57TH CONGRESS, ) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. \ DOCUMENT

1st Session. \ } No. 691.

Water-Supply and Irrigation Paper No. 72 Series L, Quality of Water, 3 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTEKIOK

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

CHARLES D. WALCOTT, DIRECTOR

SEWAGE POLLUTION

METROPOLITAN AREA

NEAR NEW YORK CITY

ITS EFFECT ON INLAND WATER RESOURCES

MARSHALL ORA LEIGHTON

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

1902

CONTENTS.

Letter of transmittaL --__________..__.___._._._.________._._._.--_...-._. 6

Normal waters. _----_____.___.___________.._ ........_.--.---....-. ...... 7

Polluted waters.... _____________________________________________________ 9

Raritan River._______ ________________ _.____________.___..__---.-.-.--.. 11

Tributaries of the Raritan.________.______________--..---.----..-.--._ 13

South River. ................................................... 13

North Branch of Raritan River ___-_.._-.--.._-_- ...-.---.-...-. 13

South Branch of Raritan River.....-...--.-.-..--..---.-------.-. 14

Pollution in Raritan River _____ _____._.._.________-.-._-.--.._-_._ 14

Passaic River -.................._........................................ 15

Tributaries of the Passaic...______ ....................-----.-.-.--.- 18

Saddle River_................................................... 19

Ramapo River. _____ .___:_____._______________ ............. ...... 19

Wanaque River...._........................................._... 21

Pequanac River ______________________ ..............--...----..-. 22

Rockaway River,..........._..................................-. 24

Whippany River.________________ __,___.._...__.____________-.__ 25

Pollution of Passaic River system .................................... 25

Value of Passaic River system and its modification by pollution....... 30

Water power and water supply .___...._.._-_.._____..-____-_-___ 30

Ice industry .____.____.___.._...____.___.___ ................... 32

Fish............................................................. 33

Realty values _______________ ___._____________.._-...-._._...____ 33

Summary._____.____..._.__.._....____.__..-_-.._--...___-______. 33

Hudson River.............. ............._............----.--..--.-.--.-. 34

Eastern tributaries..... --.-__._____._-_---._----.----.-_- .._.._---.. 40

Western tributaries._.-...--._._......_---.------_.----.----.--_----- 43

Rondout Creek and Wallkill River ..............-.-------.---._.- 44

Esopus Creek _____ ._..._______ _ _ _. ...... .. .-......------.-.. 45

Catskill Creek.... ..................................... ........ 46

Mohawk River........................ __.____...-_.-.__---__..__ 46

Tributaries of the Mohawk .. ...._..._..__._--.-..._...-----. 50

Anthony Kill ............................. .... . ............... 58

FishCreek.................. ..... _. ........................... 58

Damage to water resources of Hudson River system by pollution...... 60

Water power................. .. .. .....__......_... ........... 61

Ice ................................. ......................... -. 61

Water supply..-.-........- .......-.-..-.-.-..-..-..---.--.-..-. 64

Realty values..........--...........------.--.--.--.------.--..-. 69

Index...................... ... ..... . ..... ..................... . ... 73

3

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATE I. A. Along the Passaic; B, Great Falls at Paterson, N. J --------- 16

II. A, Great Falls of the Passaic from the crest; B, Passaic River

below Great Falls at Paterson.._-...----..----.-.-.---------- 18

III. A, Dundee dam, which holds back and concentrates the sewage

from Paterson; B, Dundee Canal-..------.-. __-----...----.- 20

IV. A, Greenwood Lake, head of Wanaque River; B, Dam at Macopin intake, Newark water supply .--.---------.--- -_--.___--- 22

V. A. Poughkeepsie, N. Y., the head of salt-water influence on the 

Hudson; B, Delaware and Hudson Canal terminus, Rondout, 

N. Y ......................................................... 34

VI. A, A lake in the Catskill Mountains at the head of the Catskill

River, New York; B, Winnisook Lake...--....-----.--------- 46

VII. A, Ausable River, New York; B, Devasego Falls, Schoharie

River, New York-.----.---------_-----------_ -..-.--------- 50

VIII. Log jam in Adirondack Brook, New York _._---_____----._--.-- 68

FIG. 1. Profile of Passaic River..__.................-..--.....-----....-- 15

2. Discharge of Mohawk River at Rexford Flats, N\ Y., 1898-1900.... 47

3. Discharge of Mohawk River at Little Falls, N. Y., 1898-1900...... 48

4. Diagram showing extent of pollution at various places along Mohawk River.._._-.---__.-___.__.________-.---------_-----_----- 49

5
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,

' Washington, D. C., May &£, 1902.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript by Mr. 

Marshall O. Leighton, relating to sewage pollution in the metropolitan 

area, and to request that it be published in the series of Water-Supply ( 

and Irrigation Papers. In an investigation of the water resources of 

the country it becomes necessary in the thickly settled portions to 

give consideration not merely to the quantity of water and its fluctuations, but also to the quality, and to the changes that are taking place 

owing to the presence of various industries.

The best methods of utilizing the water resources of the country are 

dependent not only upon geologic and topographic features, but also 

upon what has been termed cultural conditions, the latter embracing I 

all of the changes brought about by man. The accompanying discussion by Mr. Leighton relates to a portion of the most thickly settled ( 

part of the United States, and shows that water resources may be so 

misused that streams which in their natural condition were useful and ; 

attractive may be rendered obnoxious and made sources of loss to the | 

community. j 

Very respectfully, F. H. NEWELL,

Hydrographer in Charge. 

Hon. CHARLES D. WALCOTT,

Director United States Geological Survey.
SEWAGE POLLUTION IN THE METROPOLITAN AREA 

NEAR NEW YORK CITY AND ITS EFFECT ON 

INLAND WATER RESOURCES.

By MARSHALL O. LEIGHTON.

NORMAL WATERS.

In a primeval country, undisturbed by the advance of civilization, 

where there are no houses, barns, or factories, the water that flows 

from a drainage basin may be said to be normal. This, however, does 

not mean that the water is chemically pure. The water of precipitation or rainfall, which is the origin of all surface waters, takes three 

courses, the proportion carried along each depending upon many 

physical characters and conditions. There is, first, that which is 

evaporated or absorbed by vegetation; second, that which runs off the 

ground directly into water courses; and third, that which sinks into 

the ground and reappears in various well-known ways after having 

filtered through the earth.

The character of the water is markedly influenced by the ingredients which it takes up along these courses, and therefore chemically 

pure water is seldom found in nature. Water that runs along the 

earth's surface directly into natural water courses carries in suspension a large quantity of fine particles which lie in its way vegetable 

matter in a state of complete disintegration, organic matter in various 

stages of oxidation, minute particles of sand and mineral matter from 

the earth, and large quantities of silt. On the other hand, water that 

sinks into the ground leaves behind, in the majority of cases, these 

suspended particles, but when it reappears it carries in solution the 

soluble mineral constituents of the earth through which it has passed, 

and, if it then contains any dissolved organic matter it is usually in an 

advanced state of oxidation. Water thus discharged from drainage 

areas is by no means uniform in composition, nor is it of the same 

nature in the same area during a series of examinations. Run-off 

water varies in character according to the amount of precipitation, the

7
8 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO. 72.

season of the year and consequent state of vegetation, the extremes of 

temperature, the nature and slope of the surface of the land, and many 

other physical conditions, varying familiarly from season to season. 

During the season of copious rains it is observed that water from a 

drainage area carries along more sediment than during seasons of 

normal precipitation, and analysis would show that the organic matter 

contained in the water is in larger proportion. At the close of the 

warm season, during which vegetation has been flourishing, there is 

much less decayed and dried vegetable matter to be carried along than 

during the spring season, after the winter has destroyed the tender 

growth of the previous summer. Again, during the warm season there 

is a larger proportion of precipitation absorbed by vegetation and 

evaporated. The season is also a factor in determining the condition 

of water in countries in which snow covers the ground for a part of 

the year. During the time of snow the water which during warm 

seasons would be immediately diverted to its accustomed channels is 

retained upon the surface of the earth, to be evaporated by prevailing 

winds or to be melted quickly upon the approach of spring.

The slope and the nature of the surface of the land are important 

factors in determining the character of surface waters. Where surfaces are steep and smooth a large proportion of water runs directly 

into streams, and with it a great amount of sediment, while upon 

most flat surfaces nearly all the precipitation not directly evaporated 

sinks into the ground. Between the steep, smooth surfaces and the 

flat ones there are many gradations, each having its effect upon the 

final content of run-off water.

Distance from the ocean is another factor influencing the character 

of water. This has been the subject of an extended series of investigations by the Massachusetts State board of health, and later by 

other bodies, both corporate and private. It is found that the amount 

of chlorine is highest at coast points, and as we recede farther and 

farther inland the proportion in normal waters grows correspondingly 

smaller, so that it is possible to trace upon the map of a country the 

lines of uniform normal chlorine in much the same manner that lines 

of equal altitude are traced upon a topographic map.

The state of preservation of the forests of a country exerts an influence of great importance upon the character of surface waters and 

upon the flow of streams. In the absence of trees there is less absorption of rain water by the ground and a correspondingly larger proportion is carried directly into the water courses with a greater 

amount of sediment, so that a drainage area that has been largely 

denuded of trees is subject to greater variation of stream flow and 

more frequent freshets than is an area that is in large part covered 

by forests. On denuded areas there is less evaporation, and ultimately the whole character of the surface may be so changed by loss
LEIGHTON.] POLLUTED WATERS. 9

of vegetation and extensive erosion that the immediate run-off 

water may comprise almost the entire precipitation.

Having reviewed the more important conditions and influences that 

affect the character of normal water, let us consider the economic 

value of water to the community. Intercepted and stored in reservoirs it has become indispensable to large communities for domestic 

and manufacturing uses; from prehistoric times large rivers have 

been used as avenues of transportation; as motive power water has 

been used for ages; vast harvests of ice are gathered from the surface 

of Northern rivers; in arid countries water finds extensive use in irrigation ; it may be the source of food supply through fisheries, and its 

presence in a country is valuable from a purely aesthetic point of 

view, lakes and fountains forming a natural nucleus for parks, 

resorts, and places of rest and recreation.

POLLUTED WATERS.

When, however, man makes his abode in any area and carries on 

his normal life, the water draining that area soon assumes characters 

which it had hitherto not possessed. It now contains the products of 

excretions of man and of the domestic animals that accompany him, and 

the amount of change in the character of the water depends entirely 

upon the number of people and their pursuits. In the beginning pollution is indirect, but with social and commercial progress come modern 

improvements, and eventually the public sewer is laid to the nearest 

and most convenient body of water. This is the natural course, and 

in inland municipalities there may be developed in the course of time 

a system of sewerage conducting such a volume of city waste that the 

largest river on the globe can not dilute it sufficiently to disguise its 

presence. Let us consider briefly whether water so polluted can be 

applied to all of the uses to which normal waters have been found 

applicable.

Many American cities have been taught by dear experience that it 

is fatal to provide polluted waters for household purposes. Lowell 

and Lawrence, Newark and Jersey City, Albany, Pittsburg, Louisville, Cincinnati, and many other cities have profited by that experience. Philadelphia has just shaken off the lethargy of decades and 

is now preparing to filter the refuse of municipalities on the upper 

Schuylkill and Delaware. Other cities have their lesson yet to learn, 

but each will probably learn it only when its group of mourners has 

become large enough to demand attention. With childlike faith the 

city of Albany, reassured by the advice of an eminent chemist, established its water intake in the cesspool of the Hudson. Yet after a 

few years, during which many lives were lost in the ravages of waterborne disease, it constructed one of the most extensive filters in the
10 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO. 72.

country, at a cost of half a million dollars. He who says that a pol- * 

luted river will purify itself in the course of several miles reckons 

with an unknown force which will probably fail him at the critical 

time.

The same conditions and statements apply to ice. Although recent 

work seems to show that the germs of typhoid fever do not remain 

intact in ice as long as was formerly supposed, there is yet but little 

evidence obtained concerning the bacteria of other water-borne diseases. Irrespective of disease organisms, the use of ice from polluted waters in our houses and markets is abhorrent and will not be 

tolerated.

As a rule, the presence of pollution in water used for irrigation is 

not a detriment. On the contrary, it may be an aid to vegetation, 

although the manurial value of sewage is not so great as is popularly 

supposed.

The use of water for power is not usually affected by pollution, 

although in some cases mill ponds have become grievous nuisances 

on account of the storage of pollution from a municipality above. In 

certain kinds of manufacturing, however, pure water must be used, 

and in such cases the use of polluted water from a neighboring stream 

is prohibited, so that an added expense is necessitated for another 

supply and the value of the near-by stream is diminished.

A single stream very seldom almost never embraces all of the 

uses enumerated above. If the waters are navigable to any extent 

there can be no power sites, nor can the "raw" water be used for 

public supply, and only seldom is the ice which it bears a wholesome « 

product. If, on the other hand, waters are to be conserved for power 

or for public supply, it will be impossible to use them for traffic. If a 

stream which is not navigable is polluted, it may be, if the pollution 

be extensive, that the water will be rendered unfit for any purpose 

whatever; for, transportation or ice cutting being precluded by the 

physical conditions, we have only irrigation, power, and public supply remaining. Of these three the last may be entirely cut off, the 

second may be modified, and only the first may remain practically 

intact. As irrigation is important only in the dry areas of the West, 

this asset does not apply in the remainder of the country, and so we 

find that in many cases the entire value of a stream may be lost through 

pollution.

Extensive pollution unfits a river for a nucleus for park areas. 

Deposits of filth upon the banks of streams make noxious odors and 

render such places undesirable as dwelling sites. The value of property'is impaired, the neighborhood is shorn of desirable population, 

and places that were once fair to look upon may become, by reason 

of sewage pollution, famous only for foul odors and unpleasant 

associations.

The consideration of such matters is very familiar in treatises on
LEIGHTON.] EAEITAN EIVER. 11

questions involving public health. It has been conceded that, from 

a general hygienic standpoint, no stream should be polluted with 

sewage. It is, however, the purpose of this paper to consider the 

matter from a standpoint of diminution of natural resources with 

special reference to the rivers in " the metropolitan area," comprising 

northern New Jersey, southern New York, and the western part of 

Massachusetts. It is proposed to take into account the water resources 

of this section and to show, as closely as' available information will 

permit, the loss which has come about by reason of river pollution. 

This part of the United States has become the metropolitan area 

chiefly because of its natural resources, both maritime and inland. 

Among these sources of economic supremacy the value of the inland 

waters stands in the front rank.

The consideration of financial loss due to sewage pollution of streams 

in this area becomes., therefore, of immediate importance; and as we 

shall enumerate in the following pages the expenditures made necessary by this discredited practice, it is possible that we shall find sewage pollution not only an agency most destructive to human life, but 

one of the most far-reaching drains upon human wealth that has yet 

been considered. In addition to the mere question of existing pollution there is the problem of abatement or prevention, which is receiving consideration in many States under authority granted by legislative enactment. This method of consideration may serve admirably 

in the several States, but what of interstate pollution? State boundaries in the eastern part of this country are so closely set that instances 

of interstate grievance are numerous. A municipality made miserable by polluted water from another State is deplorably helpless to 

obtain remedy. There is no national authority over such matters.

RARITAN RIVER.

The Raritan River is the largest in New Jersey, and the second in 

economic importance. The drainage area 1,105 square miles in 

extent is of a mixed type, having 275 square miles of highland area, 

100 square miles of sandy plain, and the remainder of red sandstone. 

Budd Lake, H miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide, is the 

only extensive storage reservoir in the basin. Only about 13 per 

cent of the area is in forest, and the bareness of vegetation, in connection with the limited storage facilities and the extensive steep 

trap-rock surfaces, causes an excessive flood flow, which at times 

does a large amount of damage. The river is navigable to New 

Brunswick, 10 miles from the mouth, and is affected by tides to a 

point 4 miles higher. Records of gagings have been maintained 

since the year 1890 at the Delaware and Raritan Canal dam, 15 

miles above the mouth of the river. In the report of the Geological 

Survey of New Jersey (Vol. Ill, p. 209) there appears a flow table
12 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO. 72,

computed from these gagings, covering the years 1890-1893, inclusive, 

as follows:

TABLE I. Flow of the Raritan at Bound Brook, 1S90-1S93. 

[Drainage area, 879 square miles.]

Month.

1890. 

February 17 to 28........ ..........................

April...............................................

July................................................

1891.

July.. ..............................................

1892.

July................................................

1893.

July.. ..............................................

Rain.

Inches. 

1.58 

6.26 

2.74 

4.95 

3.97 

5.68 

5.18 

4.13 

6.74 

.88 

3.55

7.06 

4.21 

4.64 

1.83 

2.70 

1.75 

3.92 

6.58 

1.72 

2.68 

2.21 

4.74

5.58 

1.19 

3.98 

2.02 

4.62 

4.06 

4.11 

3.61

2.75 

.32 

6.99 

1.68

3.39 

6.23 

3.14 

4.65 

4.28 

3.57 

3.14 

8.27 

3.60 

3.86 

3.59 

3.12

Flow.

Inches. 

0.98 

6.13 

2.26 

1.96 

1.32 

1.18 

1.58 

1.34 

3.06 

1.30 

2.16

4.92 

3.47 

4.47 

1.62 

.59 

.24 

.28 

.94 

.86 

.43 

.54 

2.36

4.57 

1.31 

2.59 

1.25 

1.47 

1.60 

.57 

.47 

.31 

.24 

2.18 

1.29

2.11 

4.16 

5.27 

4.00 

3.30 

.64 

.43 

1.45 

.71 

.95 

1.50 

2.63

Flow in second-feet.

Greatest.

2,772 

17,818 

3,265 

4,060 

2,824 

2,022 

3,405 

2,823 

7,133 

1,779 

7,526

23,746 

6,056 

10, 142 

3,439

735 

509

326 

5,804 

2,584 

804 

1,174 

8,215

22,760 

5,182 

7,941 

1,893 

3,177 

10,927 

2,764 

2,201 

711 

201 

20,698 

2,610

12,514 

15,772 

19,125 

10,091 

10,987 

2,130 

820 

5,893 

3,284 

4,494 

7,352 

2,698

Least.

1,406 

872 

874 

752 

426 

498 

498 

493 

859 

781 

462

420 

1,295 

1,386 

512 

245 

113 

180 

148 

253 

208 

201 

292

990 

720 

796 

677 

513 

443 

180 

180 

180 

122 

122 

609

720 

1,228 

878 

918 

387 

180 

180 

180 

157 

180 

291 

180

Average.

1,938 

4,727 

1,773 

1,489 

1,040 

898 

1,205 

1,064 

2,360 

1,016 

1,654

3,738 

2,931 

3,404 

1,276 

450 

189 

213 

716 

687 

328 

426 

1,798

3,482 

1,066 

1,974 

985 

1,120 

1,261 

434 

358 

244 

183 

1,718 

983

1,608 

3,494 

4,016 

3,152 

1,515 

504 

328 

1,105 

559 

724 

1,190 

2,004

As a source of water power the Raritan River is not so important 

as the size of the drainage area and the fall of the river would indicate. The tributaries are widely divergent, and do not, as in the 

most valuable power streams, join in a common course at any considerable distance above the mouth of the river. In this case the important branches of the system are not united until they arrive at a point 

within 7 miles from the head of tide water and even then at an elevation of only 17 feet. The largest developed power is at High Bridge,
LEIGHTON.] . TRIBUTARIES OF RARITAN RIVER. 13

on the South Branch. The extreme floods above mentioned occur 

frequently, unfitting the basin for any large development of power.

It would seem, upon first consideration, that the Raritan River is 

not especially valuable as a source of water supply. In quick-spilling 

basins large amounts of suspended matter are brought down, and in 

this river there is nearly always apparent a varying amount of red 

mud. Upon settlement, however, the water is suitable for public 

use, and there is no reason why excellent water supplies could not be 

derived from this stream by proper management; but up to the present time the river has been very little utilized for this purpose.

TRIBUTARIES OF THE RARITAN. 

SOUTH RIVER.

This river rises in or near Freehold Township, at a point 20 miles 

due south from where it empties into the Raritan at Sayreville. The 

flow is much more steady than that of any other branch of the system, and this has led to an extensive use of the stream as a source of 

power. No large water supply can well be conserved in this drainage area. At the present time, it is true, the city of Perth Amboy 

derives its water from Tennent Brook, a tributary of South River, 

but the daily consumption amounts to practically the normal yield of 

the watershed. It would be possible, by carefully selecting sites for 

small reservoirs, to conserve several small supplies which, when combined, would be of considerable value.

NORTH BRANCH OF THE RARITAN.

The drainage area of North Branch occupies 191.6 square miles, in 

the northernmost portion of the Raritan Basin. It is sharply divided 

into the highland area and red sandstone plain, the former occupying 

the greater part of the country tributary to this branch. It lies at an 

elevation of 800 to 1,100 feet, 30 per cent of which is in forest. The 

population averages 72 per square mile. The red sandstone plain has 

an elevation of from 200 to 300 feet.

Mr. C. C. Vermeule, author of the report of the Geological Survey 

of New Jersey above referred to, estimates that there are 7.8 horsepower per foot of fall at the mouth of North Branch. In the entire 

tributary there are developed 1,052 horsepower at 46 sites.

There are many possibilities for developing excellent water supplies in the basin of the North Branch. Mr. Yermeule states that on 

the Lamington River, which is the main affluent of the tributary, there 

is an area of 31.4 square miles above the 500-foot contour which can 

be developed to yield 21,000,000 gallons daily. Similarly on the North 

Branch, above the junction of Peapaek Brook, there is a drainage area 

of 29.1 square miles, from which may be derived 19,000,000 gallons a 

day. At other points in the basin there may be economically gathered a total of about 20,000,000 gallons daily.
14 SEWAGE POLLUTION WEAK NEW YOEK CITY. [NO. 72. 

SOUTH BRANCH OF THE RARITAN.

This branch drains 276.5 square miles of territory, which is divided 

into the highland area and red sandstone plain, like that 011 the 

North Branch. In this case, however, the plain occupies the larger 

part of the basin, with an average elevation of about 400 feet. Budd 

Lake, already described, lies at the head of the South Branch.

As a source of water power South Branch has been rather extensively developed. At 67 sites there is developed a total net horsepower of 2,681.

As a source of water supply the entire basin has a capacity of nearly 

100,000,000 gallons daily, with 7 inches storage. Budd Lake has a 

watershed of 4.5 square miles, is at an elevation of 933 feet, and 

affords a pondage which will supply 3,000,000 gallons daily.

POLLUTION IN RARITAN RIVER.

The country included in the drainage basin of the Raritan has not 

yet been sufficiently developed to be damaged to any great extent by 

sewage, except possibly in the lower part. On the highland tributaries 

there are few important towns, and the character of the water is not 

affected to any great degree by pollution. The first city above the 

mouth of the Raritan is New Brunswick, which has a population of 

20,006. The river at this point is tidal and within the limit of saltwater influence. Damage done by pollution can therefore be only 

that which arises from the general nuisance accompanying the discharge of sewage.

