former report for other reservoirs of the same region, he mentions a run off of only 13.5 inches. Assuming a yield of only 13.5 inches of rainfall, the reservoir would supply only 421,000,000 gallons per day. A further increase of supply could, however, when demanded, be supplied, from neighboring regions, without meeting physical difficulties. The dam for the reservoir is located at Tumblehead Falls, 14 miles above the mouth of Schroon River and about 29 miles above Hadley, on the Hudson. The reservoir itself would be an enlargement of Schroon Lake, and, assuming a supply of 500,000,000 gallons per day, would have to cover 16,900 acres or over 26 square miles, and contain 162,248,000,000 gallons of water. Below the dam the village of Warrensburg is situated, and several water powers have been developed on the river. The water surface at Tumblehead Falls is 780 feet and at the mouth of Schroon River it is 620 feet above tide, giving a fall of 160 feet, of which only 39 feet are developed. Mr. Rafter suggests preserving these powers and not taking the water until at a point one mile above the mouth of Schroon River. We have thought it well, however, in our estimate of cost, to extend the aqueduct to Tumblehead Falls, because the mills utilizing so large a water power and being located on the stream, might endanger the water's purity. In estimating the cost we have included an allowance for cleaning, stripping and giving the reservoir all necessary sanitary protection, where the water is to be used for potable purposes. Experience has shown that an accumulation of vegetable matter at the bottom of a reservoir not only tends to discolor but also to give an unpleasant odor and taste to the water. The large reservoirs for the new Metropolitan supply of Boston have thus been treated. In valuing the water powers on the Hudson River we are confronted by two methods of procedure. One, the European method, which supplies the mills throughout the year, uniformly, with an amount of water which they can and ordinarily do utilize for power purposes. This may be estimated at about 1/3 of the annual flow of the stream. The other, a method frequently applied in the United States, is to purchase the entire power outright at a fair valuation. Our Legal Committee thinks the latter is the method to be adopted in this State. Mr. Rafter has considered both, and in his estimate of cost finds that to furnish compensating power, i. e.: to compensate in kind instead of in money, would cost about $1,000,000, while the capitalized 5 per cent. value of the net horse-power actually developed in 1899, namely, 14,695 horse-power, becomes $4,761,180. An outright purchase of all the power would leave the city in possession of what is above the amount needed for the city's purpose. A re-sale or rent based upon the new conditions could, therefore, return a large part of the purchase money. Adjacent to the location suggested for the aqueduct from the Adirondacks to New York City, are a number of large towns, which might be supplied with water on the way. Nearly all of the towns and cities now have municipal supplies, which they might not wish to abandon; but admitting that they would all take a supply from the aqueduct, it could serve on its way to New York about 400,000 people. Allowing an average per capita consumption in these cities. and towns of 100 gallons per day, the entire amount required would be about 40,000,000 gallons a day. While a number of cities, including Albany, would probably not wish to change their present supply, yet it might be a benefit to many others to be supplied from the aqueduct with mountain water. The aqueduct line bringing the water from Schroon Lake to New York is a long one, measuring 203 miles, and is approximately located on Plate I. In this case as in others, for 500,000,000 gallons, we have proposed two aqueducts, each delivering 250,000,000 gallons daily. The estimated cost is as follows: For a Supply of 250,000,000 Gallons Daily, Delivered at an Elevation of 310 Feet Above Sea Level at the City Line. $71,727,000.00 Cost of construction..... Annual cost of interest, operation and maintenance.. 2,727,000.00 Cost of water, per million gallons, delivered at City Line 30.00 For a Supply of 500,000,000 Gallons Daily, Delivered at an Elevation of 310 Feet Above Sea Level at the City Line. Cost of construction...... .$140,155,000.00 Annual cost of interest, operation and maintenance.. 5,337,900.00 Cost of water, per million gallons, delivered at City Line 29.25 |