A few miles above New Brunswick is Bound Brook, a borough of 

2,622 inhabitants, while farther on are Somerville and Raritan, towns 

of 4,843 and 3,244 inhabitants, respectively. These three places contribute a certain amount of pollution, which, while it does not do any 

appreciable damage to the general resources of the river, certainly 

unfits it for use as a source of water supply without filtration.

Above Raritan there are numerous small villages of a few hundred 

inhabitants, but all of these are unimportant as agencies of pollution.

The Raritan River, in spite of its proximity to the metropolis of the 

United States, strangely enough, presents a fairly clean record as to 

pollution except in a limited area about the mouth of the stream. It 

is thus notable, especially when contrasted with other rivers in this 

part of the country, and the contrast shows in a striking manner 

the difference between water resources yet unimpaired and those 

which have been injured 01 destroyed by careless and inconsiderate 

municipal management. In this case we find that in the majority of 

tributaries the water flowing out of the Raritan Basin is fit for immediate use in a public supply. The water powers developed have not 

been reduced in value by reason of any nuisance arising from the concentration of municipal sewage behind the various milldams. Fish-
LEIGHTON.] PA88AIC RIVER. 15

eries have been preserved intact. The ice, as far as it is harvested, 

is above reproach, and the whole country is available for economic 

development. Let us see how it appears in the case of a river 

draining the country immediately adjoining.

PASSAIC RIVER.

By far the most valuable drainage system in New Jersey is that of 

the Passaic. It comprises a territory of 941.1 square miles, in which 

are situated the drainage areas of the Passaic proper (including the 

upper and lower valleys), the Saddle, Ramapo, and Wanaque rivers, 

which extend into New York State on the north, and the Pequanac, 

Rockaway, and Whippany on the west. Within this territory there 

are said to be 8 square miles of lakes and 26 square miles of swamp 

land.

The Passaic River rises in Morris County, in a region adjacent to 

that from which the North Branch of the Raritan is derived. Its 

course is exceedingly irregular, passing in or adjacent to six counties 

before finally reaching Newark Bay. The distance from source to

37 IS 11.5

FIG. 1. Profile of Passaic Biver.

(miles )

mouth in a direct line is about 25 miles, while the river measures somewhat over 80 miles in its course.

The profile of the river is interesting and shows clearly the amount 

of power available in the lower valley. Tide influence extends about 

13 miles above the mouth of the river, to a point nearly opposite 

Passaic. Commerce is developed extensively at Newark, and the 

river is navigable to the head of tide water. Four miles above this 

point is Dundee dam (see PL III, A), the lowest power site in the 

main river. Above it is a drainage area of 822.4 square miles. The 

fall is 22 feet, and the net horsepower developed is 1,235. The elevation of the crest of Dundee dam is 27 feet above mean tide. From 

this point there is a rise of 13 feet in 7.5 miles to the foot of the Great
16 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAE NEW YOEK CITY. [NO. 72.

Falls of the Passaic (see PL I, 5), an imposing cataract, sheer 70 

feet in height. In a distance of 4 miles, from the top of Great Falls to 

the foot of Little Falls, there is a rise of 8 feet. The series of falls and 

rapids at Little Falls, together with the height of the dam at the crest, 

make a total rise of 40 feet. This point is the head of power on the 

main river; it marks the boundary between the middle and lower valleys of the Passaic, uniting the drainage from an area of 772.9 square 

miles. The elevation is about 158 feet above mean tide, and the distance from tide water is only 15 miles.

At Two Bridges, a short distance above Little Falls, Pompton River 

enters the Passaic. Above Two Bridges the Passaic follows a winding channel 22 miles long, through a large meadow area, until at Chatham, at an altitude 6 feet above Two Bridges, the bed takes a sharper 

grade. From this point to the source of the stream, a distance of 18 

miles, there is a rise of 72 feet.

The resources of the river that are developed most completely in 

the lower valley of the main stream are considered in detail in Vol. 

Ill of the report of the Geological Survey of New Jersey and in the 

report of the Tenth Census (Vol. XVI, pp. 647-652), so that only a 

general description will be given here. From mean tide up to the 

crest of Little Falls, 102 feet is developed and only 25 feet of the remainder is available for development. The Dundee dam is 450 feet long 

and impounds a lake of 224 acres, diverting the entire flow of the 

river in dry seasons. There is here a continuous horsepower during 

nine months of the year of 36.18 per foot fall, which, when used ten 

hours a day, allows the Dundee Water Power and Land Company to 

rent 1,764 horsepower. The fall of the stream has been carefully 

recorded at this point since 1877, and the results of the record are 

given in Tables II and III. These are compiled from a diagram in 

the report of the New Jersey geological survey above referred to.

TABLE II. Daily flow of Passaic River at Paterson and Dundee. 

[Inches on watershed.]

1877.. .......... ...

1878......... ......

1879...............

1880...............

1881. .- 

1882.-.. .......... .

1883- -.-.-.....

1884.-----.---..-.

1885- -

1886. - 

1887. 

1888.-. ...... -. 

1889. --------

1890. - 

1891 - 

1892- . ..

1893..... ..........

Monthly 

average _ .

Jan.

0.039

.084

.027

.115

.037

.069

.031

.092

.137

.109

.105

.145

.192

.066

.192

.158

.121

,101

Feb.

0.081

.138

.071

092

.131

.171

.115

.215

.081

.189

.171

.138

.087

.118

.205

052

.203

.133

Mar.

0.202

.126

.182

.080

.215

.127

.106

.157

.066

.097

.118

.166

.104

.107

.169

.065

.227

.136

Apr.

0.107

.046

143

030

.042

.117

.098

.094

111

.114

.087

.195

.137

.099

.076

.054

.130

.099

May.

0.032

.055

.055

.036

.029

.105

053

.067

.054

.113

.039

.024

.104

.087

.029

.045

.155

.064

June.

0.021

.054

.034

.012

.056

.061

.024

022

.016

.034

.069

.014

.059

.051

.015

.038

.077

.039

July.

0.015

.027

035

.013

.037

.061

.033

.043

.015

.017

.080

.013

.088

031

.014

.019

.025

.033

Aug.

0.015

.053

.051

.010

.018

.013

.030

.026

.018

.052

.034

.145

.035

.023

.019

.023

.035

Sept.

0.013

.018

.031

.012

.010

.197

.013

.010

.010

.010

.014

.160

.142

.151

.023

.014

.020

.050

Oct.

0.096

.019

.010

.011

.010

.043

.047

.019

.027

.018

.027

.015

.055

.084

.012

.011

.041

.032

Nov.

0.164

.058

.012

.027

.018

.019

.044

.035

.089

.032

.021

.105

.215

.047

.026

.048

.067

Dec.

0.081

.237

.075

.021

.052

.038

.024

.011

.102

.037

.109

.138

.148

.051

.065

.039

.056

.070

Yearly 

average.

0.071

.076

.081

.041

.054

.094

.050

.066

.063

.066

.074

.096

.123

.077

.071

.046

.098

... .- 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 72 PL. I

A. ALONG THE PASSAIC BELOW PATERSON.

B. GREAT FALLS OF THE PASSAIC AT PATERSON, N. J.

LEIGHTON.] PASSAIC EIVER.

TABLE III. Daily flow of Passaic River at Paterson and Dundee.

[Cubic feet per second.]

17

1877.. .............

1878..............

1879...............

1880.-. _. .. ._

1881. ._........ .

1882...............

1883..:............

1884. .....

1885. .. ..

1886.. ...... .......

1887

1888..............

1889... ............

1890... _......_...

1891.. ........ .

1892.......... .

1893.. ........._.._

Monthly

Jan.

640 

1,856 

596 

2,541 

816 

1,523 

684 

2,032 

3,027 

2,409 

2,321 

3,203 

4,242 

1,357 

4,242 

3,792 

2,673

2,233

Feb.

1,190 

3,049 

1,567 

2,032 

2,895 

4,078 

2,541 

4,753 

1,790 

4,176 

4,078 

3,049 

1,922 

2,607 

4,533 

596 

4,489

2,939

Mar.

4,467 

2,785 

4,022 

1,768 

4,753 

2,807 

2,343 

3,770 

1,457 

2,142 

2,607 

3,968 

2,299 

2,365 

4,034 

1,435 

5,019

3,005

Apr.

2,365 

1,014 

3,159 

662 

926 

2,585 

2,164 

2,076 

2,541 

2,519 

1,922 

4,308 

3,027 

2,186 

1,680 

1,193 

2,873

2,186

May.

706 

1,215 

1,215 

794 

640 

2,321 

1,171 

1,479 

1,193 

2,497 

860 

530 

2,299 

1,922 

640 

995 

3,736

1,413

June.

464 

1,193 

750 

264 

1,237 

1,347 

530 

486 

252 

750 

1,516 

308 

1,304 

1,127 

330 

838 

1,702

860

July.

330 

596 

772 

286 

816 

1,347 

728 

951 

330 

374 

1,768 

286 

1,944 

684 

308 

420 

552

728

Aug.

330 

1,171 

1,127

......

220 

396 

286 

662 

574 

396 

1,149 

750 

3,506 

772 

508 

420 

508

772

Sept.

286 

396 

684 

264 

220 

4,357 

286

22C 

308 

3,836 

3,440 

3,638 

508 

308 

442

1,105

Oct.

2,123 

418 

220 

242 

220 

1,051 

1,039 

418 

596 

396 

596 

330 

1,215 

1,856 

264 

242 

907

706

Nov.

3,924 

1,281 

262 

596 

396 

418 

973 

772 

1,966 

706 

464 

2,321 

4,753 

1,039 

574 

1,061

1,479

Dec.

1,790 

5,239

1,658 

464 

1,149 

838 

530 

242 

2,255 

816 

2,469 

2,949 

3,572 

1,127 

1,435 

860 

1,237

1,548

Yearly 

average.

1,570 

1,680 

1,347 

907 

1,193 

2,079 

1,105 

1,457 

1,391 

1,457 

1,636 

2,123 

2,719 

1,702 

i,570 

1,017 

2,167

Concerning the methods of observation and accuracy of the determinations set down in Tables II and III, Mr. C. C. Vermenle, author 

of the report, says:

We have, by the courtesy of several users of water power, been able to obtain 

measurements of flow covering a period of seventeen years and a very wide range 

of rainfall conditions, from 70.88 to 37.03 annually. These gagings were at Little 

Falls and points below, and have been reduced, compared, and adjusted, two series 

being for several years contemporaneous. The results we have much confidence 

in. They are consistent, and bear the test of close analysis as well as any series 

of gagings we have made.

Table II gives the average daily flow in inches upon the watershed 

for each month of the period 1877-1893, and also the daily flow for 

each year and the monthly averages for the whole term. Table III 

gives similar information, except that it is expressed in terms of cubic 

feet per second actually flowing through the channel.

The power site at Great Falls, Pater son, is one of the oldest large 

water powers in the United States. Above the head of the falls is a 

low stone dam, affording, however, sufficient pondage to concentrate 

the entire dry season flow into working hours. The Society for 

Establishing Useful Manufactures, which controls this power, receives 

about $36 per gross horsepower per annum for about 2,300 horsepower, but the dry-weather flow does not supply more than half of 

this, and the power is not, therefore, guaranteed. The conservance 

of water from the upper Pequanac area for the city of Newark and 

the large drafts upon the river at Little Falls for the supply of 

Paterson, Passaic, and Jersey City have increased the uncertainty of 

the power at this place. The Rockaway area is now being set apart

IRR 72 02-
18 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO.72.

for the use of Jersey City, and it is expected that the constantly 

increasing demands of the water-supply interests will soon bring 

the power values to a very low basis. The power, both at Dundee and 

Great Falls, has passed into the control of the New Jersey General 

Security Company, a corporation closely allied to the East Jersey 

Water Company, and the contest between power and water-supply 

interests which was at one time probable has been averted.

At Little Falls about 450 horsepower was developed, but it has 

been greatly reduced by the lowering of the dam for the purpose 

of draining the Great Piece Meadows, a wide area over which the 

water stands for days during freshets. The actual power value is 

therefore not great. Since the assumption of control by the East 

Jersey Water Company, the necessity for greater pondage has not 

been evident, sufficient being necessary to properly flood the water 

intake only. This intake is located on the north side of the river, a 

little above and at a short distance from the dam. Above the meadows the power sites on the main, stream are not of great importance.

This stream forms a nucleus for a water supply which in capacity 

and quality can not be excelled in the metropolitan district, and from 

the manner in which it is now being developed it is probable that at 

no distant date that part of the river between Little Falls and Passaic 

will lose much of its value as a source of power.

TRIBUTARIES OF THE PASSAIC.

The Pompton River, which joins the Passaic at Two Bridges, above 

Little Falls, combines the flow of the Bamapo, Wanaque, and Pequanac, 

representing a combined area of 379.9 square miles. Through the 

Great Piece Meadows flows Bockaway Biver, draining 138.4 square 

miles, and farther up the Whippany, draining 71.1 square miles. 

Each of these areas forms by itself a gathering ground from all of 

which, except the latter, can be diverted water supplies equal to almost 

any emergency which the great cities of northern New Jersey are 

likely to encounter during the next century. The Bockaway and 

Pequanac, as stated above, have already been claimed. The Bamapo 

is now under the control of a New York corporation, which endeavored 

to secure a metropolitan monopoly. There remain only the Wanaque, 

a small available area in the Whippany, and the Upper Passaic for 

future development. These will be considered, each by itself as 

a separate stream, after we have examined the Passaic proper as a 

source of supply.

In spite of the largely diverted drainage of its highland tributaries, 

the Passaic will always be a valuable source of water supply, for it 

possesses a large drainage area of itself. Above Little Falls, on the 

main river, there is at the present time a supply that will afford, 

without storage, nearly 88? 000,000 gallons daily. With the highland
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO, 72 PL.

A. GREAT FALLS OF THE PASSAIC AT PATERSON FROM THE CREST.

B. PASSAIC RIVER BELOW GREAT FALLS AT PATERSON

MBIGHTON.] TEIBUTAEIES OF PASSATC BIVEB. 19

tributaries diverted, as they are likely to be in the future, there will 

still be a drainage area of 208 square miles, affording a supply of 

approximately 25,000,000 gallons daily, without- storage. For years 

the cities of Newark and Jersey City took water from the river at Belleville, below Passaic, amounting to from 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 gallons daily. The intakes are now out of use, Newark having gone up 

to the Pequanac area for its water supply and Jersey City to Little 

Falls temporarily, until the supply from the Rockaway shall have been 

established. Immediately above Little Falls, on the meadows, there 

is no good point on the Passaic for a reservoir, and the large area of 

flat land causes generally muddy and unsatisfactory water. Above 

this, in the upper Highlands, is an excellent basin, called Great Passaic Swamp, which might easily be set apart as a storage reservoir. 

The drainage area is small and rather thickly populated, yet the situation remains available and can be used in case of need.

SADDLE RIVER.

This is the lowest and least important branch in the Passiac system. 

It rises in Rockland County, New York State, flows south for 17 miles 

and empties into the Passaic about 12 miles from the mouth. The 

drainage area contains 60.7 square miles, underlain by the red sandstone common to the main basin. It has 8 square miles of drainage 

area in New York State, and the population, according to the report 

of the Geological Survey of New Jersey in 1894, was about 122 per 

square mile. As a source of water power the river is not important. 

Out of a total fall of 90 feet there have been utilized about 60.5 feet, 

the power from which is divided into 47 sites along the river, representing a gross horsepower of 1,700. It is fairly good gathering 

ground for a limited water supply, and might be developed as an 

auxiliary to be used in an emergency. With a storage of 7.5 feet 

,pon the reservoir it would yield 14,000,000 gallons daily.

RAMAPO RIVER.

Although emptying into the Passaic by way of Pompton River, this 

stream belongs largely to New York State, as about 70 per cent of the 

160.7 square miles of drainage area is located beyond the Jersey limits. 

About 75 per cent of this area is forested, and the population is approximately 60 per square mile. Gagings of the flow of the river, extending through a period of two years, were made at the works of the 

Pompton Steel and Iron Company, and are compiled in Table IV, 

which is taken from the report of the' Geological Survey of New 

Jersey (Vol. Ill, 1894, p. 168).
20 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YOKK CITY. [NO. re.

TABLE IV. Flow of Ramapo River at Pompton. 

[Drainage area, 159.5 square miles.]

Month.

1890. 

February 7 to 28 ...................................

1890-91. 

June ...... ........

July................................................

March

April . .

June to May --.-..-. _ ................... ...

1891-92.

November -

January

May................................................

1892. 

June

July................................................

Rain.

Inches. 

4.45 

6.40 

2.68 

4.72

4.98 

6.06 

4.75 

4.14 

6.95 

.77 

4.02 

 8.51 

4.50 

4.35 

2.80 

2.70

54.43

2.13 

4.88 

5.54 

2.28 

2.39 

2.93 

4.77 

5.65 

1.34 

3.65 

1.73 

4.66

41.95

4.07 

3.37

4.36

1.97

.68

Flow.

Inches. 

3.29 

4.85 

3.05 

2.75

1.35 

.94 

.80 

1.51 

2.22 

1.10 

1.77 

6.36 

5.28 

5.23 

2.34 

.67

29.47

.37 

.31 

.96 

.67 

.30 

1.47 

2.78 

5.65 

1.19 

2.30 

1.33 

1.83

19.16

2.00

Flow in cubic feet per second.

Greatest.

1,913 

2,020 

1,032

762

334 

338 

601 

948 

839 

320 

1,583 

4,552 

2,130 

1,686 

695 

187

79 

70 

536 

318 

53 

601 

1,175 

1,949 

267 

662 

293 

748

1,095

Least.

277 

277 

231 

170

55 

40 

41 

55 

91 

80 

80 

318 

264 

299 

143 

41

33

22 

33 

40 

40 

33 

104 

267 

123 

147 

117 

91

45

" " "i

Average.

643 

643 

429

377

176 

125 

108 

209 

301 

155 

238 

879 

853 

729 

335 

94

52 

44 

135 

94 

42 

207 

391 

794 

167 

323 

188 

258

281

Gagings Oct. 10, 22.5 cubic feet per 

second.

At Pompton, 1.5 miles above the confluence of the Ramapo with 

the Pompton, the Ramapo has a fall of 29 feet. The lake, which ie 

traversed by a 7-foot dam, is about 202 acres in extent. The power 

developed at this place, as estimated by Mr. Vermeule, is 17.04 horsepower per foot fall. There are many other sites on the watershed 

which are not yet developed, but none are of great importance. The 

river has never been a favorite power stream.

In many ways Ramapo River is a favorable gathering ground for a 

city water supply. The name has, during the past few years, become 

well known in the metropolitan area by reason of the existence of a 

water corporation known as the Ramapo Company, which endeavored 

to acquire, and almost succeeded in obtaining, the most valuable 

water franchise in America that of New York City charging rate? 

which, at the end of the contract period, would involve a loss to th°, 

city of New York of about $190,000,000. Although this corporation
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 72

A. DUNDEE DAM, WHICH HOLDS BACK AND CONCENTRATES THE SEWAGE 

FROM PATERSON.

E. DUNDEE CANAL.

LEIGHTON.] WANAQUE RIVER. 21

controls the water rights on the New York part of the drainage area, 

this portion was not included as a source of supply in the plan that 

was presented to the city of New York. The river yields, without 

storage, at Pompton, 14,500,000 gallons daily. With a storage equal to 

7 inches upon the watershed, the available supply would be approximately 120,000,000 gallons daily.

WANAQUE RIVER.

In its general geographic course this stream is net unlike the Ramapo. 

Greenwood Lake (see PI. IV, A], situated on the line between New 

York and New Jersey, and extending into New York State about 3 

miles, and Sterling Lake, entirely within New York State, afford 

excellent pondage. Greenwood Lake has an elevation of 621 feet, has 

6 square miles of surface, and receives the drainage of 28 square 

miles. Its storage capacity, according to Crpes and Howell, is 

134,000,000 gallons, and it will supply 18,000,000 gallons daily throughout the year. Sterling Lake has an area of 321 acres and a watershed 

of 4.69 square miles. It will supply throughout the year about 

3,000,000 gallons daily.

The only series of gagings available for Wanaque River is that made 

under the direction of the Geological Survey of New Jersey at the dam 

near Pompton station. These gagings cover a period when the stream 

is least affected by drafts from Greenwood Lake, and are compiled 

in Table V.

TABLE V. Flow of Wanaque River, 1890-91.

[Drainage area, 101 square miles.]

Month..

1890.

1891.

April...............................................

Bain.

Inches. 

6.95

.77

4.02

8.51 

4.50 

4.25 

2.80 

2.96

37.04

Flow.

Inches. 

2.49 

.93

1.59

6.27 

5.51 

5.55 

1.92 

.61

21.45

Plow in cubic feet per 

second.

Q-reatest.

594 

126

799

4,943 

1,107 

914 

303

77

Least.

91

44

44

91 

217 

217 

92 

45

Average.

217

84

138

549

548 

516

174 

54

Loss, 5.59 inches.

On account of the large pondage, the flow of this river could be 

made comparatively uniform, and the power developed would be of 

considerable value. At the mouth of the river there are about 10 

horsepower per foot fall, a part of which is contributed by Greenwood 

Lake. Power sites are available in the upper parts of the stream, 

and the one located in the Ringwood district could be developed to 

yield a steady horsepower of 2,000 during working hours.
22 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO. 72.

This river forms another excellent source of city supply. It has 

already been stated that there is a pondage representing the drainage 

from 33 square miles. For the remaining run-off water there are 

good sites for conservance, and with a total utilization of 14 inches 

upon the watershed there would be afforded a supply of 75,000,000 

gallons daily. Of the watershed, 28.2 square miles are in New York, 

and 80 per cent of the entire area is forested.

PEQUANAC RIVER.

Mr. Vermeule, author of the report of the Geological Survey of 

New Jersey above quoted, describes the Pequanac River as follows 

(p. 175):

This is another branch of the Passaic, and with the Ramapo and Wanaque forms 

the Pompton River just below Pompton. Its drainage area lies high on the 

Archean highlands. For nearly its whole course it flows transversely to the 

ridge and valley structure of these highlands, thus differing from the Ramapo 

and Wanaque, which flow through deep valleys. The headwaters of the 

Pequanac are at an elevation of nearly 1,500 [feet], while the mouth, at Pompton, is only 170, consequently the stream has great fall. From Post's dam at 

Biverdale, 2 miles above the junction of the Ramapo, to New Foundland, 12.5 

miles above, the fall is 45 feet per mile; thence to Wallace's corners it is 9.2 feet 

per mile for 6.5 miles; for 2 miles above this, to Stockholm, it is 30 feet per mile. 

The watershed is 6 or 7 miles wide by 16 miles long and the branches are quite 

uniformly distributed along the course of the main stream, mostly coming in 

from the northeast. Forests cover 78 per cent of the area.

The flow of the river is compiled in Tables VI and VII, the first of 

which was made under the direction of the Geological Survey of New 

Jersey, while the second was made by Mr. Clemens Herschell, chief 

engineer of the East Jersey Water Company.

TABLE VI. Flow of Pequanac River at Riverdale. 

[Drainage area, 84.7 square miles.]

Month.

1890.

April...............................................

July............................... .................

September 27 to 30....... ..........................

November ........... _ ....................... _ .

1891.

Rain.

Inches. 

4.45 

6.40 

2.68 

.31

.58 

6.95

.77

4.03

8.51 

4.50 

4.25 

2.80 

2.70

26.78

Flow.

Inches. 

3.38 

4.03 

2.70 

.20

.08 

3.61 

1.43

1.03

5.17 

5.05 

4.12 

1.50 

.62

17.49

 Flow in cubic feet per 

second.

Greatest.

686 

891 

382 

155

90 

959 

301

437

2,353 

1,384 

683 

334

77

Least.

125

155 

75 

74

25 

25 

25

25

48 

46 

46 

46

45

Average.

273 

296

305 

91

45 

264 

100

75

387 

276 

193 

315 

53
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 72 PL. IV

A. GREENWOOD LAKE, HEAD OF WANAQUE RIVER.

B. DAM AT MACOPIN INTAKE, NEWARK WATER SUPPLY

LKIGHTON.] PEQUANAC EIVEB. 23

TABLE VII. Flow of Pequanac River at Macopin intake. 

[Drainage area, 63.7 square miles.]

Month.

1891-92. 

June ...--._...._._-.____.____..___.__._.._______.__

July............ ....

August.... ............... ......... ......... ....

September .....

December...... ......

March.......... .... .. . ...

May ........ ...........^... ........................

June to May ................. ..... _ .......

1892-93.

July................................................

August................... __ ......................

October.. _ ...... ...... .

January............................................

February ........ _ .............. _ .-...

March.--....-.-....-..... _ ......................

April......................... .. ... . .

May

Bain.

Inches. 

1.76 

5.01 

5.75 

1..93 

2.11 

3.19 

4.99 

5.95 

.99 

4.30 

1.43 

5.39

42.80

4.33 

3.83 

4.63 

2.06 

.71 

6.80 

1 55

4.07 

6.72 

3.55 

4.83 

5.66

48.74

Flow.

Inches. 

0.55 

.27 

1.39 

.90 

.34 

1.73 

3.77 

5.98 

1.63 

2.58 

1.73 

2.17

23.02

2.37 

.53 

.53 

.47 

.16 

1.53 

1.62 

1.86 

3.73 

6.82 

4.26 

4.98

28.86

Average weekly flow in 

cubic feet per second.

Greatest.

' 48 

20 

254 

90 

23 

172 

415 

450 

115 

183 

128 

190

221 

40 

40 

53 

10 

224 

140 

212 

293 

614 

277 

606

Least.

16 

20 

16 

25 

15 

16 

105 

173 

72 

125 

44 

70

76 

' 15 

12 

8 

8 

24 

53 

50 

124 

331 

196 

104

Average.

31 

15 

80 

51 

19 

97 

212 

335 

92 

145 

97 

122

133 

30 

30 

26 

8.8 

86 

92 

104 

212 

383 

240 

280

In past years this river has been important as a power stream, about 

18 sites, with a total of 1,034 horsepower, having been developed. 

They have nearly all been acquired by the East Jersey "Water Company and the city of Newark, and the whole drainage area will eventually be reserved for water supply. There remain notable power 

sites, such as those at Butler and Bloomingdale, and other points 

along the river, where the value of the manufacturing is still large. 

Such sites, however, will be preserved only so long as they do not 

interfere with water conservation, and therefore the future of the 

river as a power stream is uncertain.

As a gathering ground for water supply the value of this area has 

been demonstrated to the satisfaction of all concerned. The water 

now supplied to the city of Newark has proved excellent, and has 

been the means of improving the general health of the city to a 

remarkable extent. On account of various laxities in preparing the 

reservoirs and because of other circumstances the water has not been 

as free from sediment as is considered desirable, but sources of contamination have been largely removed, and analyses show that the 

character of the water is uniformly satisfactory. At the present time 

only the upper part of the area is reserved for a gathering ground, the 

water being stored in three reservoirs. That at Oak Ridge has a 

capacity of 2,555,000,000 gallons and is 383 acres in extent. Clinton 

reservoir has an area of 423 acres, a drainage area of 9.5 square miles,
24 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YOEK CITY. [NO. 73.

and a capacity of 3,518,000,000 gallons. Canistear reservoir has a 

capacity of 2,500,000,000 gallons and is 350 acres in extent.

With 7 inches storage upon the entire drainage area, 14 inches may 

be collected annually, equal to a total daily supply of 56,000,000 gallons. In the report of the Geological Survey of the State (Vol. Ill, 

1894, p. 179) a list of possible reservoir sites in this drainage area 

includes 10 locations, with a combined capacity of 23,920,000,000 gallons.

ROCKAWAY RIVER.

This stream is 40 miles long from source to mouth and has a drainage area of about 140 square miles, more than 80 per cent of which is 

in forest. It bears a strong resemblance to the Pequanac, although 

it is much less uniform in character. Within this a»ea are numerous 

ponds and lakes, which afford a large proportion of storage. Splitrock Pond is 315 acres in extent, with a watershed of about 5 square 

miles. With the present 12-foot dam raised 3^ feet it would, according to the measurements of Mr. Vermeule, have a capacity of over 

700,000,000 gallons and would, if drawn off 7 inches on the watershed, 

supply continuously 3,500,000 gallons daily. Green Pond, at an elevation of 1,048 feet and with an area of 460 acres, could be made to 

supply 1,200,000 gallons daily.

The flow of the river at Dover, as determined by the Geological Survey of New Jersey (Vol. Ill, 1894, p. 182), is £,iven in Table VIII, the 

readings for which were made on Sundays, when the mills were shut 

down.

TABLE VIII. Floiv of Rockaway River at Dover, 1890.

[Drainage area, 52.2 square miles.]

Date.

March 30....... ..............

April 13. .....................

April 20.... ..................

April 27. .....................

May 11. .......... ........... .

May 18. ..................... .

May 25-----------------.--.-

June 22....... ................

July 20. ......................

July 27. ......................

Cubic 

feet per 

second.

253

182

182

115

115

175

103

182

121

128

110

115

115

41

80

39

272

318

39

Inches 

on watershed in 

24 hours.

0.180

.129

.129

O89

082

.135

.071

.129

086

.091

.078

.082

.082

.029

.057

028

.194

226

.028

Date.

Au ust24

Of^rkT-kAv | o

Cubic 

feet per 

second.

78

78

50

165

129

89

39

136

104

159

208

116

88

88

61

88

43

88

Inches 

on watershed in 

24 hours.

0.056

.056

.036

.117

.092

.063

.028

.097

.074

.113

148

.083

.063

.083

.043

.063

.031

.063

As a source of power the Rockaway has in the past been one of the 

most valuable rivers in the State, furnishing in the year 1890, at 29 

sites, 1,398 horsepower, with many available sites unimproved. The
LEIGHTON.] PASSAIC RIVEB SYSTEM. £

water rights upon the area have now come into the possession of Jersey City, and the river will be used as a source of water supply, and 

in the future will not figure largely as a power stream.

Above Old Boonton, on the Rockaway shed, there are 122.5 square 

miles of highland-drainage area which have been included in the tract 

set apart for the water supply of Jersey City. The plan proposed by 

Patrick H. Flynn, contractor, and which was accepted by the city, 

provides that a main intake and reservoir shall be located at Old Boonton, which shall leave an area, as improved, for 50,000,000 gallons 

daily delivery, of 949 acres and a capacity above the effluent pipes of 

1,362,000,000 gallons. Tributary to this reservoir will be the whole 

flow of Rockaway River, including the waters of Longwood Valley, 

Green Pond, Denmark Lake, Beach Glen, Splitrock Pond, Dixon 

Pond, Showgum Lake, and tributary streams.

Provision will be made for increasing the supply by raising the 

height of the dam so that the area of the reservoir will be 1,177 acres, 

with a capacity of 12,683,000,000 gallons, and a supply of 70,000,000 

gallons daily.

WHIPPANY RIVER.

This stream is comparatively unimportant as a source of power, and 

the area is not well developed to become a source of water supply. 

The population on the watershed is large and furnishes a large measure of pollution, to which reference will be made below.

POLLUTION OF PASSAIC RIVER SYSTEM.

It needs only a superficial inspection of the Passaic River at any 

point below the city of Paterson to discover the bad state of affairs 

there existing. Commencing in a small way, the sewerage systems 

emptying into this part of the stream have increased with the growth 

of the municipalities, until the conditions all along the lower reaches 

of the river have become insufferable. The clutch of pollution seems 

to have fastened itself there, and in spite of the best efforts of intelligent men no satisfactory legislation has yet been enacted to alleviate 

the conditions. In considering the Lower Passaic i. e., that part 

lying between Little Falls and Newark Bay the Passaic Valley sewerage commission, created by an act of the legislature of New Jersey 

in February, 1896, described the conditions in its report dated February, 1897, as follows:

The great extent of the pollution of the Lower Passaic may be illustrated in 

several ways. It is apparent to the eye in the conditions of the river during the 

summer, in the foulness of the shores where sewage-laden mud, when exposed to 

the sun, gives out foul odors; and it is demonstrated by every practical test. 

The cities of Newark and Jersey City have been compelled to seek water supplies elsewhere at great expense, and the immediate decrease in zymotic diseases 

in those places which followed the change has shown how necessary it was.
26 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO.73.

Fish life, excepting a few hardy kinds, has disappeared from the river, and fifteen years ago shad, which formerly frequented the stream, abandoned it. The 

manufacturers have reported that the acid in the sewage-laden water has affected 

the boilers so as to make its use inadvisable. The use of the river for pleasure 

purposes, which at one time made it a delight to thousands, has become comparatively infrequent, and the attractiveness of the river [see PI. I, A] maybe said to 

have disappeared.

The commissioners in their meetings at the various towns on the river found all 

citizens deeply concerned and anxious for action to remove pollution. Their testimony was substantially identical, and while there was a natural desire to avoid 

doing injury to the fair name of their towns, it was their unanimous sentiment 

that the pollution of the river had caused great depreciation in property values 

along the stream. During the hot months residences within a short distance of 

the river were reported to be almost uninhabitable on account of the stench, and 

the necessity of keeping windows closed on hot nights to bar out the evil odors 

was frequently mentioned as showing the extent of the actual nuisance. The 

injury to property at all points below Paterson was testified to be large and 

increasing, despite the many natural advantages of the valley and its neighboring 

heights for suburban residences. The actual direct effect of the stench upon the 

public health was discussed with caution by physicians and health authorities, 

but that its influences were gravely injurious admitted of no doubt.

Finally, the quantity of sewage discharged, compared with the low-water flow 

of the river, was shown to be beyond the power of the river to assimilate, and 

exceeded the limits which have been regarded as permissible for an open stream 

by sanitary authorities of other countries and States.

The ratio of increase in population for the Lower Passaic district from 1880 to 

1890 is placed by the engineers at 43.2 per cent, and from 1890 to 1895 at 22.6, the 

ratio for the five years thus exceeding that of the decade previous. The river 

now receives the sewage of the cities of Paterson, Passaic, Orange, Newark, and 

the towns of East Orange, Bloomfield, Montclair, Harrison, Kearney, East Newark, and part of Rutherford. Sewerage facilities for other places are an admitted 

necessity of the early future. It therefore appears beyond question that the river 

pollution is sure to increase enormously unless remedial measures be taken.

This part of the investigation by the commissioners therefore demonstrated:

That the daily discharge of 70,000,000 gallons of sewage into the Passaic River 

below the Great Falls of Paterson is beyond its power to assimilate.

That the pollution has become a nuisance to residents' along the banks by the 

stench and had caused depreciation of property and injury to health.

That the fisheries liad been destroyed.

That the river had ceased to be desirable for pleasure purposes, boating, bathing, etc., no longer possessing the park values which so generous a stream should 

afford the large population on its banks.

That the use of the river for manufacturing purposes is suffering on account of 

the pollution.

In short, the pollution of the Lower Passaic River appeared to the commissioners 

to be completely established as a public nuisance, an injury to health, and an 

increasing menace to property interests from the beginning at the Great Falls to 

below Newark.

The report of the commission, quoted above, in dealing with conditions of the Upper Passaic portion, states that the pollution upon 

that part of the drainage area was inconsiderable, yet the rapid growth 

of the municipalities thereon warranted the belief that in a short
LEIGHTON.] PASSAIC RIVER SYSTEM. 27

space of time the pollution entering the river above Little Falls would 

be as unfavorable in its effect upon the river as that of the Lower 

Passaic, and recommended that there be absolute prohibition of the 

use of the main stream or tributaries of the Upper Passaic watershed 

for any crude sewage, and that the extent to which filtered effluent may 

be permitted to enter this stream should be subject to regulation by 

a commission in charge of the purification of the river, with power 

to prevent nuisance. The increase in population since that time has 

been beyond the expectations of the commission, and the laws that 

have since been enacted for the protection of rivers are provided with 

unsatisfactory means of enforcement. There is no doubt whatever that 

the pollution within this area is far more extensive than at the date of 

the above-quoted report. It is also true that the commission recognized 

the enormous burden imposed by the pollution in the Lower Passaic 

and gave more careful attention to that part of the river than they 

did to the highland area. Let us therefore examine the conditions as 

they now exist in the river system above Great Falls, Paterson.

Four miles up the river is Little Falls, a town of 2,908 inhabitants, 

without any public system of sewerage, but nevertheless producing 

considerable pollution from1 private drains and factories. Analyses 

that have been made of the water'at Little Falls dam and at Great 

Falls dam show an appreciable increase in organic matter at the 

lower station, and bacteriological examinations indicate at times 

even more strongly the presence of sewage below Little Falls. The 

cities of Paterson and Passaic, which have in the past taken their 

water supply from the head of Great Falls, have not during that time 

been free from epidemics of typhoid, which, in «the opinion of the 

sanitary officials, have been traceable to the water supply.

Farther up the river, beyond the Great Meadows, are the towns of 

Madison and Chatham, containing, respectively, 3,754 and 1,361 

inhabitants. Neither of these has a sewerage system, although one 

is projected in Madison. The pollution of the river at these towns is 

more than would be expected from places of their size and condition. 

Still farther up is Summit, a city of 5,302 inhabitants, having a sewerage system that has been extended through the more thickly settled 

parts of the city. A sand-filtration area has been provided on the 

banks of the Passaic, which has been unsuccessful from the standpoint of purification, the effluent being not at all satisfactory, putrifying in a short time and causing a serious nuisance at the Chatham 

dam, a few miles below. Indeed, so unsatisfactory has been the work 

of this filter that its abandonment has been practically decided upon. 

A plan has received legislative authority whereby Summit may join 

with Milburn, Vailsburg, "West Orange, South Orange, and a part of 

Newark in the construction of a tide-water trunk sewer which shall 

discharge into Arthur Kill.

Upon the Whippany are Morristown and Morris Plains, the former
28 SEWAGE POLLUTION HEA& NEW YORK CITY. [NO.72.

with a population of 11,267, both without sewerage systems, and the 

former especially contributing a large amount of sewage by means of 

private drains from houses and factories, so that the river and its 

branches ramifying through the city often present a most disgusting sight. It is not apparent to the observer that the municipal authorities there have taken any effectual steps to prevent pollution of these 

streams, and in certain parts of the town sewage may be seen running 

into the brooks via the street gutters.

Boonton, Rockaway, and Dover, with a combined population of 

11,322, are situated upon Rockaway River. All three are in the 

drainage area embraced in the reservoir now under construction, the 

waters of which will reach up well into the town of Boonton. In the 

contract entered into between the city of Jersey City and Patrick H. 

Flynn, the contractor, there is a provision that all sewage shall be 

diverted from the catchment area, and a plan has been provided 

whereby the contractor shall build an intercepting sewer which shall 

collect all the sewage from these three municipalities and empty it 

into the Rockaway below Old Boonton. The present plan, therefore, 

will not relieve the river of its pollution, except upon that part of the 

Rockaway above the proposed dam.

Upon the streams converging into the Pompton are Bloomingdale 

and Butler, with upward of 800 people, and Pompton Village, at the 

mouth of the Wanaque, and upon the Ramapo in New York State 

are Suffern, Hillburn, and Tuxedo, the former of which has a small 

sewerage system emptying into the river. Here is an instance of 

interstate pollution. Although at present not of great importance, 

there is every reason to believe that as the town increases in size the 

pollution may become sufficiently extensive to affect the value of the 

Ramapo watershed in New Jersey. The laws that may be enacted 

and the surveillance which it is hoped to establish in New Jersey over 

watersheds can have little effect in New York, be they enforced ever 

so efficiently. The same is true of the upper part of the Wanaque 

watershed, and also of Saddle River. Greenwood Lake, situated in 

both States, is a favorite summer resort, within easy distance of New 

York. There is likely to develop a community of no meanamportance 

at the New York head in years to come, the pollution from which 

would injure not only the water-supply value of the lake, but also the 

ice industry, which amounts annually to about 60,000 tons.

In the year 1899 the East Jersey Water Company, being compelled 

to give up the water from the Pequanac, which would in September, 

1900. pass into the hands of the city of Newark, offered to another 

municipality with which the company was under contract, and to 

which it was then furnishing Pequanac water, a supply from the new 

intake at Little Falls. The town officials not being satisfied with 

the proposed change, and believing the water to be inferior to that of 

the highland stream, employed Mr. George W. Fuller, of New York,
LEIGHTON.] PASSAIC EIVEE SYSTEM. 29

to examine into and report upon the subject. After a period lasting 

six months, during which the whole matter was explored in minute 

detail, Mr. Fuller submitted his report, from which the following 

extract is made:

While admitting that Passaic River water from Little Falls might be used 

* * * without any serious detriment to the public health, it is my judgment 

that this water can not, from a strictly sanitary standpoint, be rated as a pure 

and wholesome water. This judgment is based on the fact that there are no 

thoroughly efficient means of eliminating the germs of water-borne diseases 

before they shall reach the consumers at * * * in the event that such disease 

should become prevalent at one of nearly a dozen centers of population.

The Passaic Valley sewerage commission was succeded in 1889 by 

the State sewerage commission. The report of this body to the legislative session of 1900 reads concerning the Passaic River as follows:

The purification of the Passaic River has been and is the greatest problem 

which has demanded the attention of the commission. The magnitude of" the 

undertaking can hardly be exaggerated. The report of the Passaic Valley sewferage commission of 1897 set forth the then existing conditions. The commissioners 

appointed under the act of 1898 to " consider the pollution of rivers and streams 

in this State" said, referring to the Passaic River: " The condition of the Passaic 

River has been getting worse, and during the last summer the conditions were 

even more intolerable than during the drought of 1895." Bad as was the condition then, that during the summer of 1899 has been far worse than ever before 

known. As early as June serious complaints were made of its condition, which 

have continued during the whole summer and into the autumn.

It is a common error to suppose that the condition is solely the result of pollution of Paterson and Passaic and the municipalities at or above the head of tide 

water. While these communities are large polluters of the river, others are 

equally guilty. During much of the time the Passaic River is little more than a 

tidal estuary, in which the outward flow of the tide is not of sufficient duration to 

empty the river of the polluted water. The incoming tide meets the sewage of 

Newark, Orange, Bloomfield, Montclair, Harrison, and neighboring towns, driving it up the river to meet that coming from above, so that to a great extent the 

same water, with constantly increasing quantities of sewage being added, is 

driven up and drawn down by the tide until large rainfalls occur, when there 

may be a flow of water from .above sufficient to force the sewage out and fill the 

river with clean water. This temporary relief continues as long as there is water 

coming down sufficient to force back the tide and allow the sewage to find its way ' 

into the bay.

The commission received numerous complaints from residents along the river, 

it having been necessary for people a half a mile from the river to close their windows during the hottest weather to keep out the stench. The constantly increasing quantity of sewage being poured into the river, together with the decreasing 

amount of water coming down for the dilution of the sewage, have hastened the 

time when some remedial action has become imperative. It is recommended that 

legislative action be promptly taken to abate the foul condition of the Passaic 

River. To this end a bill has been drafted empowering the State sewerage commission to require such other disposition of the sewage and other polluting substance as shall meet its approval, believing that when it becomes obligatory for 

those fouling the river to do something else with their sewage they will join with 

your commission in seeking the best way. The commission has sought to unite
30 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO. 72.

the different municipalities in some voluntary action, and with that end in view 

invited the several municipalities now discharging sewage into the river to appoint 

committees to meet with the State commission for the purpose of considering the 

subject.

In a further report to the legislature of 1901, the same commission 

speaks concerning the Passaic as follows:

The sewage pollution of the Passaic has, during the last year, increased in its 

evil effects. Heretofore the objectionable odors have been limited to the summer 

months; but during the last autumn the stench continued until the freezing 

weather locked the foulness into ice. The rainfall was below the average during 

the autumn, and wide spaces of sewage-befouled mud were exposed to the air, 

giving forth nauseating odors. The effects were felt with severity all the way 

from Paterson to Newark Bay, and factory hands in Paterson and in Newark, 

near the river, were compelled to stop woTk a number of times on account of 

nausea from the river stench. * * *

The flow of fresh water from above Great Falls is showing a steady diminution, 

principally owing to the diversion of the river water above for city supplies, and 

the amount of the discharge will unquestionably increase constantly. The effect 

upon the river above the tidal flow, between Paterson and Dundee dam, is disastrous, leaving insufficient water to carry down ordinary sewage discharge, much 

of which lodged during the summer and autumn in the bare river bed, giving 

forth stench and threatening disease in the heart of Paterson. The scouring by 

floods, which served for a periodical cleansing, is now rarely effective, and the 

conditions seem to grow worse. The evil condition of the whole river can scarcely 

be exaggerated, and what was apparent to the instructed four years ago is now 

evident to any person who may casually observe the river.

VALUE OF PASSAIC RIVER SYSTEM AND ITS MODIFICATION BY

POLLUTION.

WATER POWER AND WATER SUPPLY.

As a source of power the Passaic system is worth about $1,500,000. 

According to the report of Mr. Verrneule the total available gross 

horsepower of the stream is 8,924. Assuming the usual efficiency of 

70 per cent upon the wheel, there may be developed a net horsepower of 

6,246.8, which, at the average New Jersey rental of $22.50 per horsepower, would yield an annual rental of $140,553. With a capitalization of 10 per cent we find a total valuation of $1,405,530.

The value of the river as a source of water supply is a more difficult 

problem to estimate and varies according to the means used to collect 

the water. It has already been stated that at the head of Little Falls 

the river will supply without storage about 85,000,000 gallons daily. 

The only important addition to the flow below this point is Saddle 

River, which furnishes daily a minimum of about 2,600,000 more 

throughout all seasons. This total of about 87,600,000 gallons is 

undoubtedly a conservative estimate of the supply available at the 

Belleville pumping station, and the total flow of the river past that 

point would, except in extraordinary cases, be far greater. If, then, 

pollution were excluded from the Passaic and the minimum flow were
UBIGHTON.] PASSAIC RIVER SYSTEM. 31

pumped from the river at Belleville, there would be no disturbance of 

the power value of the river, so that, in addition to the power valuation, there would be the value of the water. Pumped from the river 

at Belleville and raised to a height sufficient to serve the metropolitan 

areas of Essex and Hudson counties, this water, at a fair valuation, 

would bring $25 per million gallons, assuming, of course, that the 

present pollution had never existed.

If, however, storage is provided in the highland areas and the water 

is allowed to flow into the cities by gravity we shall have a measure 

of resource far greater than that above estimated. Mr. Vermeule 

states that 666,094 gallons per square mile are daily collectible with 

storage upon the Passaic system. Considering only the 773 square 

miles above Little Falls, and the 60.7 square miles of Saddle River 

there can be developed through storage a resource equal to 555,000,000 

gallons daily. This amount of water, utilized at the extremely low 

rate of $15 per million gallons and on the basis of only 60 per cent 

conservance, would yield an annual income of $1,823,175, which capitalized at 10 per cent equals $18,231,750. Under such a system the 

water power would be largely if not completely destroyed, so that 

this value would necessarily be deducted from the above figures.

It has already been shown that the water pumped from the river 

below Belleville is polluted beyond all possibility of use in its crude 

state, and indeed the' city of Newark had this fact brought to its 

attention during the winter of 1899, when, during a continued cold 

season, the consumption of water reached the limit prescribed in the 

contract and the water was again pumped into the mains at Belleville. The typhoid epidemic resulting therefrom was a severe lesson.

Expert examination has shown that it is unsafe to use the water 

from Little Falls in its crude state. If we examine the history of the 

water supply upon the Passaic we shall find the following facts: Previous to the year 1888 the municipalities of Newark, Harrison, Arlington, Belleville, Nutley, Kearney, Passaic, and Paterson, situated 

upon the Lower Passaic, and Jersey City, situated upon the Hudson, 

all derived their water supply from the Passaic. On the one side of 

the river Jersey City, Harrison, and Kearney received their supply 

from the intake owned by the first-mentioned city, while across the 

river, at Belleville, was situated the Newark pumping station. From 

the latter intake there were pumped 16 to 20 million gallons daily, at 

a cost of $15 to $17 per million gallons, while at the former intake 

about the same amount was taken, at approximately the same cost. 

Passaic and Paterson were supplied from an intake situated at the 

head of Great Falls and owned by the Passaic Water Company. All 

of these municipalities, especially those supplied from the Newark 

and Jersey City intakes, suffered excessively from typhoid fever, due 

to sewage pollution in the river.
32 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO.72.

In 1889 the source of supply of the Newark system was transferred 

to the Pequanac area under a contract with the East Jersey Water 

Company, and in September, 1900, the ownership passed to the city at 

the cost of $6,000,000. Although the change from Belleville to 

Pequanac involved a change from a pumping to a gravity system, 

which in years to come will be more economical, during a long term 

of years the fixed charges upon the plant will make the water cost 

Newark $30 per million gallons, an amount equal to twice the cost of 

the Belleville water.

The source of supply for Jersey City was, in the year 1898, transferred to the new intake of the East Jersey Water Company at Little 

Falls, a temporary arrangement which will continue during the completion of the dam at Old Boonton, on the Rockaway, which, when 

developed to a capacity of 70,000,000 gallons daily, will cost the city 

about $9,000,000. Here, again, the transference from pumping to 

gravity will, in the end, be the means of securing the water at a 

cheaper rate, but the fixed charges in the meantime will operate 

similarly to those in Newark.

In 1899 the source of supply of Paterson, Passaic, and Nutley, 

which had for years been taken at the head of Great Falls, was transferred to the new intake at Little Falls. The reasons for this change 

are not entirely confined to those of pollution, although there is no 

doubt, and indeed it is admitted by the officials of that company, that 

pollution from the town of Little Falls had rendered the water unsafe 

for domestic use. The cost of this change is, of course, not made 

public, yet it can be easily understood that so radical a move must 

have been attended by a considerable outlay, as well as the surrendering of large values by the disuse of the Great Falls pumping plant.

The opinion of Mr. Fuller, already stated, having been unfavorable 

to the Little Falls water in its raw state, and pressure having been 

brought to bear upon the company by the municipalities using it, it 

became necessary to construct a filter, which is nearing completion 

and which will cost about $400,000. Subsequent additional charges 

for maintenance will amount to about $6 per million gallons.

ICE INDUSTRY.

Up to the present time the value of the Passaic system as a source 

of ice supply has not been greatly injured by pollution. Greenwood 

Lake, which is by far the most valuable of the Passaic ice fields, 

affords ah annual average supply of about 60,000 tons. On the river 

below Paterson there was in former times a fairly large ice industry, 

amounting in favorable seasons to 10,000 tons. It has, however, been 

completely destroyed by the pollution of the river, and the first of a 

proposed series of suits against the city of Paterson has been won in 

the lower court by an injured ice dealer.
PASSAIC RIVER SYSTEM. 33 

FISH.

There was a time when Passaic shad were as highly valued in the 

eastern markets as are those in the North River to-day. The industry flourished and was a source of no inconsiderable income to the 

dwellers along the river. Under the present conditions only one 

harcly, inedible fish will live in these waters.

REALTY VALUES.

Pollution of the Passaic has caused its greatest damage in the 

reduction of realty values. We can not estimate with any degree of 

correctness the amount of this damage, but we know that it is enormous. The banks of the Passaic from Paterson to Newark are naturally attractive, and there is, in the northern portion of New Jersey, 

no more suitable nucleus for a public park. Especially along the 

shores of Dundee Lake are there situations which are ideal for 

suburban homes, and their accessibility to the large cities of the 

metropolitan area would naturally make them desirable in the eyes of 

that constantly increasing number of city business men who are making for themselves homes outside of Greater New York. Yet the area 

is practically uninhabitable the residents along the shores are principally those who have lived there from birth and inherited the property upon which they dwell, or who moved there before the present 

conditions existed, and are encumbered with property which they can 

neither abandon nor sell. Only a few years ago the value of this land 

for farming purposes was from $500 to $800 per acre, and building sites 

were held at a much higher value. For one piece of property of 14 

acres, in a particularly favored situation, $40,000 was refused less 

than twenty years ago. To-day, however, this plot can not be sold at 

any price, nor is there any market for the property along the entire 

shore of the lake.

SUMMARY.

We have seen that the natural resources of the Passaic system are 

very extensive, embracing water power, water supply, ice fields, fisheries, transportation, and natural scenic advantages, but that all but 

one of these have been so damaged by pollution as to produce the 

following results:

1. Abandonment of three water-supply intakes and the establishment of three others, at a total expense of not less than $20,000,000.

2. Extensive decline of power values because of inadaptability of 

water for use in boilers and in manufacturing processes.

3. Loss of annual harvest of ice weighing 10,000 tons.

4. Absolute destruction of fisheries in lower valley.

5. Impairment of realty values, the extent of which can not be too 

highly estimated in view of the fact that similar properties in clean 

localities have been made of immense value.

IRR 72 02 3
34 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW CITY. [NO. 73.

HUDSON RIVER.

Perhaps the most resourceful and certainly the most famous river 

on the Atlantic coastal plain is the Hudson. The history of its discovery and development has been many times retold; its physical 

characteristics are subjects of study in common schools, and its 

resources, especially from the standpoint of water power, have been 

repeatedly described, notably by Prof. Dwight Porter, in Volume XVI 

of the Tenth Census report, and later by Mr. George W. Rafter, 0. E., 

in Nos. 24 and 25 of the series to which this paper belongs. It therefore seems unnecessary to consider this branch of the subject in the 

following pages, and as, up to the present time, very little, if any, 

detriment has arisen to water-power values through sewage pollution 

anywhere in the basin, the subject of power is not pertinent.

The extreme flatness of the bed of the Hudson throughout the first 

150 miles from its mouth, and the depth of water maintained thereon, 

give to it the character of an elongated bay, or arm of the ocean, 

rather than that of a river. At Troy, the head of natural navigation 

and also of tide water, the level of the river at mean low tide is only 

2.07 feet above mean sea level in New York harbor. Under these 

conditions, the influence of salt water extends a great distance inland, 

the brackish taste being appreciable at times at Poughkeepsie, 80 

miles above Sandy Hook (see PI. V, A). The influx of sea water by 

the flood tide was studied by Mr. H. L. Mandarin, under the authority 

of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, in 1871, the results 

of which may be seen in Table IX.

TABLE IX. Specific gravities of water in the Hudson River at and below the surface, reduced to a temperature of 60° F., September, 1871.

Distance 

from 

Sandy 

Hook.

Nautical 

miles. 

17i 

34} 

38} 

42i 

4% 

53} 

56f 

61 

65 

70} 

75 

79}

Station.

Dobbs Ferry ............... .....r

End of flow current.

Surface, 

specific 

gravity.

1.0198 

1.0024 

1.0021 

1.0011 

1.0012 

1.0017 

1.0016

1.0015

1.0003 

1.0006 

1.0007

Below.

Depth.

Feet. 

57 

30 

30 

30 

30 

30

30

48 

60 

48

Specific 

gravity.

1.0206 

1.0114 

1.0089 

1.0087 

1.0034 

1.0037 

1.0028 

-1.0026

1.0016 

1,0006 

10007

End of ebb current.

Surface, 

specific 

gravity.

« 1.0141 

1.0013 

1.0016 

1.0013 

1.0014 

1.0012 

1.0012 

1.0010 

1.0006

1.0006 

1.0006 

1.0006

Below.

Depth.

Feet. 

53 

30 

30 

30 

30 

30

48 

60 

48

Specific

gravity.

1.0181 

1.002? 

1.007f 

1. 0087 

l.OOU 

1.001? 

1.0021

1.0012 

l.OOOP i.ooor

a 1872.

The drainage area of the Hudson is estimated by Professor Porter 

as 13,366 square miles, 8,034 of this being above Troy. Its tributariesextend into New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Vermont, and the minimum flow past Poughkeepsie is said to be about 1,500,000,000 gallons 

daily. In his report to the Merchants' Association of New York upor
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 'ATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 72 PL. V

A. POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y., THE HEAD OF SALT-WATER INFLUENCE ON 

THE HUDSON.

Frcm photograph in possession of American Museum of Natural History, New York City

B. DELAWARE AND HUDSON CANAL TERMINUS, RONDOUT, N. Y.

From photograph in possession of American Museum of Natural History, New York City.

LEIGHTON.] HUDSON EIVEE. 35

available sources of water supply for that city Mr. James H. Fuertes 

computed a probable flow of 2,900,000,000 gallons daily at the time 

of the measurements in the table above.

Before considering the subject of pollution in the Hudson it will 

be advisable to examine briefly into the character of the river and to 

contrast the conditions which prevail with those dealt with in connection with the Passaic. We have seen that the Passaic River is a comparatively small stream, and that it has upon its banks numerous large 

cities and towns which pour into it a volume of sewage at times greater 

than the flow of the river. In the Hudson Basin we have an area more 

than thirteen times the size of the Passaic, contributing to a flow 

which exceeds the latter in like proportion. Consequently the 

amount of sewage poured into the river must be as great in proportion to the flow as that in the Passaic and of similar character and 

distribution in order to accomplish the serious results that we have 

noted in the latter. From the cities in the basin of the Hudson River 

and its tributaries there comes a pollution far greater in amount than 

from those in the Passaic Basin, yet the proportion of contaminating 

matter to the total flow is so much less in the Hudson than in the Passaic that they bear no significant relation to one another. Few if any 

points in the Hudson watershed have been damaged to a degree 

which at all compares with the distress that has arisen along the Passaic Valley, because of the fact that the natural flow of the Hudson 

so largely dilutes the sewage poured into it that not infrequently the 

effects thereof are not traceable by sanitary analysis. In the year 

1893 Dr. Thomas M. Drown, now president of Lehigh University, 

found that the water from the river above Poughkeepsie, which is 

below practically all of the polluting points in the basin, did not 

reveal upon analysis any serious traces of sewage matter; indeed, the 

water appeared altogether better than that of the Schuylkill River, 

from which the city of Philadelphia has for years been drawing the 

greater part of its supply.

TABLE X. Average analyses of Hudson River water at Poughkeepsie, June, 1893. a

[Parts per 100,000.]

At intake of Poughkeepsie waterworks, average of 9 samples taken,

At one-third distance from east shore, 

average of 19 samples taken at surface, 30 feet and 50 feet below surface . 

At two-thirda distance from the east 

shore, average of 19 samples taken 

at surface, 30 feet and 59 feet below

7 miles above Poughkeepsie, average 

of 6 samples across river, 30 feet beAlbumenoid 

ammonia.

0.0144 

.0137

.0149 

.0143

Free 

ammonia.

0.0031 

.0034

.0034 

.0034

Nitrogen 

as 

nitrates.

0.0007 

.0006

.0006 

.0006

Nitrogen 

as 

nitrites.

0.0108 

.0106

.0110 

.0095

Oxygen 

consumed.

0.5197 

.5159

.5389 

.4606

Chlorine.

0.110 

.107

.109 

.113

a From report of James H. Fuertes to Merchants' Association of New York,
36 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAB NEW YOEK CITY. [NO. 72.

Ill considering pollution upon the Hudson it will be necessary to 

take into account only that part lying above Poughkeepsie, for saltwater influence extends up to this point, and this of itself destroys 

many resources which have been noted in the preceding pages as 

subject to damage by pollution. All succeeding calculations will be 

based upon the watershed above this point unless otherwise noted. 

Above Poughkeepsie the river still maintains the character of an 

inland-traffic course, plied by steamers and canal boats. Pollution 

is therefore unavoidable, for if all city sewage were excluded from 

the river the ejecta from passenger steamers passing up and down 

would make the raw water unsafe as a domestic supply, especially 

when such matter was discharged near a supply intake. It appears, 

then, from what has gone before, that from the standpoint of pollution 

the Hudson divides into three sections: First, that within the saltwater influence, i. e., from New York to Poughkeepsie; second, that 

between Poughkeepsie and Troy, which by reason of its commercial 

value must be polluted; third, the upper or highland section, along 

which power sites are available and which partakes of the character 

of an ordinary power stream. In order to show the extent and population of the country drained by the Hudson the following table has 

been prepared, in which the populations have been calculated according to the Twelfth Census Reports:

TABLE XI. Drainage areas and population in the Hudson River Basin.

State. County.

Ulster ...................

Number 

ofmunicipalities.

11

11

20

8

21

21

1

1

1

12

11

16

6

13

17

19

19

14

21

19

3

1

8

13

10

Combined 

area in 

square 

miles.

649

940

657

800

1,767

1,459

a 896. 7

a 72

a39.3

a40

567

396

647

200

499

643

691

772

660

1,157

683

a 60. 7

a45

a239

a 520

«292

Population.

11,382

29,943

31,110

61,089

4,947

51,049

117,518

917

2,024

1,802

42,842

47,488

26,854

46,852

165,571

121,697

43,211

77,337

31,478

88,422

59,410

8,121

2,134

43,191

19,407

13,031

Population per 

square 

mile.

17.5

31.8

55.9

76.4

2.8

35

131

12.7

51.5

45

75.4

119.9

41.5

234.3

331.9

189.3

62.5

100.2

47.7

76.4

86.9

13.4

47.4

180.7

37.3

44.6

Sewered population.

12,613

3,521

24,173

21,074

71,726

28,479

20,929

2,327

31,682

132,382

86,383

9,528

24,029

8,219

24,535

19, 495

a These areas are estimated and are only approximately correct.

North of Poughkeepsie, on the east side, there flow into the Hudson, 

in the order mentioned, Crum Elbow Creek, Fallsburg and Landsman 

kills, Stony Creek, Roeliff Jansen Kill, Claverack and Kinderhook
LBIOHTON.] HUDSON EIVER. 37

creeks, Moordener, Wynant and Poeston kills, Hoosic River, Batten 

Kill, Moses Kill, and Schroon River. Of these, Crum Elbow Creek, 

Fallsburg Kill, Stony and Claverack creeks, Roeliff Jansen and Moses 

kills, and Schroon River are not important from the standpoint of 

pollution, as they flow into the Hudson in a comparatively pure state. 

Landsman and Wynant kills and Kinderhook Creek receive a certain 

amount of pollution indirectly at the centers of population in the 

courses of the three streams. Hoosic River is badly polluted, and 

Batten Kill to a less extent.

On the west side of the Hudson the river branches enter in the 

following order: Rondout Creek, Esopus, Catskill, Hannacrois, and 

Coeyman creeks, Norman Kill, Mohawk River, Anthony Kill, Fish 

Creek, Snook Kill, and Sacandaga, Indian, Cedar, and Rock rivers. 

Of these, Hannacrois and Coeyman creeks, Norman and Snook kills, 

and Sacandaga, Indian, Cedar, and Rock rivers need no discussion 

because of their comparative freedom from pollution. Rondout, 

Kaaterskill, and Catskill creeks receive considerable indirect and private drain pollution, while Wallkill a ad Mohawk rivers and Esopus 

and Fish creeks are directly polluted by sewage systems.

It has already been stated that pollution along the middle or navigable section of the Hudson above salt-water influence is unavoidable, 

even if city sewage were entirely excluded from the river. In order 

to make the whole pure it would be necessary to close the river to 

commerce, and as its value as a means of transportation far overtops 

all other values which it may have, such a suggestion is manifestly 

absurd. We are forced, then, to conclude that, for the present at 

least, while pollution may unfit the Hudson up to Troy for use as a 

domestic water supply without filtration, the damage to the resources 

is insignifiant compared to the damage which would occur by excluding sewage from the river. While the water remains fit for filtration, 

then, the Middle Hudson is of more value as a polluted stream than 

it would be if preserved unpolluted. But if the time should ever 

come when the condition of the Hudson should approach that of the 

Lower Passaic, then it would be highly necessary to enforce sewage 

purification upon the towns and cities along the banks. Such a contingency is, however, very remote.

The reports of the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Census bureaus 

show that the growth in population along the Hudson below the mouth 

of the Mohawk has not been marked. During the last decade the 

cities of Albany, Troy, and Hudson have actually decreased in population, while the gain in others has been subnormal. Any alarming increase in the amount of sewage poured into the Hudson can not, 

therefore, be expected, and it will not probably be in danger of becoming the consummate pest that the Passaic has become should there 

be no regulation of sewage disposal for generations.

It will be necessary to consider the sources of pollution along the
38 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW ?ORK CITY. [NO. 72.

middle section of the Hudson in order that the conditions there existing may be clearly shown. Catskill, Hudson, Albany, Rensselaer, 

Watervliet, and Troy (including Lansingburg) are sewered cities 

along the middle section of the river, containing a combined population of 204,196. The amount of sewage discharged from these places 

is unknown; no gagings have been made, and any estimate which 

might be given would not be even approximately correct. Judging 

from the population involved it might be expressed as about one-half 

that discharged into the lower section of the Passaic.

Catskill is a village of 5,484 inhabitants, having shown a growth of 

11.5 per cent during the last decade. The manufacture of bricks 

forms a large industry, and the textile mills are important. Its 

source of water supply is the Hudson, the water from which is filtered 

previous to distribution. A system of sewerage has been extended 

throughout the corporate limits, and the sewage is discharged, unpurified, into the mouth of Catskill Creek.

Hudson is a city in Columbia County, which is largely devoted to 

manufactures of iron and lumber. It is also the seat of several State 

homes and schools. During the past decade the population has 

dropped from 9,970 to 9,528. It is supplied with filtered water from 

the Hudson, andv discharges about 1,200,000 gallons of unpurified 

sewage daily through a combined system of sewerage.

Albany, the capital of the State of New York, has also decreased in 

population. During the decade 1890-1900 the loss amounted to .81 per 

cent. Although in the past the city has suffered severely from polluted 

water supply, the niters recently installed under the direction of Mr. 

Alien Hazen, M. Am. Soc. C. E., have made Hudson River water 

acceptable. The sewers discharge raw wastes into the Hudson, but 

there appear to be no available records of gagings of the amount. 

The average daily consumption of water at the present time is, however, about 18,000,000 gallons.

Rensselaer, situated opposite Albany, in Rensselaer County, is a 

municipality in which there has been a slight growth, the population, 

according to the Twelfth Census, being 7,466. It is supplied with 

water from the Hudson, filtered by a Jewell mechanical filter. A 

separate system of sewerage discharges raw wastes into the river, the 

amount of which is said to average about 1,500,000 gallons daily. 

The accuracy of this statement is uncertain, however, and it is probable that the actual discharge is considerably more than the above.

Watervliet, formerly known as West Troy, and Troy, which now 

includes the former city of Lansingburg, have a combined population 

of 87,567. The increase in population at Watervliet and Lansingburg has been normal, but at Troy the Twelfth Census returns show 

a decrease in the last decade of 300. Troy water is largely taken 

from the Hudson and has caused a great amount of disease. Plans 

are now being executed which will relieve this condition by the conservance of a highland supply a short distance away from the city.
LEIQHTON.] HUDSON RIVER. 39

At Lansingburg tlie drainage into the Hudson lias been defective, 

and plans for making more perfect, more direct pollution have been 

approved by the State board of health.

Besides the above-mentioned municipalities there are located upon 

the banks of this section of the Hudson the following small places 

included in Table XII, some of which have no public sewerage systems, yet which furnish considerable pollution.

TABLE XII. Population, water supply, and sewerage of certain towns on Hudson

River,

Place.

Hyde Park. ....................................

Bath...........................................

Ehinebeck. _..._... ,___. ____.._ ________.._

Tivoli...... ....................................

Population.

1890.

4,237 

3,024 

3,455 

3,669 

3,821 

3,261 

1,649 

1,350 

1,127 

1,611

1900.

3,679 

2,171 

3,283 

3,935 

3,806 

4,994 

1,494 

1,153 

1,214 

3,735

Change.

- 540 

+ 147 

- 173 

H- 283 

- 15 

+1,733 

- 155 

- 197 

+ 87 

+1,124

Water 

supply.

Yes.......

No.... ...

Yes.......

....do. .

No. ...

Yes.......

 do. .

Yes........

Sewerage.

No. 

Do. 

Do. 

'Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do.

Yes.

Above Troy navigation on the Hudson is confined to the transfer of 

canal boats through the pool of the State dam at Troy up the river to 

Waterford, where they enter the Champlain Canal. According to 

recent reports there has been a reduction in canal traffic in New York 

State, so that the value of the river above Troy for heavy traffic can 

be regarded as somewhat transitory. Above this point, then, the 

river is valuable principally for power, water supply, and ice.

Civic pollution becomes more important above the confluence of the 

Mohawk, where the flow is considerably less, and the danger is that, 

as the cities increase in population, there will arise conditions similar 

to those on the Passaic. The cities and villages above Troy have all 

shown a healthy growth during the past decade, and, strangely 

enough, have collectively increased at a rate far higher than places 

nearer the metropolis.

TABLE XIII. Centers of pollution on Upper Hudson.

City.

SandyHill ,. ._. -- - .

Population.

1890.

23,519

(a)

2,679

1,387 (a) 

3,895 

9,509

1900.

23,910 

3,146

4,695

1,601 

3,251 

4,473 

12,613

Sewerage.

Yes.......

Combined 

No. ......

Yes. ......

No. ......

Yes.......

Place of 

disposal.

Hudson andMo- 

 hawk. 

Mohaw k 

and Hudson, 

Hudson ..

Hudson..

Hudson ..

Water 

supply.

Yes.

Hudson 

River.

Plum 

Brook. 

No. 

Yes. 

Do. 

Do.

a Incorporated since 1890.
40 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAK NEW YOKK CITY. [NO. It.

The above-named cities and villages represent a sewered population 

of 47,615. Mechanicville is a village devoted to manufacturing, the 

thread industry being the most important. It shows a growth of 

about 74 per cent during the past decade. Schuylerville has considerable private drain pollution, yet it is without marked effect upon 

the river. At Fort Edward there is a satisfactory water supply, and 

a sewerage system has been recently constructed which extends nearly 

throughout the corporate limits.

Sandy Hill is another thriving village, showing a growth of 55 per 

cent during the last decade. Although no sewerage system has yet 

been constructed, the river pollution is comparatively serious. In 

1896 plans for a system of sewerage and disposal works were submitted 

to the State board of health and accepted, so that even though nothing further has been accomplished the establishment of another source 

of pollution can not be far removed. Glens Falls, a short distance 

above Fort Edward, is supplied with water and sewerage systems, 

which are well extended through the village. The place of the final 

disposal of the sewage is described by the village engineer, George P. 

Slack, as a " sink hole in ledge," which probably means that it takes 

the most obvious course, i. e., the Hudson River, accompanied, very 

likely, by a slight purification. This village has a population of 

12,613, having increased from 9,509 during the last decade.

This part of the river, comprising in its drainage area about 5,000 

square miles, is said to have an average flow of about 174,528,000 

cubic feet daily, which is probably approximately correct. It partakes of the nature of a highland river, having a fall from Glens Falls 

to Troy, a distance of 46.5 miles, of 282 feet, and is largely given up 

to lumber business and lime manufacture.

Waterford and Cohoes are at the mouth of the Mohawk. At 

both places mill manufacturing is the largest industry, Cohoes possessing one of the largest cotton mills in the world. Pollution from these 

two cities, added to that already imparted to the Mohawk from cities 

above, is responsible for the high morbidity rate from waterborne 

diseases in the cities of Troy and Albany.

EASTERN TRIBUTARIES OF THE HUDSON.

The tributaries of the Hudson that receive only pollution incident 

to the drainage of unoccupied land require only slight consideration 

in these pages, while those that are comparatively normal as to condition of water do not come within the scope of this discussion. The 

tributaries entering the Hudson from the east belonging to the first 

class above noted are Landsman and Wynant kills and Kinderhook 

Creek.

Landsman Kill, a small stream entering the Hudson at Yanderburg 

Cove, carries considerable pollution from the village of Rhinebeck, 

which contains 1,484 inhabitants. A report from the secretary of the
LBIGHTOBT.] EASTERN TRIBUTARIES OF HUDSON RIVER. 41

local board of health stated that a water supply has been provided and 

that the village has no system of sewerage. It is further stated that 

at least 75,000 gallons of sewage a day enters the stream. The method 

of estimating this amount is not shown, however, and it is more than 

probable that the result is a wide approximation made with questionable data. However this may be, it is certain that the amount ejected 

has no appreciable effect upon the lower reaches of the river, and its 

presence is apparent locally only in the area immediately around the 

various points of discharge. The village of Rhinebeck has decreased 

considerably in population during the past decade, and the question 

of future pollution at this point can not be regarded as serious.

Wynant Kill empties into the Hudson a short distance below Troy, 

having flowed northwest through an agricultural region. Its ultimate 

source of supply is a chain of lakes in and around the town of Sandlake, in Rensselaer County. At Averill Park and other small settlements there is unimportant pollution. The drainage area seems to be 

slowly losing its population and the future is therefore not regarded 

with apprehension.

Kinderhook Creek passes through country similar to that drained by 

Wynant Kill. Upon its banks are the comparatively important settlements of Nassau, Valatie, and Stockport. The latter is upon Claverack Creek near its confluence with Kinderhook. The observations 

above made may well apply to the conditions upon this creek.

Hoosic River and Batten Kill are polluted to a greater extent than 

the rivers considered immediately above. Both of these streams, and 

especially the former, are damaged considerably by contaminating 

waters.

Upon Hoosic River are the centers of population shown in Table 

XIV.

TABLE XIV. Centers of population on Hoosic River.

Name.

Schaghticoke ......................

Population.

1890.

1,258

7,014 

1,598

3,971 

16,047

1900.

1,061

5,671 

1,578

5,656 

24,300

Water.

No ..... 

....do--.

____do--.

Yes..... 

....do...

..._do.-- 

____do.-_

Sewerage.

No; many private drains in Hoosic. 

No. 

Do. 

Yes; separate system. 

No; many private drains in Owl 

Kill. 

Yes. 

Yes; partly emptying into Hoosic.

« Part of Pittston town; no separate returns.

The Hoosic drainage basin extends through Rensselaer and parts 

of Washington and Columbia counties into the States of Vermont 

and Massachusetts, comprising an area of 730 square miles. The 

average flow of the river is stated to be about *50 cubic feet per second, with a minimum of 180. It is a most important power system, 

and for that reason there is a fairly large population within the basin.
42 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAK NEW YORK CITY. [NO. 72.

At Schaghtieoke, a village of 1,061 inhabitants, there is no public 

water supply and no sewerage system, but there is nevertheless a 

large amount of pollution from drains and factories, which undoubtedly has an appreciable effect upon the water of the river.

At Hoosic Falls there are 5,671 inhabitants supplied with water 

from wells dug along the banks of the river. Filtration is such that 

the pollution above this point does not affect the water drawn from 

the wells. There is also a separate sewerage system, emptying raw 

sewage into the Hoosic.

On a branch of the Hoosic called Owl Kill is the village of Cambridge, with 1,578 inhabitants. It has a water supply and no sewers, 

so that the pollution, although considerable in amount, is somewhat 

indirect.

Bennington, in Vermont, with a population of 5,656, has a sewerage 

system emptying into the Wallomsic, a branch of the Hoosic.

At North Adams, Mass., a city of 24,200 inhabitants, lying near 

the head of Hoosic River, there arises the most serious contamination 

along the whole length of the stream. The condition is at times 

exceedingly offensive, and the local board of health has found it 

advisable to prohibit the sale of ice from the river and from polluted 

ponds emptying into it. The condition is well set forth in the reports 

of the Massachusetts State board of health. The following table of 

average analyses is taken from the report issued for the year 1900 

(p. 330), the water having been taken from the river at Williamstown, a short distance below North Adams.

TABLE XV. Chemical examination of water from the Hoosic River at Williamstown, Mass.

[Averages by years, in parts per million.]

Date of collection.

1888.. .......

1894.........

1895.. ...... .

1896..... ....

1897.. . .---..

1898.........

1899-........

1900..... ....

Turbidity."

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D.

Color. 6

1.0 

2.3

2.8 

2.1 

2.3 

2.4 

2.8 

2.4

Nitrogen as 

Albuminoid ammonia.

0.187 

.265 

.334 

.326 

.873 

.286 

.505 

.436

Free ammonia.

0.040 

.111 

.146 

.261 

.125 

.152 

.223 

.328

Nitrites.

0.010 

.009 

.013 

.015 

.008 

.005 

.018 

.026

Nitrates.

0.306 

.157 

.162 

.323 

.252 

.187 

.141 

.146

Chlorine.

2.4 

3.5 

3.9 

4.4

2.7 

2.6 

5.0 

4.7

Total 

residue.

102.1 

107.7 

134.1 

118.3 

99.2 

91.3 

123.7 

118.5

Hardness.

78 

81 

81 

64 

58 

69 

65

«" D." is a term used to indicate the general appearance of the water, and means " decided." 

6 Determined according to Nessler standards.

In the above table it is of interest to note the increase from year to 

year in the ammonias, nitrites, and chlorine, indicating unmistakably 

the increase in pollution from North Adams, along with municipal 

growth.

The Hoosic River is therefore a stream which becomes a troublesome nuisance almost at its starting point, and passes through Vermont into New York State in a badly damaged condition. During
I.EIGHTON.] WESTERN TRIBUTARIES OF HUDSON RIVER. 43

the long stretches through New York it improves in quality through 

oxidation of its organic contents and sedimentation of its suspended 

matter, and, in spite of the contamination it receives at various points, 

enters the Hudson probably in better condition than when it crosses 

the New York-Vermont State line. It is the clearest case of interstate pollution which we have yet considered.

Next above the Hoosic is Batten Kill, which is one of the most valuable power streams tributary to the Hudson. It has a drainage area 

of about 450 square miles, and the average flow has been roughly 

determined at about 280 cubic feet per second.

The important centers of population along the river are Greenwich 

and Salem, which have 1,869 and 3,191 inhabitants, respectively. 

Neither of these places has a public sewerage system, yet pollution of 

the river from these points is well marked.

It is a surprising fact that nearly all of the towns and villages 

lying east of the Hudson in New York seem to be uuprogressive, 

many of them having decreased in population during the last decade. 

Pollution is therefore not a growing danger in the eastern tributaries, 

and the water which flows from them into the Hudson is pure as compared with that of the main river.

WESTERN TRIBUTARIES OF THE HUDSON.

Pollution upon the western basin of the Hudson is far more serious 

than that on the east. The facts concerning the important rivers 

joining the main river from the west are given in Table XVI

TABLE XVI. Western tributaries of Hudson River.

Stream or branch.

WaUkill. ......................................

Catskill Creek ....................................

Kaaterskill.-.. ................................

Mohawk River. (See special discussion below.)

Cedar River................................... ....

Number of 

pollution 

points.

3 

16

8 

4 

6 

None. 

2

1 

2 

3

None. 

None. 

None.

Number of sewerage sysl ems.

None. 

3; two doing considerable damage. 

1; part of Kingston system. 

None. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do.

1 

2 

None. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do.

Catskill and Esopus creeks, Wallkill River, and Rondout Creek 

have during the last few months received the attention of the 

engineering corps of the water department of New York City in 

cooperation with the Division of Hydrography of the United States 

Geological Survey. The various drainage areas have been examined, and gaging stations have been established in the streams at 

convenient and important points.
44 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO. 72. 

. RONDOUT CREEK AND WALLKILL RIVER.

Entering the Hudson at Kingston is Rondout Creek, which drains 

an important area in New York and a few square miles in New Jersey. 

Its principal tributary is the Wallkill, whose drainage area is described 

in Water-Supply and Irrigation Paper No. 65, pages 71 and 72. At 

New Paltz, N. Y., a gaging station has been established, and the 

current-meter measurements that have been made at that place since 

July, 1901, are reproduced upon pages 72 and 73 of the abovementioned report.

The principal branch of the Wallkill is Shawangunk Creek. A 

large amount of sewage enters the main river, and of late it has 

increased markedly. The principal foci of pollution are at New 

Paltz, Modena, Gardiner, Wallkill, Walden, Montgomery, Goshen, 

Middletown, Warwick, New Millford, Hamburg, Deckertown, and 

Florida. At Middletown (a manufacturing and dairy center) there 

has been established a sewerage system which discharges into a small 

tributary of the Wallkill a total of about 865,000 cubit feet of sewage 

per day. The damage arising from this practice has been so great 

that it was made the subject of a special investigation by the State 

board of health of New York. In the twelfth annual report of that 

body is an account of the investigation, written by Mr. Charles 

C. Brown, formerly a professor at Union College, Schenectady. A 

part of Professor Brown's report reads as follows:

The condition of the stream in the future, if left unattended to, will become 

rapidly worse, for the amount of pollution entering the stream is rapidly increasing. The sewerage system of the city of Middletown is practically but two years 

old [1891] and the proportion of houses connected with the system is still quite 

small. * * * Additional sewers are put in at frequent intervals and the city 

is steadily increasing in population. * * *

This makes early attention to the improvement of the stream absolutely necessary.

As far as Mohegan Brook is concerned, the trouble could be remedied by constructing an outlet sewer to Wallkill River. I believe the river is not large enough 

to take care of the amount of sewage discharged from the main sewer without 

the production of nuisance. Villages along the course of the "Wallkill below Middletown are discussing the propriety of using the water for domestic purpose.

Since the date of this report, Middletown has increased to a city of 

14,552 inhabitants, a gain of 21»per cent over the returns for 1890. 

The average daily water consumption is 2,000,000 gallons, and Mohegan 

Brook has been condemned by the courts as a sewage course, making 

it necessary for the city to provide a sewage-purification plant.

At Goshen the pollution of the small creeks which run through the 

village is remarkable. In a report made to the State board of health 

in 1890 Professor Brown stated:

This brook at present receives much drainage from houses and business blocks 

in the village and nearly all the street drainage. But the headwaters of one branch 

»of the stream furnish the water supply for the village, and what is left forms only 

a small brook, which must become very foul during ordinary seasons when there 

are no frequent heavy showers to flush it out. On my last visit I found the brook 

in this foul condition, throughout both its main branches in the village. * * *
LEIGHTON.] ESOPUS CREEK. 45

I have no doubt that the condition of this brook is responsible to a large extent 

for the epidemics of zymotic diseases to which the village seems to be subject.

A water and sewerage system has been installed at Walden, a thriving dairying center of 3,147 inhabitants. The total daily water consumption is 80,000 gallons, but as the "combined" system of sewerage 

has been installed the discharge into the Ten Broeck and Wallkill 

is considerably more than the water consumption in stormy seasons.

Deckertown, N. J|., having a population of 1,306, has installed an 

excellent water-supply system, and although no sewers have yet 

been laid a large amount of pollution enters the Wallkill. This 

forms another opportunity for future trouble arising from interstate pollution. The difficulties of regulating the New Jersey end of 

the watershed were recognized in the report of the engineering committee of the ^Merchants' Association of New York upon the Water 

Supply of the City of New York (p. 78). It was regarded as a " serious 

complication " in the way of adopting the Wallkill water for the city of 

New York, although these complications were recognized as due as 

much to other features of interstate regulation as to pollution.

Chester and Montgomery, villages of 1,250 and 973 inhabitants, 

respectively, are supplied with water systems, and the pollution of 

the river is by private drains and contaminated run-off water only.

New Paltz, a village of 1,022 inhabitants, furnishes a surprising 

amount of contamination, even though it possesses no system of sewerage. Plans were approved by the State authorities for such a system October 27, 1892, which provided for the ultimate disposal of the 

sewage in Wallkill River, with three main points of discharge. 

Although almost a decade has passed the system has not been laid, 

and in the interim extensive private sewers have been laid into the 

Wallkill in defiance of the State authorities.

ESOPUS CREEK.

A description of the drainage area of Esopus Creek appears upon 

page 63 of Water-Supply and Irrigation Paper No. 65, and currentmeter discharge measurements which have been made at Kingston 

since July, 1901, are reported upon pages 64 and 65 of the same paper.

On Esopus Creek above the city of Kingston there is only incidental 

pollution from a few small hamlets, the effects of which upon the river 

are not important. At Kingston there is a system of sewerage, a part 

of which discharges directly into the stream. Previous to the installation of this system the State board of health sent its consulting expert, 

Professor Brown, tp examine into the question of probable results of 

such installation, with especial reference to its effect at Saugerties, 

where at that time the water was used for drinking purposes by about 

900 mill hands. A consideration of the ice industry and the damage 

that it would probably suffer by the installation of the sewers was 

included. After determining the physical characteristics of the river 

with reference to its natural advantages for assisting the process of
46 ^ SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO.72.

sedimentation, and taking into consideration the distance of the proposed outlet above Saugerties, Professor Brown made no very direct 

statement of the probable effect of Kingston's sewage, but finally 

recommended that all the sewage from the west end of the city be 

dumped into Bondout Greek, where it would be conducted more 

directly to the Hudson. This suggestion was not followed when the 

sewerage system was laid, and the results have been marked in Esopus 

Creek, so that it became necessary for the city of Kingston to construct a sewage purification plant. When that part of the system 

now under construction has been completed it will properly dispose 

of the sewage from two of the nine wards now discharging into Esopus 

Creek.

CATSKILL CREEK.

A description of the drainage basin of Catskill Oeek appears 

upon page 61 of Water-Supply and Irrigation Paper No. 65. The records of current-meter measurements of the stream at South Cairo, 

N. Y., are set forth upon page 62 of said paper. The Catskill, with 

its principal branch, the Kaaterskill, is another of the western tributaries of the Hudson that is damaged only slightly by pollution. Here 

and there are small villages along the banks, none of which have sewerage systems, but which contribute manufacturing wastes and 

private-drain sewage in appreciable amounts, yet which as a whole 

have no marked effect upon the character of the water. Catskill, a 

city at the mouth of the river, is the only large place on it, and the 

pollution from there is carried quickly into the Hudson.

Hannacrois and Coeyman creeks and Norman Kill are not important from the standpoint of pollution.

MOHAWK RIVER.

This great western arm of the Hudson is nearly as widely known 

as the main river itself. The valley of the Mohawk was made famous 

in colonial times by Indian wars, and its beauty and the fertility of 

its land made it a favored line of western travel along which New 

England emigrants passed or within which they settled according to 

their tastes and resources. Cities along the banks of this river have 

grown into prominence, especially since the opening of the Erie Canal, 

and it is a favored section of the country, which is generally regarded 

as continuously prosperous.

Under the authority of the United States Geological Survey and 

the New York State engineer and surveyor, the Mohawk has been 

studied as has no other tributary of the Hudson. The results of this 

work are recorded in the Twentieth Annual Report of the Survey 

and in the State Report by Edward A. Bond, State engineer, made 

December 1, 1901, entitled Report on the measurement of the volume 

of streams and the flow of water in the State of New York.

According to the latter report the drainage area of the Mohawk is 

3,400 square miles. Results of measurements of flow at a station
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 72 PL. VI

A. A LAKE IN THE CATSKILL MOUNTAINS AT THE HEAD OF THE CATSKILL 

RIVER, NEW YORK.

From photograph in possession of American Museum of Natural History, New York City.

£. WINNISOOK LAKE, NEW YORK. 

From photograph in possession of American Museum of Natural History, New York City.

LEIGHTON.] MOHAWK RIVER. 47

located at the New York State feeder dam, 4 miles below Schenectady, 

are expressed in the following diagram:

24,000

Sec.-ft. JAN - FEB. MAR. APR. MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT. NOV. DEO. 

1020 1020 1020 1020 1020 1020 1020 1020 1020 1020 1020 1020

FIG. 2.-Discharge of Mohawk River at Rexford Flats, N. Y., 1898-1900.
48 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAB NEW YOEK CITY. [NO. 72.

Similar measurements were made at Little Falls, Herkimer County 

with results expressed as follows:

See.-ft.

FIG. 3 Discharge of Mohawk River at Little Falls, N. Y., 1898-1900.
LBIGHTON.] MOHAWK EIVEE. 49

The principal tributaries of the Mohawk are Schoharie Creek, with 

a drainage area of 974 square miles, East Canada Creek, draining 

285.7, and West Canada Creek, the basin of which covers 584 square 

miles. This leaves to the main river and minor tributaries a drainage area of about 1,557 square miles. The centers of population on 

the Mohawk proper, from the point of view of pollution, are set forth 

in Table XVII:

TABLE XVII. Centers of population on Mohawk River.

Name of municipality.

Fort Plain .....................................

Little Falls.... ..._... .. .. 

Her kimer ------ __..... .. .._ ._ -. -

Utica... . .......................................

Population.

1890.

19,903 

17,336 

1,190 

2,089 

2,864 

721 

1,263 

8,783

~'"Y,m 

4,057 

2,291 

44,007 

14,991 

1,122

120,422

1900.

31,682 

20,929 

1,145 

2,101 

2,444 

634 

1,873 

10,381 

5,555 

2,028 

5,133 

2,664 

56,383 

18,343 

977

162,277

Water 

supply.

Yes..... 

... .do...

-..do...

(a)

Yes _.

Yes ._

 .do...

 .daYes ..

No .. 

Yes 

 doNo 

Sewerage

system.

Yes.... ... 

 . .do 

.... do 

 («) Yes.... ...

v (a)

Yes.. 

....do 

T«W

Partial 

Yes. ...

....doNo. ......

Sewered 

ulation.

31,682 

20,929 

1,145

2,444

10,381 

5,555

5,138

56,383 

18,343

152,000

« No returns.

The city of Schenectady, the first above Cohoes, is an important 

manufacturing center. It is provided with water from wells outside 

the city limits, a new supply which was installed when the city was

RAILROAD MIU.S FROM ffOMC

FIG. 4. Diagram showing extent of pollution at various places along Mohawk River.

obliged to give upthe use of the raw water from the Mohawk because 

of pollution from the cities above. There is also established a separate system of sewerage, from which, according to rough measureIRR 72 02 4
50 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAE NEW YOEK CITY. [NO. 72.

ments, there are poured into the river 6,000,000 gallons of raw sewage 

daily.

Amsterdam, a short distance above Schenectady, is also provided 

with a separate system of sewerage. The small villages of Fort 

Hunter, Fultonville, Fonda, Canajoharie, Fort Plain, and Nelliston 

follow in the order stated, each adding its increment to befoul the 

water of the Mohawk. At Fonda and Fort Plain the sanitary and 

storm sewers pour considerable sewage into the river, while at the 

other places there is only the incidental pollution common to unsewered towns.

At St. Johnsville there is provided a double system of water supply, one part of which is for domestic purposes and the other, drawn 

from a local creek, for fire and domestic purposes. The filthy 

impregnation of the soil is immense, and the report of the secretary 

of the local board of health states that, while the amount of sewage 

flowing into the river has not been determined, there is "plenty of it."

Little Falls has established a combined system of sewerage, which 

has been extended throughout the corporate limits. Herkimer has a 

separate system, which discharges about 200,000 gallons of raw sewage 

daily. At Ilion sewers have been extended practically throughout 

the corporate limits, and from them about 300,000 gallons are poured 

into the Mohawk. Farther up on the river is the large city of Utica, 

grossly polluting the river, and finally Rome, the sewerage system of 

which constitutes the head of pollution.

TRIBUTARIES OF MOHAWK RIVER.

Cobleskill is the only important point of pollution upon Schoharie 

Creek, while West and East Canada creeks have not at the present 

time sufficient pollution to warrant attention here.

The foulest branch of the Mohawk is Cayadutta Creek, a small 

stream entering the Mohawk from the north at Fonda. The nuisance 

occasioned by sewage from Gloversville and Johnstown has been of 

sufficient importance to demand a special investigation by order of 

the governor of the State of New York.

The following extracts are taken from the Eighteenth Annual 

Report of the State Board of Health of New York (pp. 85-100):

The undersigned residents of the city of Johnstown, N. Y., respectfully beg 

to present to your attention the unwholesome condition of a certain portion of 

this city, situated along East Main street and near the foot of Chase street, consisting of low, marshy land, having communication by a small stream crossing 

Chase and East Main streets, known as Prindle Creek, with Hale Creek, a large 

stream flowing for some distance parallel to East Main street, and about 350 feet 

distant therefrom, and emptying into Schiver's Pond, the waters of which flow 

into Cayadutta Creek and thence into the Mohawk Riverft at Fonda, N. Y., 4 

miles to the south. Into this locality and into the said Prindle Creek the waters 

of which are very low during the summer season at the point where said creek 

crosses East Main street empties a sewer about 12 inches in diameter, running
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 72 PL. VII

A. AUSABLE RIVER, NEW YORK. 

From photograph in possession of American Museum of Natural History, New York City.

If. DEVASEGO FALLS, SCHOHARIE RIVER, NEW YORK. 

From photograph in possession of American Museum of Natural History, New York City.

LKIGHTON.] MOHAWK EIVER. 51

through a portion of East Main street west of said Prindle Creek, which cpnveys 

sewage from the houses along that portion of East Main street and from the 

houses along that portion of Fon Glair street, which intersects East Main street, 

being about 35 in number. Into Hale Creek, a short distance to the northwest, 

and at a point within 250 feet of the residences along said East Main street, 

empties another sewer of the same size, which conveys sewage from the houses 

and business places along the remaining portion of East Main street west of 

Prindle Creek, and from the houses on Glebe and a portion of East State street, 

which intersect said East Main street, in all being about 150 in number. These 

sewers have been laid a number of years, and their outflow has been recognized 

and pronounced by the local board of health to be a public nuisance, and orders 

have been issued by said board for the abatement of the nuisance. Into said 

Prindle Creek and the territory aforesaid at or near Chase street also empties a 

sewer pipe about 14 inches in diameter, running through Chase street and other 

streets to the south thereof, and which conveys the sewage from the houses on 

Prospect street, Whitmore avenue, East Clinton, Cady, and East Montgomery 

streets, a part of East State street, and a part of Fon Glair street. The three 

sewers mentioned convey all the sewage from the houses and business places in 

the southeastern portion of the city, comprising in all about 500 in number. The 

outlet of the said Chase street sewer is within 400 feet of the public school on 

East State street, at which there is a daily attendance of about 300 pupils.

The condition of affairs in this portion of the city has been frequently, during 

the past two years, called to the attention of the local board of health and the 

common council of the city, as the extracts from their minutes of proceedings 

hereto annexed and made a part of this petition will show, and although they 

have frequently taken the matter into consideration, no steps have been taken to 

correct or abate the nuisance and relieve the residents of that portion of the city.

The territory in the neighborhood where these sewer deposits are made is 

surrounded by residences of the better class, most of them recently built, and 

those along East Main street, east of the Prindle Creek, which number thirty-five, 

have thus far been unable to get any sewerage, because it is alleged that the bed 

of the Prindle Creek is not low enough to permit of sewering into that stream, 

and the local authorities have thus far refused to provide any other method.

In this connection it may be well to state that all the sewage of the city of 

Gloversville, and most of that of the city of Johnstown, is discharged, directly or 

indirectly, into the Cayadutta Creek, and thence into the Mohawk River at Fonda, 

without being treated, and it has been suggested that the territory referred to in 

this petition can be properly sewered by a pipe running through the bed of Schrivers Pond into Cayadutta Creek, and it is apparent that no special harm will 

come from this additional quantity of sewage thus disposed of. The undersigned, 

who live within the pernicious influence of this nuisance, which is admitted to 

be a nuisance by the local authorities, respectfully represent that the situation 

demands immediate action, that a loathsome stench pervades the locality under 

certain conditions of temperature, and that already, during the hot weather of this 

sujimer, this stench has been prevalent. Sickness has occurred which has been 

attributed by physicians to this cause. The nuisance increases in gravity every 

year, while the sewage more deeply impregnates and pollutes the soil.

The undersigned beg your excellency to lay the matter before the State board 

of health with instructions to investigate it and adopt such measures as shall 

without delay put an end to this nuisance. Efforts have been made for two years 

past without avail to accomplish this object, and we appeal to your authority to 

set in motion the measures which shall promptly relieve us of a distressing and 

dangerous pest.

[Signed by thirty-eight residents of Johnstown, N. Y.]
52 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [wo.78.

The report of Dr. F. C. Curtis, consulting expert, who went to 

investigate the conditions alleged in the above petition, is as follows:

Johnstown is supplied with sewers which provide for the house waste of a 

considerable portion of the city, all emptying into Cayadutta Creek. East Main 

street, referred to in the petition, is a continuation of Main street into a more 

recently built part of the city. The topography is such that it is impossible for a 

sewer from this section to connect with already existing sewers, as it lies at 

a considerably lower level. East Main street, which is built up with detached 

residences of a good class for some distance, has no sewerage outlet, the residences 

depending upon cesspools for their waste. To the southeast of this street the 

ground rises rather abruptly, and several streets, more or less built up, are laid 

out upon it. Coming down from this territory is a small stream, Prindle Creek, 

which traverses East Main street obliquely and flows across low meadows to 

Cayadutta Creek, or, rather, in its course, through Schrivers Pond. This is the 

natural drainage medium for the southeastern area of the city. The stream as I 

saw it, after prolonged rain, was a considerable one, but it soon dwindles to a very 

moderate flow of perhaps 10 gallons per second. Just before it reaches East Main 

street it crosses Chase street, which extends up the abrupt hillside for a few 

blocks and terminates at the bottom, as do all its parallel streets, in East Main 

street. In this Chase street is a recently laid 12-inch tile sewer which collects 

and carries off the sewage not only of Chase street, but of a number of lateral 

streets which branch into it. This sewer, with no provision for flushing it, 

terminates beneath a small bridge in the little stream, and as the volume of this 

stream is inadequate to carry away the sewage thus turned into it, this deposits 

directly at the sewer outlet and along its course, especially in the low meadow 

land on the other side of East Main street. It becomes a tortuous, uneven, open 

sewer, and by means of its improper use a serious nuisance, inevitably filling the 

surrounding atmosphere with offensive and unwholesome odors. There is no 

question of this, from my own observation, nor on the part of the health officer 

and citizens with whom I conferred.

In the Nineteenth Annual Report of the State Board of Health 

(pp. 74-76) Prof. Olin H. Landreth, who was engaged by the city 

of Johnstown to investigate the matter, reports in part as follows:

The only manufacturing waste of sufficient amount to warrant consideration in 

conjunction with the matter of sewage is the tannery and leather-dressing waste 

and refuse. There are at least 18 establishments in the city engaged in this 

business, employing in the aggregate about 750 men when in ordinary operation.

Returns were duly received from the majority of the concerns, representing 

over two-thirds of the total number of men employed and three-fourths of the 

total output, and means were taken to secure the best estimates possible for the 

remainder of the plants. The aggregate exhibit for all the plants representing 

those covered by both returns and estimates is as follows:

Number of men employed ___.______.____..------------_--__----.---- 746

Weight of hides per annum __...-..-_----...--.-------.---- -pounds.. 5,600,000

Gallons of water per diem _______.___________------.----_------------ 150,000

Weight of lime per annum ._._...-----___---_-----------_---- pounds _ 725,000

Weight of alum per annum .....................--.-----.,----- do.... 230,000

Weight of salt per annum __._--_...___......-----------.------ do.... 1,500,000

Weight of oil vitriol.................... ......_.-.-.-.--.---.- do.... 45,000

Weight of copperas per annum _______. ____...--_--_-_--.- -do_ _ _ _ 6,000

Weight of bluestone per annum.......--....-.-.-----------.-- .do.... 600
LEIGHTON.] MOHAWK RIVER. 53

Weight of muriatic acid __.___..___._._____.__.___._._.._...pounds-. 4,000

Weight of soda ash............................................. do.... 50,000

Weight of hyposulphate soda --..--..--..-..---.. -----..-------do.-.- 18,000

Weight of bichromate potash .--..-..-.....--.-....---.....--.. -do.... 12,000

Weight of fish oils ....................................--.-.-..do..-- 500,000

Weight of flour....................................-...,. ......do--.- 100,000

Weight of logwood............................ --..._. ....--.-.do.-.- 1,500,000

Weight of Brazil wood .......:................................do.... 21,000

Weight of fustic ..............................................do.... 320,000

Weight of hypernic .....-.--.-.-.....-..-.-..-....--......-.-.do.--- 110,000

Weight of quercitron... ___..__________._._...__.___..--... ....do.... 28,000

Weight of gambier............................................do.... 500,000

Weight of anilines.-.--..-..-------..----..---.----.-.-----.-..do-- - 1,000

Weight of lactic acid .-.-.-------.---_..-.-.....-.-.---------. .do.... 1,100

Weight of sal soda ................. .....-------.-------------do.-.- 15,000

Weight of alder wood .....--..-.--.--.--.-.--.-.--.- ..........do.... 7,000

Weight of egg yolk............................. ----------.-..do.-.. 105,000

Accurate statistics of the amount of leather produced from the hides could not 

be obtained, but from estimates made by several individuals conversant with the 

business it is safe to conclude that the weight of leather, independent of the 

materials which it finally contains as filling and coloring matter, is less than onehalf the weight of the hides used, indicating about 3,000,000 pounds per annum 

of refuse animal matter, chemical preservatives, and filth. Certain portions of 

this refuse material are preserved for utilization as by-products, but there is good 

ground for the estimate that not less than one-third of the above amount, or 

1,000,000 pounds, and quite possibly 2,000,000 pounds, of the most offensive parts 

of this refuse from the hides is discharged into the creek. The returns show that 

of the water used by the tanneries less than 1 per cent is taken from the city 

supply, the remainder being about equally divided between creek water and deepwell water.

Of the chemicals tabulated, it is not to be inferred that all pass into the creek, 

nor that all that does pass enters the creek in the chemical form in which they 

are tabulated. A considerable portion of the chemical and coloring matter used 

is carried away in the leather, and much of what remains undergoes neutralization and other chemical changes before entering the creek, and also to some extent 

after entering the creek, as not all the establishments employ the same methods 

and chemicals nor discharge their refuse at the same time. The coloring and 

filling materials are largely retained in the leather, while smaller proportions of 

the active chemicals in the aggregate are so retained, and this latter class of materials forms the larger portion of the whole. Of the 5,800.000 pounds of chemicals 

and other materials used, not including the hides, my inquiries and study of the 

question lead to the conclusion that not less than 3,000,000 pounds are discharged 

after use into the stream either in solution or suspension (except as to the spent 

time), widely changed or neutralized, highly polluted and diluted. If to this we 

added 1,500,000 pounds per annum refuse from hides, estimated above, the aggregate of animal refuse, chemical, coloring matter, etc., discharges into the creek, 

independently of the water with which it is diluted, will be 4,500,000 pounds per 

annum, or 15,000 pounds per working day.

The general effect of pollution in the Mohawk and Hudson, from 

Rome to Albany, has been carefully studied by Prof. C. C. Brown 

and Dr. Theobald Smith, under the authority of the State board of 

health, and a statement of the results is made in the reports for 1892
54 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO. 72.

and 1893, pages 531-547 and 680-736, respectively. Chemical examinations of water from Hudson and Mohawk rivers through Schenectady 

to Cohoes were made by Prof. William P.. Mason and Willis G. 

Tucker, while the biological and engineering work was under the 

charge of Messrs. Smith and Brown, respectively.

The investigation shows in a striking manner the effect of pollution 

upon the waters of the Mohawk. Starting above Rome, where the 

water is practically normal both from a chemical and bacteriological 

standpoint, the samples taken at different points along the river to 

the mouth show greater or less pollution according as the points from 

which they were taken were near to or some distance below the outlets of sewers of the different cities. By way of illustration, the series 

of chemical analyses made by Prof. William P. Mason is reproduced 

in Table XVIII, taken from the Twelfth Annual Report of the State 

Board of Health of New York, pages 544-545.

TABLE XVIII. Pollution at different points on Mohawk and Hudson rivers. 

[The analyses are in parts per 100,000.]

2. Just below Mill Creek ..............

4. Below New York Central bridge- - - 

5. Just below main Schenectady sewer 

6. Between Delaware and Hudson

8. One mile above aqueduct dam ......

11. Below Cohoes Falls. -_._._. ..........

12. Waterford intake (Hudson River). 

13. Troy intake- .--.----. -.--...-

14. Below State dam (ebb). .. 

15. A (ebb) ..............................

16. B (ebb) ..............................

17. C (ebb) ..............................

18. D (ebb) ..............................

19. E (ebb) .....-.... -........----.-..

20. F (ebb) ..............................

22. G (middle), ebb.....................

23. G, Albany intake (ebb) .............

24. H (ebb)...................-._........

25. I (ebb). .................. ...... ......

26. J (ebb) ................... ...........

27. K (ebb)......-......-........---.-..

28. L, Van Wies Point (ebb) ...........

29. Below State dam (flood). ...........

30. A (flood)---..---. ....--.........--..-

31. B (flood). ...... -...----..............

32. C (flood).-.. ...... ...... ............

33. D (flood)...... ....... --......-...--..

34. E (flood).. ...... .....................

35. F (flood). .................. ..........

36. Q- (east shore) (flood)...............

37. Albany intake (flood). ........ ......

38. H (flood). ...... ...... ................

39. J (flood).... ..........................

40. J (flood).......--........--......

41. K (flood). ............................

42. L, Van Wies Point (flood) ..........

Chlorine.

0.25 

.40 

.50 

.45 

.45 

.45

.40 

.40 

.40 

.40 

.40 

.40 

.40 

.25 

.25 

.25 

-.25 

.25 

.25 

.25 .25- 

.25 

.25 

.25 

.25 

.30 

.20 

.25 

.25 

.25 

.25 

.25 

.25 

.25 

.25 

.25 

.25 

.25 

.25 

.25 

.30 

.25 

.30 

.30 

.30

Nitrogen 

as 

nitrites.

0.0000 

.0004 

.0004 

.0004 

.0004 

.0005

(«) 

.0004 

.0002 

.0002 

.0005 

.0002 

.0003 

.0000 

.0000 

.0000 

(&) 

(&) 

( 6 ) 

(6) 

(b) 

( 6) 

.0000 

.0000 (< >

.0000 (*; (fe ) (»)

(0)

.0010 

.0000 (« ) ( 6)

.0000 

.0000 < b )

.0000 

.0000 

.0000 

.0001 <&)

.0002 ( b ) ( b)

Nitrogen 

as nitrates.

0.0206 

.0202 

.0202 

.0289 

.0289 

.0288

.0288 

.0244 

.0246 

.0246 

.0288 

.0246 

.0290 

.0123 

.0041 

.0123 

.0123 

.0164 

.0164 

.0123 

.0123 

.0123 

.0041 

.0041 

."0082 

.0000 

.0041 

.0041 

.0041 

.0041 

.0000 

.0041 

.0000 

.0000 

.0000 

.0041 

.0000 

.0000 

.0041 

.0041 

.0041 

.0041 

.0082 

.0082 

.0082

Free ammonia.

0.0045 

.0040 

.0065 

.0050 

.0045 

.0040

.0075 

.0060 

.0050 

.0030 

.0030 

.0060 

.0130 

.0045 

.0040 

.0035 

.0040 

.0060 

.0030 

.0060 

.0060 

.0050 

.0060 

.0050 

.0070 

.0115 

.0135 

.0125 

.0130 

.0115 

.0030 

.0055 

.0050 

.0055 

.0060 

.0045 

.0055 

.0085 

.0070 

.0075 

.0120 

.0110 

.0120 

.0125 

.0090

Albuminoid ammonia.

0.0090 

.0200 

.0200 

.0170 

.0175 

.0195

.0155 

.0180 

.0140 

.0140 

.0160 

.0210 

.0255 

.0170 

.0150 

.0185 

.0140 

.0155 

.0180 

.0165 

.0160 

.0175 

.0240 

.0215 

.0200 

.0140 

.0150 

.0160 

.0165 

.0170 

.0185 

.0160 

.0165 

.0170 

.0150 

.0175 

.0215 

.0195 

.0215 

.0185 

.0205 

.0185 

.0170 

.0170 

.0165

Required 

oxygen.

0.440 

.485 

.440 

.425 

.430 

(a)

(a) 

.395 

.365 

.355 

.330 

.355 

.375 

.830 

.840 

.610 

.660 

.620 

.640 

.670 

.680 

.685 

.900 

.670 

.570 

.685 

.695 

.765 

.620 

.585 

.590 

.655 

.650 

.630 

.630 

.630 

.660 

.675 

.610 

.600 

.605 

.605 

.610 

.665 

.645

"Lost. b Trace. Large trace.
LEIGHTON.] MOHAWK EIVEE. 55

With even more striking clearness does the record of numerical 

determinations of bacteria along the river show the compromising 

effect of pollution, and the positive tests for fecal bacteria to which 

the water was submitted by Dr. Theobald Smith make it unquestionably certain that waters polluted by domestic sewage retain the 

effects of fecal pollution, even beyond the point at which sanitary 

analysis would show an unpolluted stream.

Table XIX, which gives the results of numerical determinations on 

the Mohawk River, is taken from the same report as Table XVIII.

TAB.LE XIX. Pollution of the Mohawk River by bacteria, 1891.

Date.

July 29........

Do.. .

July 30.. ......

Do.. .......

Do.. 

Do.. 

Do... ......

Do.-.. .

Do.. 

July 31...-.-..

Do. . 

Do.. 

Do. .....

July 31........

July 31.. ......

Do 

Do-.....-.

Do.. .......

Do.........

August 8_ _. 

Do. _ 

Do.. 

Do.........

Do.. ....

August 11. . 

Do. ...... ..

Do.... .....

Do.. .......

TVi

Do 

August 12.. 

Do 

Do. .....

Do. .- 

Number.

1

2 

3

4 

5

6

7 

8

9

10, 11, 

13,14

17

18

20 

19

15 

21 

16 

22 

23

24 

25

26

27

28 

29 

30 

31

32 

33 

34

35 

36

37 

38 

40 

41 

42 

43

Time.

7.00p.m. 

8.00p.m.......

8.45a.m. 

10.15a.m.. 

11.00a.m. 

11.25a.m.......

11.30a.m.__. 

9a.m.tolp.m.

3.50p.m.- -.

3.30p.m.......

2.35p.m.- ..

4.30p.m.... 

6.15p.m.. ..

10.00a.m. ...

12.10p.m.. ..

2.55p.m. 

3. 05 p.m...... .

3.15p.m.. 

10.55a.m.... ...

11. 30a.m... 

11.35a.m. 

12.50p.m.- -.

2.15p.m3.00p.m. ...

9.20a.m.. 

2.25p.m.......

2.30p.m.......

2.35p.m.......

Number of bacteria 

per c. c.

765

473 

1,400

82,403 

4,350

1,005 

1,895 

1,106

1,932

1,503 

437

298 

767

} 877

} 10,800 

10,007

9,533 

660

412 

517

3,146 

3,473 

1,953 

1,890

| 833 

696

304 

273

560 

} 672

164 

2,288 

306

Average of 

Samples.

1

1 

1

1 

1

1 

1 

1

1

(«) 

1 

1

1 

1

2

2

1

1 

1

1 

1

1 

1 

1 

1

2 

1

1 

1

1 

2

1

1 

1

Plates.

2

2 

2

2 

2

2 

2

<>

2

2 

2

2 

2

4

4 

1

2 

2

2 

2

2 

1 

2 

2

3 

1

1 

1

1

2

1 

1

2

Remarks.

Borne waterworks dam, 

above city. 

Below feeder dam at Borne. 

Above Utica; below bone 

works 

Below Utica sewers. 

Opposite Masonic Home, 2 

miles below Utica. 

About 4 miles below Utica. 

About 4i miles below Utica. 

Frankfort, above New York 

Central station. 

Ilion, below New York Central station. 

Water roily from rain.

Opposite canal lock at Mohawk. 

Opposite Herkimer at lower 

bridge. 

West Canada Creek. 

One-half mile below mouth 

of West Canada Creek.

State dam above Little Falls.

f Just below foot of falls, Lit- 

\ tie Falls. 

About li miles below Little 

Falls.6 

State dam, 5 miles below Little Falls. 

Above mouth of East Canada 

Creek, 

East Canada Creek. 

Twenty rods below mouth of 

East Canada Creek. 

St. Johnsville, below creek 

draining village. 

One-half mile below St. 

Johnsville, below rapids. 

Three miles below St. Johnsville. 

About 2 miles above Fort 

Plain. 

fFort Plain, above New York 

\ Central station. 

One mile above Palatine 

bridge. 

Just above Palatine bridge. 

Three-fourths of a mile below Palatine bridge. 

At Sprakers, above rapids. 

fThree-nf ths of a mile below 

\ Sprakers, below rapids. 

Above Cayadutta Creek. 

Cayadutta Creek. 

One-half mile below Cayadutta Creek.
56 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAE NEW YOEK CITY. [NO. 72.

TABLE XIX. Pollution of the Mohawk River by bacteria, 1891 Continued.

Date.

August 12. __ 

Do.. .......

August 14..-. 

August 12. __ 

August 14..... 

Do 

DoDo. 

DoDo...-. 

Do 

DoDo.-.. 

Do ....

Do..... ....

August 15.. 

Do.........

Do _ 

Do.. .......

Do ..,.

Do 

"Do

Do. 

August 17..... 

Do.........

Do. ....

Do.... .....

August 15.. 

August 17. 

1)0 . 

DoDo 

DoDo ....

Do ....

Do.... 

Do... ......

Number.

44

45 

47 

46 

48 

49 

50 

51 

52 

53

54

55 

56

57

58 

59 

60

61 

62 

63 

64 

65

66 

68 

69

70 

71

67 

72 

73

74 

75 

76

77 

78

79 

80

Time.

5.20p.m....... 

12.40p.m......

12.55p.m... 

3.30p.m.. 

4.53p.m........

5.13p.m.......

6.30p.m.......

7.00p.m....... 

9.00 a.m... 

11.20a.m... .

1.50p.m.--....

2.35p.m. .

4.00p.m.. .

4.45p.m....... 

10.45a.m.-. 

11.00a.m.......

11.05a.m.- .

11.10a.m.-.. 

4.55p.m....... 

11.20a.m..-. 

11.21a.m... 

11.22a.m... .

1.30p.m... 

2.00p.m... .

3.30p.m.......

4.10p.m.......

Number of bacteria 

per c. c.

416

} 283

331

276 

231 

12,080 

11,765

5,403

6,562 

2,904

9,812

} 6,060 

1,104

1,084 

710 

448 

656 

1,634

} 791 

444

7,276 

3,836

} 1,145 

440

432 

312 

196

294 

424

296 

216

Average of 

Samples.

1

2

2

1 

1 

1 

1 

1

1

1 

1

1

2 

1

1 

1 

1 

1

1

2

1

1

1

2

i 

i

i 

i

i 

i

i

Plates.

2

4

4

2 

2

2 

2

2

2

2 

1

1

2

2

2 

2 

1 

2 

2

4 

2

2

2

4 

2

2

2 

2

2

2

2 

2

Remarks.

Three-fourths of a mile below Cayadutta Creek, below rapids, Fonda, and Fultonville.

Above Schoharie Creek.

Schoharie Creek.

Opposite Akin station. 

One-half mile below Akin. 

Just above Amsterdam. 

Chuctanunda Creek. 

Opposite Wendell's drug 

warehouse, Amsterdam. 

Opposite Armour's beef 

house, Amsterdam. 

Just h«low Amsterdam. 

One-half mile below last mill 

in Amsterdam. 

One mile below last mill, 

Amsterdam, near garbage 

dump. 

/Opposite Cranes village,floatl ing sewage. 

One mile below Cranes village. One-fourth of a mile below 

Hoffman's ferry. 

One and one-fourth of a mile 

below Hoffman's ferry. 

Above Fitch burg Railroad 

bridge. 

Three and one-half miles 

above Schenectady. 

One-fourth of a mile above 

Van Slykes Island, 'above 

Schenectady. 

/Above Glenville bridge, 

\ Schenectady. 

Binnekill Branch above Edison sewer. 

Mill Creek. Binnekill Branch below Edison sewer and Mill Creek. 

/Opposite waterworks, at in- 

\ take. Opposite waterworks, north 

side of channel. 

Above New York Central 

bridge, opposite ice house 

Below New York Central 

bridge, opposite ice house. 

Two hundred feet below 

sewer outlet; pond, sluggish current. 

Abpve Delaware and Hudson Railroad bridge. 

Below Delaware ana Hudson 

Railroad bridge, opposite 

ice house. 

One mile above aqueduct. 

Aqueduct dam.

a Rejected. & Garbage dump, three-fourths mile above the locality of this sample. 

NOTE. Accidents happened to samples below the aqueduct, and reliable results were not 

obtained.

Table XX gives the results of tests made to determine the presence 

of fecal bacteria at the Albany water intake, together with the total 

number of bacteria in the samples.
LEIGHTON.] MOHAWK EIVEE. 57

TABLE XX. Pollution by bacteria of water at Albany water intake.

Date.

October 29,5p.m. 

October 82, 2 p.m. 

October 15, 9 a. m . 

October 1,9a.m. 

October22,5p.m_ 

October 15, 1 p. m . 

October 29, 1p.m. 

October 1, 1 p. m .

Stage cf tide.

1.10 before low water. 

0.19 before low water. 

0.21 after low water ... 

1.03 after low water. . . 

1.08 before high water . 

0.53 before high water. 

2.26 after high water.. 

0,18 after high water. .

Number of 

fecal bacteria.

54 

26

22

09oJ3

82 

32 

41 

26

Number of bacteria.

West side.

Surface.

2,050 

1,180 

3,290 

3,620 

2,030 

2,840 

4,250 

1,980

Bottom.

4,020 

1,850 

3,590 

3,620 

3,020 

2,730 

3,900 

2,090

Middle channel.

Surface.

4,530 

2,600 

5,170 

7,150 

2,360 

3,220 

4,610 

2,950

Bottom.

4,950 

2,430 

4,390 

6,450 

2,030 

3,960 

4,700 

5,280

East side. 

Surface.

4,430 

2,770 

8,200 

5,400 

1,870 

4,170 

9,320 

4,090

Bottom.

6,120

A further investigation of the water supply of Schenectady includes 

the determination of fecal bacteria, with special reference to Bacillus 

coli communi, the organism which is closely identified with intestinal 

contents. The localities from which the samples were taken are different, convenient, and favorable points along the Mohawk between 

Amsterdam and Schenectady. Table XXI gives the results of these 

investigations, taken from the Thirteenth Annual Report of the State 

Board of Health of New York, pages 731-732.

TABLE XXI. Determination of fecal bacteria in Mohawk water between Amsterdam and Schenectady.

[The column " Number bacteria " gives the number of bacteria obtained by the gelatin-plate 

method. The column "Number coli" gives the number of Bacillus coli communi, and the 

column "Number fecal bacteria" gives the total number of the three kinds of fecal bacteria 

determined.]

DECEMBER 16. FIEST SET.

.Locality.

Head Van Slybes Island... .............................................

Intake ..................................................................

Number 

bacteria.

18,000

20,000

9,100

6,800

22,000

13,000

Number 

coli.

16

13

45

Number 

fecal 

bacteria.

25

19

49

DECEMBEE 24. SECOND SET.

8,200

6,100

5,700

5,900

8

i2

12

15

12

13

JANUARY 14. THIRD SET.

16,000

27,000

25,000

7

15

7

r

22
58 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO. 72.

JANUARY 21. THIRD SET.

Locality. Number 

bacteria.

12,000

16,000

9,000

15,000

Nhmber 

coli.

3

13

13

13

Number 

fecal 

bacteria.

3

13

13

17

JANUARY 36. THIRD SET.

18,000

17,000

30,000

14,000

18,000

25

13

16

13

29

13

19

13

SCHENECTADY INTAKE. DECEMBER 34.

11.30 a.m. ...............................................................

3,700

5,900

4,900

23

12

31

31

12

37

The work outlined above was done in the early years of the last 

decade, when the science of bacteriology was still in its infancy. 

Since that time improved methods have shown that the bacteria isolated 

by Dr. Smith's famous process are not necessarily all fecal bacteria, 

but that there are other forms which respond to the same test. This 

does not reduce the weight of Dr. Smith's conclusions in the above 

case, however; for, taking into consideration the circumstances and 

conditions attending, there is good reason to believe that the greater 

part, if not all, of the organisms isolated by Dr. Smith were true fecal 

bacteria.

ANTHONY KILL.

Running in a general westerly direction from Ballston Lake, through 

Round Lake, Anthony Kill enters the Hudson at Mechanicville. 

Aside from the pollution that it receives from this village above the 

confluence with the Hudson, the only polluting area of importance is 

the camp-meeting settlement on the western border of Round Lake, 

and this lias been rendered innocuous by the establishment of very 

satisfactory sewage precipitation works, described on page 371 of 

Sewage Disposal in the United States, by Messrs. Rafter and Baker. 

The permanent population of Round Lake is stated as about 400, 

and in summer, during some days, there are 7,000 people on the 

grounds. The source of water supply is Round Lake, and into this 

pond the purified sewage is discharged, but apparently without appreciable effect upon the water.

FISH CREEK.

Entering the Hudson at Schuylerville is Fish Creek, which takes a 

very irregular northwesterly trend from Saratoga Lake. The country
LBIGHTON.] FISH CREEK. 59

about the lake is of wide repute, having been at one time probably 

the most famous resort in the East, and is still holding its own with 

most of the watering places in the United States.

Saratoga Springs, with a permanent population of 12,409, and 

Ballston Spa, a village of 3,923 inhabitants, are situated within the 

drainage area of Saratoga Lake. Both municipalities are supplied 

with sewerage systems, and the extensive pollution of the lake is accurately described in a petition to the governor of the State of New 

York, signed by various residents of Saratoga County, from which 

the following extracts are taken:

The petition of the undersigned residents of the county of Saratoga respectfully 

shows as follows: That Saratoga Lake in said county is about 5 miles long and 

about 2 miles wide, and is about 4 miles from the village of Ballston Spa and 

Saratoga Springs, and that Saratoga Springs is a summer resort, visited by thousands of tourists every summer, and to Saratoga Lake is the chief drive and resort; 

that said lake has been for a great many years a prominent and attractive resort 

for fishing, hunting, and boating, and for the past few years offensive odors have 

arisen from the waters in the said lake near the shores, causing annoyance and 

breeding disease; that large numbers of fish have been picked up dead along the 

shores of the lake, and the shores thereof in certain portions are covered with 

filthy and noxious material, offensive to the eye and giving out offensive odors; 

that in the opinion of your petitioners, unless measures are taken to prevent the 

defilement of said lake, and its condition continues to grow worse, all the fish in 

the lake will be killed, and people will cease to occupy cottages on the shores, and 

it will cease to be attractive as a summer resort.

That the causes of defilement of the waters of the lake are various; that they 

proceed from the discharge of the sewage of the villages of Saratoga Springs 

and Ballston Spa into said lake, and from the discharge into said lake of 

chemicals and refuse from certain manufacturing establishments located in or 

near the village of Ballston Spa.

[Signed by 31 residents of the county of Saratoga.] «

The extent to which Fish Creek is affected by pollution is so far 

undetermined. It is probable that the actual damage in the stream 

is far less than in the lake, due, of course, to sedimentation. The 

report of Professor Landreth, made in response to the above petition, 

recognizes the importance of the offense and recommends that judicial 

proceedings be prosecuted to ascertain the exact amount of nuisance, 

and the responsibility therefor.

As a result of the action above outlined, the sewage-disposal systems of Saratoga Springs and Ballston Spa have been condemned and 

sewage purification must be established by both municipalities.

Victory Mills, a village of 795 inhabitants, is situated upon the 

creek a short distance above Schuylerville. It has no water nor sewerage system, and contributes an inappreciable amount of pollution to 

the river.

« Nineteenth Annual Report of State Board of Health of New York, p. 107.
60 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO.72.

DAMAGE TO WATER RESOURCES OF HUDSON RIVER SYSTEM BY

POLLUTION.

It is not possible to estimate, with any considerable degree of accuracy, the amount of damage that has been done to the Hudson River 

system by sewage pollution. This is true, not because such damage 

is of incalculable extent nor because there is a lack of data, but by reason of the fact that there are so many features to be considered in this 

large area, and so many modifying conditions, that deductions must 

be drawn simultaneously from many different points of view and the 

resulting composite conclusions must ever be to a large degree modified by personal opinion. If we survey the different tributaries and 

note the points of contamination and the extent thereof we shall very 

soon realize that in nearly every stream there is such enormous dilution and so many opportunities for sedimentation that, taken individually, there is hardly any reason to believe that any material damage 

has been done. Going further, we look for the results of the concentration of all this sewage into a main water course, and find that that 

course is the middle section of the Hudson, which, as has already been 

stated, is of more value to the State of New York in its present contaminated condition than if regulations were enforced which would 

maintain its purity.

Summing up the total amount of raw sewage emptying into the river 

system, and taking into account the vast number of people living in 

cities along its banks, it would appear that the pollution is sufficient 

to entirely destroy the value of the water course and make the surrounding country an undesirable locality for many purposes; yet when 

consideration is taken of the fact that the amount of run-off water in 

this basin is sufficiently large to dilute this sewage so that in places it 

almost escapes detection, the actual damage done appears to be greatly 

modified, or, in the opinion of many, it becomes almost nil. This very 

question opens all the contested points concerning the amount or percentage of pollution within the safety limit; the idea of self-purification of rivers is brought to the front and with it questions as to the 

effect of the contour of river beds and the existence of artificial works, 

such as dams and mill ponds. In the discussion of different points of 

pollution in the preceding pages instances were cited of local nuisances due to contamination at near-by points, which contrast in a 

very confusing manner with the statement that off Poughkeepsie, 

where we might expect all this filth to give evidence of itself, Dr. 

Drown found what was, from a chemical standpoint, a very fair potable water.

In the results of bacteriological examination of the Mohawk by Dr. 

Theobald Smith we have seen that the high percentage of bacteria 

that appeared in samples of the water taken below cities gradually 

fell off as the points of pollution were left farther and farther behind.
LKIGHTON.] HUDSON EIVEB SYSTEM. 61 -

When these results were plotted geometrically there appeared a 

series of crests and troughs in the curve, the distance between the 

crests corresponding exactly to the distance between points of pollution, measured at the same scale.

All these apparent paradoxes have their logical explanation, the 

disputed points being confined largely to minor details. It would, 

indeed, be an endless and unprofitable task to attempt to reconcile 

the different features which modify conclusions, and it will not be 

attempted here.

It is proposed to point out the losses and damages for which pollution is responsible, confining qualifications thereof to a few wellattested instances in which it is apparent that river pollution is less 

expensive than the avoidance of it. There are many cases in which 

the cost of purifying sewage before turning it into a river, or the 

expenses entailed in securing some other place of final disposal, far 

exceed the cost of providing a pure-water supply from highland or 

other sources, and in such cases it is manifestly better, if there are no 

other rights to be considered, to use a stream as a sewage course 

rather than a source of water supply. Such instances should be 

treated from the standpoint of general public economy, every apparent consideration being taken into account.

WATER POWER.

It has already been stated that damages to water-power interests in 

the Hudson drainage area are not, comparatively speaking, large. 

There are, indeed, a few mills that have been obliged to give over the 

use of river water in various manufacturing processes because of 

impurities it contains, but the loss entailed does not appear to be serious. Neither does the future promise any remarkable change in this 

respect. Without doubt, new sewerage systems that are approved 

from time to time by the State commissioner of health will be provided with meaiis of purification if the installation of such systems 

promises any great increase of river pollution.

There are few cases in which mill ponds have become public nuisances by reason of deposits of sewage upon the banks, but such will 

be taken up under the consideration of damages to realty values.

ICE.

The Hudson River ice crop has a national reputation, yet few people realize its extent, and fewer can locate the points at which storage 

houses are gathered. In the April number of the Ice Trade Journal 

for 1901 nearly four pages are occupied by a list of ice houses along 

this river and a statement of the amount stored in each. The crop 

depends entirely upon the winter's temperature, and the amount of 

ice that is available for harvest varies accordingly. During the winter of 1900-1901 there were cut and stored 4,606,800 tons, this being
62 SEWAGE POLLUTION JSTEAB NEW YORK CITY. [NO.72.

the largest crop ever gathered. During the preceding year there were 

stored only 1,430,670 tons, which, although large in itself, seems small 

when compared with the enormous amount harvested in the succeeding winter.

There seems to be no special center for the industry, the field 

extending all along from Schuylerville, past Cohoes, Waterford, and 

Troy, nearly down to the limit of salt water influence. On Rondout, Esopus, Catskill and other creeks there are large ice houses, and 

from certain lakes, such as Rockland, Croton, and Mahopac, there is 

gathered a considerable harvest, 230,000 tons being cut from these 

three lakes during the past winter. By far the greater amount, however, comes from the main river.

Sufficient data have been presented to show how great, even in the 

most unfavorable years, is the value of the Hudson River as a source 

of ice supply. It has been stated in preceding pages that pollution 

in a river is a damage to the ice industry, and that, even though 

recent research indicates that the typhoid bacillus does not survive 

during long periods when locked in ice, public use of this commodity 

when polluted with sewage will not be tolerated. A little reflection 

will show how worthless is a polluted stream or lake as a source of 

ice supply. Modern biology has found means effective for the purification of contaminated water. Such means are not applicable to 

ice, and thus polluted ice is, or should be, a total loss; it can not be 

sterilized nor in any way relieved of its dangerous qualities. With 

the ever-increasing use of this article in and upon our food there is a 

necessity that greater care be taken as to its source. The absence of 

typhoid fever bacilli in polluted ice is by no means a guarantee of its 

safety for domestic use. The dangers are well expressed in the following paragraph, taken from an article by James M. Anders, M. D., 

LL. D., of Philadelphia:

While I shall endeavor later to emphasize the potency of impure water, especially when bacterially contaminated, in causing certain diseases, I desire at the 

outset to insist that the deleterious and devitalizing effect of imbibing such water, 

upon the general health of the community, is practically inconceivable. By 

lowering the resistance to that large class of infectious diseases, its indirect influence as a causative factor must be considerable, not to speak of the suffering 

occasioned by the habitually depressed and weakened systemic - condition thus 

engendered. Much inconvenience and ill health caused by impurities in thedrinking water originates primarily from the alimentary tract, and is due to gastric and intestinal disturbances. The ingestion of contaminating materials may 

be a cause of dyspepsia or diarrhea, and most probably also renders the system 

receptive to the invasion of the bacillus coli, the bacillus of Shiga? and other pathogenic organisms, and this quite independently of any pollution of the drinking 

water by the disease-producing germs themselves [italics by M. O. L.]. American 

Medicine, March 29, 1902, p. 503.

Above Albany were cut, last season, 502,700 tons of ice. By far the 

greater part of this was taken below the mouth of the Mohawk and in 

that river itself. At Crescent, a bend in the Mohawk, a few miles
LKIGHTON.] HUDSON EIVEE SYSTEM. 63

below the outlet sewers of Schenectady, the reports show a total crop 

of 163,000 tons. From the mouth of the river, where the pollution 

from Cohoes, Waterford, and Lansingburg is most dangerous, were 

taken 200,000 tons more, and below Troy and Watervliet the harvest 

amounted to about 75,000 tons. The water taken from practically 

these same points was found by Dr. Theobald Smith to contain fecal 

bacteria.

South of Albany, within 4 miles from the outlets of the sewers of 

that city, and at Rensselaer there were harvested during the season 

of 1901 over 300,000 tons of ice. The water in the Hudson above 

Albany is now being purified for potable use in that city, because the 

citizens found by costly experience that it could not be used in its raw 

state. What, then, njust be the condition of that water shortly after 

the sewage of 101,617 more persons has been added to it?

In spite of the conditions outlined above, this river is the principal 

source of ice supply for the great metropolitan area, and although the 

value of the artificial-ice business is growing at a rapid rate, due in 

part to distrust of ice from the Hudson and other polluted sources, 

such has been the growth in the demand for ice that the market for 

this contaminated product remains undisturbed. It can not, however, 

remain indefinitely firm, and when the facts have been placed before 

the public with sufficient intensity the value of the Hudson as a source 

of ice will be materially damaged. Reference to the report of Prof. 

William P. Mason made to the Manufacturers' Association of Brooklyn will show very clearly the character of Hudson ice. He substantiates the belief that the formation of ice eliminates impurities to a 

certain extent, but found upon testing samples of ice taken from germpolluted fields in the Hudson River, just below the junction of the 

Mohawk River, that certain disease germs were still alive, and condemned this ice as wholly unfit for use in cooling beverages. Typhoid 

germs were not killed, as was proved scientifically. He cited the case 

of a typhoid epidemic which spread from Schenectady to Albany, the 

Mohawk River carrying the typhoid germs down to its mouth, polluting the ice formed in the Mohawk, whence the ice supply of both 

cities was obtained. In this manner both cities suffered with a typhoid 

epidemic.

The association is to present petitions to both the State and city 

health boards, asking that some steps be taken to prevent the polluted ice being sold in this market. a

The above declaration from so distinguished an authority can not 

be barren of results, and the consequent action taken by the Manufacturers' Association can not fa|il to be adverse to the use of ice cut 

on the Hudson. It will produce no widespread revulsion, nor will 

the ice industry of the river be Destroyed in a season, but there can 

not fail to be a gradual concurrence in the idea that Hudson River ice

"Abstract in MunicipalJournal and Engineer.
64 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO.72.

is an inferior article, the price of which will be forced lower and lower 

by the active commercial spirit of this country. It will not be necessary even to advance hygienic considerations beyond the point at 

which they are able to beget distrust in the market of New York.

According to prevailing prices, the last Hudson ice crop is worth at 

least $8,000,000. In unfavorable seasons the pure article from that 

source could not fall below an annual value of $3,000,000. For what 

fraction of this sum annually could all the Hudson Basin sewage be 

purified?

WATER SUPPLY.

The estimation of loss of capital in a river which is polluted to the 

degree apparent in the Hudson can not be brought to a very fine point 

of accuracy. If we were to consider the effect?*>f sedimentation, and 

figure out all the other factors that are effectual in the so-called selfpurification of rivers; if we were to consider the amount and character 

of the sewage and the dilution thereof, we might be able to reach an 

approximate figure of damage, and even then it would be of little more 

value than the rough resume that can easily be made. If the science 

of water purification were in the same state in which it was a quarter 

century ago the problem would be more simple, for at that time there 

were no well-established, reliable means of purification in common use 

in this country. To-day, however, the purification of polluted water 

for domestic use has reached that state of perfection at which it has 

become the practice of reputable engineers to take polluted water from 

a stream at the very doors of the city and purify it, rather than to 

expend large sums of money in conserving an unpolluted supply miles 

away in a sparsely settled district. The case of Philadelphia at the 

present time is pertinent: On January 4,1901, the United States Senate Committee on the District of Columbia convened at New York to 

discuss with the engineering profession the question of filtration of 

water supply at Washington, D. C. Mr. Rudolph Hering, M. Am. 

Soc. C. E., stated in his testimony with reference to the experience of 

Philadelphia that, in 1883, he was engaged by that city to make studies 

for the new city water supply. As the subject of water filtration was 

not fully developed at that time he recommended an unfiltered water, 

taken from the Blue Ridge. More recently, during his connection 

with the Philadelphia waterworks, he recommended the Schuylkill 

River and the Delaware, because of the fact that this water could 

now be made sufficiently pure for use, and under the circumstances it 

presented a more feasible plan from every standpoint, for both present and future generations.

It becomes necessary then, in considering pollution in a river from 

the standpoint of water supply, to make allowance for the fact that 

the water can be purified and that its precedent pollution does not 

constitute a complete loss of resource. Under such circumstances.
LEIGHTON.] HUDSON EIVEE SYSTEM. 65

the actual amount of damage done consists of the difference between 

the cost of pumping raw water for direct use and the cost and maintenance of a filtration system.

There remain certain rivers, the pollution of which seems altogether 

unnecessary, which could be preserved in approximately their normal 

state, yet which receive sewage enough to damage their water supply 

values. Such streams are the Wallkill and Batten Kill. In such 

instances, where the cost of sewage disposal would be comparatively 

small, there seem to be no compensating factors to offset the damage 

done to the river as a source of water supply, and pollution becomes 

needless and unwarranted.

The cities on Hudson River proper that now derive all or a part of 

their water supply from the river by pumping are Poughkeepsie, 

Catskill, Hudson, Albany, Rensselaer, and Troy, including the 

recently annexed Lansingburg. In all of these places except the 

latter the water is filtered, and in the latter case only a part of 

the supply is derived from the Hudson.

The filtration systems at Poughkeepsie, Catskill, and Hudson were 

established before the present knowledge concerning the action of 

filters was very clearly defined, and there was no idea of purification 

of the water in the sense that that term is now understood by the 

profession. The main object of these filters was that of clarification, 

i. e., an elimination of the sediment which is carried down the Hudson 

in large quantities, and if there had been clear water in the river the 

chances are that neither of these filters would have been installed at 

that time. The cost of construction in these three eases can not, 

therefore, be charged against tha debt of sewage pollution. Whatever may have been the initial cause of installing the Poughkeepsie, 

Hudson, and Catskill filters, it is apparent that they are at present 

maintained for the added purpose of biological purification as well 

as that of clarification. It would be quite unlikely that, should the 

waters of the Hudson become free from sediment, the filtration system 

would be abandoned in the face of all the sewage coming past their 

respective intakes, so that it is a fair position to assume that pollution 

is partially responsible for the expense of maintenance of these filters. 

While this section of the Hudson is under consideration it may be of 

value to pursue this subject with the help of a projected enterprise 

that emphasizes in a forcible manner the damage that must be faced 

in such rivers.

One of the most thoroughly discussed water-supply problems that 

has been before the public for many years is that of the present and 

future supply of the city of New York. In August, 1899, Mr. William 

Dalton, commissioner of water supply for the city of New York, 

startled the city and convulsed the engineering profession by recommending that the board of public improvements approve a forty-year 

contract with the Ramapo Water Company, under which the city

IRE, 72 02 5
66 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YOEK CITY. [NO. 72.

was bound to buy at least 200,000,000 gallons of water daily at a cost 

of $70 per million gallons. The excessive cost of the water was only 

one item of disadvantage to which the city was to be subjected by the 

execution of the contract. The immediate opposition which was 

developed, headed by Comptroller Bird S. Coler, caused a stay in the 

proceedings, during which time the matter was investigated by the 

comptroller and independently by the Merchants' Association of New 

York, a body whose power in city affairs and in the establishment of 

sound corporate policy has ever been notable. An organized staff 

was made up from the association and, aided by the comptroller and 

Governor Roosevelt, every phase of the proposed swindle was laid 

bare. In addition to this, investigations were made into every branch 

of the water-supply question, and the report that was issued is one 

of the most valuable of the recent publications on this subject. The 

engineering committee, under the leadership of Mr. Rudolph Bering, 

instituted among other things an investigation into the available 

sources of supply for the city and, with their con suiting engineer, Mr. 

James H. Fuertes, carefully considered every adequate source of supply in the State, finally deciding that the most feasible plan was the 

pumping of the water from the Hudson River itself, at a point just 

above the city of Poughkeepsie, where a supply of 1,500,000,000 galions daily was easily available if proper compensating reservoirs were 

constructed in the Adirondacks for replenishing the river during dry 

seasons.

It is the consideration of this extensive project and the analysis of 

the estimates of cost and maintenance thereof that give the inquirer 

his first adequate idea of the loss which may arise and the damage 

which may accrue to the resources of the Hudson River through pollution. These estimates were based upon a proposed supply of 

500,000,000 gallons daily, which is probably the maximum additional 

supply that will be required by the city during a long term of years. 

The minimum cost for such a system would be $72,374,000, of which 

$32,557,000 is for filters and pumping plant, largely made necessary 

by sewage pollution. The minimum cost for the water at this rate 

would be $30.39 per million gallons, of which $4, or about 13 per cent, 

is the amount expended for filtration. In the estimated annual cost of 

operation and maintenance is included $730,000 for cost of filtration. 

If in the course of years it should become neeessary to develop such 

a system to its full capacity the cost of overcoming the effects of sewage pollution would increase accordingly. Thus it may be seen that 

if at any time in the future the city of New York should adopt the 

Hudson supply and use the maximum amount, the polluted condition 

of the river would necessitate an annual expenditure of at least 

$2,000,000 in addition to the initial cost of establishing so gigantic a 

filtration system.

The history of the Albany water supply is closely linked with the
LEIGHTON.] HUDSON RIVER SYSTEM. 67

history of pollution in the Hudson at that point, and the recent establishment there of what was, at the time of construction, the largest 

filter in the country is a direct consequence of the sewage in the river 

from the Albany sewers as well as from the numerous places within 

a short distance above. In the year 1873 it became necessary to augment the gravity system of water supply then in use at Albany, and 

an intake was placed in the Hudson and water was pumped therefrom into the reservoirs, to be mixed with the upland water. With 

the growth of the city more and more was pumped from the Hudson, 

until at the present time the pumped water exceeds in amount that 

taken from the old gravity system. Throughout the history of its 

water system Albany has employed eminent authorities to guide her 

steps, and the establishment of this Hudson intake appears to have 

been undertaken advisedly. When, after the lapse of some years, there 

arose a feeling that all was not well with the water, fears were again 

quieted by the reassurances of a distinguished gentleman. Whatever 

deleterious material might be poured in the river at Troy, 4 miles 

above the intake, would be, said the expert, rendered entirely harmless 

through various influences, among which were sedimentation, dilution, and oxidation. The fact that the death rate and morbidity from 

typhoid fever was high seemed to have no bearing upon the case, nor 

was there, in the opinion of the city's advisers, any significance in 

the fact that epidemics at Albany followed those at Troy, Schenectady, and other places. The eminent authority maintained his position and, we believe, sticks to his conclusions to-day.

In 1885 Prof. William P. Mason, in a report to the water board, 

showed very clearly the deplorable condition of the water and condemned it in unmistakable terms. From that time until 1896 there 

was a series of efforts to provide a new supply, all of which failed, 

until in July, 1897, it was finally decided to filter the water from the 

Hudson. Under the direction of Mr. Alien Hazen, M. Am. Soc. C. E., 

a covered filter was constructed at a cost of about $500,000, and the 

expense of operation is about $4.19 per million gallons, or about 

$20,000 annually. The results have already been more than sufficient 

to pay for the cost of the construction. The death rate from typhoid 

fever has been very materially decreased, and the good effects of the 

filtration system remain undisputed.

Troy up to the present day is drawing a part of its water from the 

Hudson and delivering it to its citizens in the raw state, and foryear? 

efforts have been made to obtain a new suppty, until there seems novr 

to be an assurance of better water. This city has been even slower than 

Albany to realize the damaging effects of Hudson water, and the indifference of the citizens there has called from Prof. William P. Mason 

the statement, made during his testimony before the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, that "up in Troy anything short of 

soup would be satisfactory." The new water supply, which the bet-
68 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO. 72.

ter element m Troy has at last succeeded in pushing to a successful 

issue, is to be conserved in sparsely settled districts east of the city. 

It will furnish, when fully developed, about 40,000,000 gallons daily, 

and the present plans contemplate an expenditure of $1,250,000.

These are the actual water-supply expenditures which have been 

made necessary by sewage pollution in the main river and also the costs 

which would be incurred should the plan recommended by the Merchants' Association for the future supply of the city of New York be 

adopted. It is clear that the Hudson River along this section must 

necessarily be polluted, and the expense of water filtration must always 

be regarded as one of the running expenses to be perpetually maintained 

in the Hudson Valley. There is no possible way of overcoming it, 

and it must be considered in a summary of this character. It may 

be contended that the free drainage of cities into the Hudson is a 

privilege which compensates for the disadvantages that arise from 

the damage to the natural water resources. A little reflection will 

show that such a contention is idle, and that, after allowing for all 

the items which constitute the credit side of the present account, we 

shall find that the pollution of the Hudson River is very costly.

The eastern tributaries of the Hudson are not damaged to any great 

extent by pollution, except the Hoosic and Batten Kill. At the present 

time the water from the former river is badly contaminated, yet not 

sufficiently to damage any of the resources which it has, up to this 

time, been called upon to yield. The ice industry upon the river is 

not worth considering, and the only resource which is damaged is the 

water supply. If there should ever be a demand for the water in the 

basin of the Hoosic it would be necessary to resort to filtration under 

the present conditions. Pollution in the Hoosic is positively needless, and its existence there is damaging to a resource which, properly 

cared for, would be one of the fairest in the Hudson River basin. 

The same statements are true with reference to Batten Kill. Although 

the contamination of this stream is less than that of the Hoosic, there 

is sufficient to cripple its usefulness as far as the use of its raw water 

is concerned. *

Similar statements may be made concerning the western tributaries. 

The Wallkill is a river which seems excellently adapted for water 

supply, and if proper care were exercised it might be possible for each 

municipality along its banks to establish its water intake at almost 

any convenient point along the river and use the water with safety.

There is little to add concerning the Mohawk. We have seen that 

it is the river which contains the greatest relative amount of pollution 

of all those tributary to the Hudson, and that the sewered population 

along its banks numbers 152,000. The only cities which have of 

late attempted to draw their supplies from the Mohawk are Rome, 

Schenectady, and Cohoes. Above the first mentioned city the water 

is fairly satisfactory from a sanitary standpoint, but at Schenectady
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 72 PL. VIII

LOG JAM IN ADIRONDACK BROOK, NEW YORK.

From photograph in possession of American Museum of Natural History, New York City,

LEIGHTON.] HUDSON EIVEK SYSTEM. 69

the work of Dr. Theobald Smith was too conclusive to admit of any 

doubt concerning the dangerous quality of the water. Consequently 

that city has been obliged to abandon its intakes in the river and is 

now supplied by driven wells. Cohoes is still contented to drink 

from the cesspool of its neighbors.

It would, no doubt, be impossible to make the Mohawk pure. If 

all sewage pollution were eliminated, it is probable that the surface 

drainage of so populous a country would unfit the water for use in 

its raw state as a domestic supply. Certainly, if such is not the case 

at present it will be true within a few years. The present danger is 

that the conditions along the Mohawk may approach those of the 

Passaic; it will be remembered that the increase of population here 

is greater than at any point that we have considered in the Hudson 

drainage area.

The water-supply damages cited on the Mohawk, then, are total 

unfitness of the stream as a source of raw supply and necessary abandonment of an intake by the city of Schenectady.

The character of Saratoga Lake, and the use to which it has been 

put, makes its use as a water supply undesirable. It might, of course, 

have been used for this purpose before it became so polluted, but, as 

it is a part of the great summer resort, it is natural, and almost 

imperative, that it should be given up to recreative purposes and as 

such it becomes unimportant from the standpoint of water supply.

REALTY VALUES.

There are many places in the Hudson drainage area that have been 

made undesirable by sewage pollution, but in the majority of cases 

they are so very close to sewer outlets that nothing else could be 

expected, and the surrounding neighborhoods have been adapted to 

meet such conditions. Such places must ever exist it is necessary 

for every city to have its garbage area and dust bin, and it has become 

the custom to develop these surroundings in such a way that the interests involved do not suffer materially by the existence of that which, 

in residential districts, would seriously impair established values. 

There is no place on the Hudson where the condition approaches that 

upon certain parts of the Passaic, where land has been reduced to no 

value and localities have been brought to a standstill. The region 

about Johnstown on Cayudutta Creek and the shores of Saratoga Lake 

have been fast approaching that condition, but up to the present time 

there has been only a relatively small amount of realty damage.

The law reports of New York State contain, here and there, cases 

arising out of polluted conditions in this area, the most important of 

which are the following:

Supreme c< urt, May term, 1891 (67 Hun, p. 294); Joshua Demby v. 

City of Kingston, N. Y.:

The plaintiff and wife were tenants by entirety upon two lots, through
70 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YOEK CITY. [NO.7*

which ran a stream that was polluted by city sewers. Plaintiff was 

obliged to cover stream and to incur considerable expense to get rid 

of nuisance, and finally sued the city for damages and prayed for an 

injunction against further pollution.

The city held that it was not responsible, as the nuisance was caused 

by private connections in a sewer built for storm water, and the city 

could not go upon private property and remove them. The award of 

the jury in the lower court was affirmed, the amount being $524, and 

a permanent injunction was issued.

Supreme court, September term, 1893 (71 Hun, p. 232); Simon 

Sehriver v. Village of Johnstown:

The case was presented on appeal from the lower court, in which 

the jury awarded $2,000 damages, and the court issued a permanent 

injunction. A part of the opinion of the supreme court is as follows:

The maintenance by a municipality of a permanent system of sewers, through 

which sewage passed into a natural stream and pond of private ownership, causing pollution and sediment, presents a case for perpetual injunction and normal 

damages. The measure of damages in such a case is the depreciation of rental 

value.

The estimated rental value of the pond was $600 per annum. Of 

this $400 was still available under the polluted conditions, leaving a 

balance of $200 for which the city was responsible. Damage for ten 

years, amounting to $2,000, was affirmed, and the permanent injunction was continued.

Supreme court, appellate division, May term, 1897 (17 New York, 

p. 207); Moody v. Saratoga Springs:

An appeal by defendant from verdict in lower court in favor of 

plaintiff. Damages were awarded and an injunction was issued.

The principal contention before the court of appeals was that the 

village was not responsible by reason of the act of the legislature 

which authorized the construction.

A part of the opinion rendered by the higher court reads:

The purpose of chapter 149 of Laws of 1885, providing for the extension of the 

main sewers of Saratoga Springs, was to promote the interests of the village, and 

the village is liable to the owner of premises near a creek into which said extension is discharged from the injuries resulting from the pollution of air and water 

caused by such discharge.

An act which authorizes the extension of a sewer authorizes its use. but such 

use must not result in a nuisance or occasion injury to the legal rights of others.

In conclusion, having considered as minutely as seems advisable 

the different sources of pollution in the Hudson River basin, and 

having indicated in a brief, summary manner its effect upon the natural water resources, it now remains to determine what may be the 

future of these resources and whether pollution will continue to grow 

or be checked by popular disapproval and consequent legislative 

enactment.
LBIOHTON.] HUDSON EIVEE SYSTEM. 71

The whole question has been modified by the successful introduction of filtration for water supplies. It is manifest that the most 

potent damage that is ordinarily done to the resources of a stream is 

its destruction for use as a source of water supply, but, having overcome this difficulty by the introduction of filters, it is more than 

likely that the tendency will be toward toleration of a certain amount 

of pollution, and the expense of filtration will be regarded as a fixed 

charge upon the community at large.

The growing use of sewage purification processes has also a bearing 

upon the pollution question. The effluent from sewage purification 

works, while properly and theoretically harmless, can not at all times 

be depended upon to thoroughly eliminate all the pathogenic bacteria 

that are found in it. There must be laxities, arising in even the most 

carefully conducted sewage purification plants, that are entirely unavoidable. Sewage will pass through the purification process and will 

not be treated so efficiently as the process of purification will permit 

nor so carefully as the diligence of those in charge would seem to 

warrant. Under such circumstances it is clear that we can not place 

sufficient dependence upon sewage purification to warrant us in using 

for potable purposes the raw water from a river into which such 

effluent is emptied.

Natural surface drainage, too, is to be considered. Upon rivers 

having large cities along their shores a certain amount of pollution 

must arise from the natural drainage of occupied land, and this may 

be a detriment to the river. Such contamination is unavoidable, and 

is certainly not so important as that from city sewers, yet it is true 

that the uncertainties that arise make it necessary to avoid the use 

of water so contaminated for domestic purposes without filtration. 

So it appears, as already observed, that the tendency will be to 

assume that the contamination incident to the surface drainage of 

occupied land and the effluent from sewage purification works is a 

necessary and unavoidable evil, and to consider that the diminution 

of natural water resources by this means is one of the prices which 

society must pay for its social and economic development.

The above applies to rivers with considerable population in their 

immediate drainage areas. The pollution of upland streams in 

sparsely settled districts must, however, be regarded as needless, and 

as a crime against the community. The greater part of these areas 

possesses little value from an agricultural standpoint. Under the 

present conditions they are principally useful in raising forests. The 

highest development of their natural values would arise by setting 

them aside as regions for the conservance of water. In this way the 

forestry and water problems could be dealt with coincidently, and the 

adoption of such as a public policy would be wise. .

The damage to ice interests by sewage pollution will, in the course 

of years, settle itself. The manufacture of ice is a growing industry,
72 SEWAGE POLLUTION NEAR NEW YORK CITY. [NO.72.

and when the time shall come that polluted ice is no longer tolerated, 

the use of artificial ice will become universal. The rivers that are 

now used as ice fields are, in the majority of cases, those that are polluted to a greater or less extent, so that the damage to that part of 

the water resources must also be assumed in the same spirit as that 

just described with reference to water supplies. It will, in this case, 

be a surrendering of certain natural sources of wealth for an equal 

value in a new industry.

Within the area covered by this brief analysis there are a few interstate features, although the questions involved are not now of local 

interest. We have seen that a part of the drainage area of the Passaic extends over into the State of New York and that the Hudson 

River Basin comprises small parts of Vermont, Massachusetts, 

and New Jersey. What the future may bring forth in these places 

with regard to interstate pollution is a matter of conjecture, yet if 

the cities of North Adams, Mass., and Bennington, Vt., should grow 

sufficiently to pollute the Hoosic River to the same extent that the 

Passaic or Cayadutta Creek is now polluted, there would arise 

damages to different interests in the State of New York which the 

courts of that State could not correct. What the result would be is 

uncertain, for there is not yet any well-defined process nor any established practice by which such matters could be easily adjusted. There 

is a national authority over common interstate matters, and there 

should be an equal control over the interstate features of rivers whose 

courses lie within two or more States.
INDEX.

Page.

A dirondack Brook, log jam in, view of.. 68 

Analysis of water of Hoosic River........ 42

of water of Hudson River............. 35

of Mohawk and Hudson rivers.... 54

Albany, bacteria from water intake of .. 57 

water supply of, effect of pollution on. 66-67 

water-supply and sewerage systems

of............................... 38

Anders, J. M., quoted on effect of impure

drinking water---...... ..-_ 62

Anthony Kill, pollution of................ 58

Ausable River, view of.------....--------. . 50

Bacteria in Mohawk River................ 55-58

Ballston Spa, pollution from.......___ 59

Batten Kill,pollution of................... 43

Bennington, pollution from .............. 42

Bound Brook, population of and pollution

at............................... 14

Raritan River at,flow of......----.... 12

Brown, C. C., quoted on pollution at Middletown and G-oshen _...--.._. 44 

work of......--..,--.....--............ 53

Cambridge, pollution at --....--.--.-._ 42

Canistear reservoir, capacity of ---------- 23

Catskill, water-supply and sewerage systems of -.-...-....----.--..-...- 38

Catskill Creek, pollution of............... 46

Catskill Mountains, lake in, view of.. _ 46 

Cayadutte Creek, pollution of............ 50-53

Chatham, population of and pollution

from.....-.......-...-.....---. 27

Chester,pollution at..................._ 45

Clinton reservoir, capacity of......... _ 33

Color,B. 8., reference to....________...._., 66

Curtis.F. C.,quoted on pollution at Johnstown .__......_........._ 52

Dalton,W.,reference to................... 65

Deckertown, pollution at.................. 45

Delaware and Hudson Canal, view of -... 34 

Demby, J., v. City of Kingston, opinion of

court in case of--.-----.------. 69-70

Devasego Falls, view of -........---.--.... 50

Dover, Rockaway River at, flow of....... 24

Drown,T.M.,analyses by............._. 35

reference to............................ 60

Dundee, Passaic River at,flow of ._.... 16-17

Dundee Canal, view of .................... 20

Dundee dam,power at._.......----._ 15

view of---.....--........--........---.. 20

Bsopus Creek,pollution of._...-.---.... 45-46

Fish in Passaic River, effect of pollution

on.............................. 33

Fisk Creek,pollution of................... 58-59

Flynn, P. H , plan for utilization of Rockaway River devised by .... 25

reference to.-...-.--.........._...... 28

Forests, effect on flow of streams.......... 8

Fuertes, J. H., estimate of flow of Hudson

River by....................... 34

reference to. ......... . ...--... 66

Fuller, G. W., quoted on pollution of Passaic River......----_.-._...---_ 28-

Goshen,pollution at.-.....--------.--.-.-. 44

Great Falls of the Passaic, fall at......... 16

power at.-..---.-...------------------. IT

views of.............................'... 16,18

Green Pond,capacity of .......i-.-_-_.... 24

Greenwich,pollution from-...._..._.... 43-

Greenwood Lake, storage capacity of.... 21

view of.--.---...---.--------...--..---- 22

Hazen, A., reference to .-_-..------._.-._. 67

work of -.-.--...-.-....--.---.----...-- 38

"Bering, R., reference to .................. 64,6ft

Herkimer, pollution at................... 50

Herschell, C., work of..................... 22

Hoosic Falls, water supply at. -.-.-...---- 42

Hoosic River, centers of population on... 41 

pollution on.-----------.---..---.---..- 42

water from, analysis of............... 42

Hudson, water-supply and sewerage systems of-.....--..--.----...-.-.. 88

Hudson River, bed of, character of...... 34

drainage area and population in basin

of... ......................... 36

eastern tributaries of, pollution of... 40-43 

ice industry on, effect of pollution on. 61-64 

power on, effect of pollution on ...... 61

pollution of............. ............ 34-72

compared with Passaic River..... 35

damage from --...-.-.....-.....--. 60-72

realty values in basin of, effect of pollution on.-......-.- --------- 69-72

water of, analyses of-...-. -------- 35,54

specific gravity of--.----...--..--- 34

water supply from, damage to, from

pollution....-.-------..-.------ 64-6»

western tributaries of, pollution of... 43-59 

Ice industry on Hudson River, effect of

pollution on-....---...-----.--- 61-64

on Passaic River, effect of pollution on 32 

Ilion, pollution at.-..-..-...----....-.---- 50

Jersey City, water supply of, source of... 32. 

Johnstown, pollution at .................. 50-53

Shriver, S., v., opinion of court in case

of..... .................------ 70

Kinderhook Creek, character of basin of 41 

Kingston, Demby, J., v., opinion of court

in caseof .................._. 69-70

pollution at.-...---.---------.--------- 45-46

Lamington River, water supply on...... 13

Landreth, O. H., quoted on pollution at

Johnstown...----.---------.--. 52-53

reference to.............. ..-..-.--- 59

Landsman Kill, pollution of -------------- 40-41

73
74 INDEX.

Page. 

Little FaHs, N. J., fall at.................. 16

pollution from.--....-......-__,__. 27

power at-----...-- ............... 18

Little Falls, N. Y., Mohawk River at, diagram showing flowof---.--..- 48 

sewerage system at..............--__. 50

Log jam in Adirondock Brook, view of.... 68

Macopin intake, dam at, view of.......... 22

Pequanac River at, flow of-------- 23

Madison, population of and pollution

from -..--.---....--..__...... 27

Mandarin, H. L., work of................ 34

Mason, W. P., reference to.....__.._. 63,67

work of................................ 54

Middle to wn, pollution from __.......... 44

Mohawk River, bacteria in............... 58

flow of, diagrams showing...-.-...--. 47,48 

pollution of^..--..---.--------....-. 46-58

diagram showing extent of.. - _ 49 

population along, centers of---.--.... 49

tributaries of, pollution of.... __.... 50-53

water from, analysesof.__..._...- 54 

Montgomery, pollution at ---------------- 45

Moody v. Saratoga Springs, opinion of

court incase of--....._...... 70

Morris Plains, pollution from.--.-....-... 27

Morristown, pollution from ........... _ 27-28

New Brunswick, population of -.--._.--.. 14 

NewPaltz, pollution at................... 45

New York City, water supply of, effect of

pollution on cost of............ 65-66

Newark, water supply of, source of..._ 32 

Newell, F. H., letter of transmittal by.-. 6 

North Adams, pollution from ............ 42

North Branch of Raritan River, hydrography of basin of--....-.--.... 13

Oak Ridge, reservoir at, capacity of..... 23

Owl Kill, pollution on..................... 42

Passaic River, course and character of .. 15-16 

fish in, effect of pollution on._...... 34

flow of................................. 16-17

ice industry on, effect of pollution on. 32 

pollution on.-------_.--.-....._.._. 25-30

compared with Hudson River .... 35

damage from-...---------....,._ 30-34

power on................ ... . 15,16,17-18

profile of. ------------..-------.-. . 15

realty values along, effect of pollution

on .............................. 33

tributaries of, hydrography of....... 18-25

value of water of, effect of pollution

on.............................. 30-32

views on........-.----.-.-..-.......... 16,18

water supply from .................... 18-19

Paterson, Great Falls of Passaic River at,

views of........................ 16,18

Passaic River at, flow of....__...... 16-17

Pequanac River, flow of and water supplyavailable from............. 22-24

Polluted waters, general discussion of... 9-11 

Pompton, power at........................ 20

Ramapo River at, flow of............. 20

Porter, D., estimate of area of Hudson

River Basin by ............__ 34

reference to _............_.......... 34

Page. 

Poughkeepsie, view of ...... ...... 34

water from Hudson River at, analysis of .--.... ....... ..--- 35

Power in Hudson Basi', damage to, from

pollution....._-.....--_------- 61

in North Branch of Raritan River

Basin........................... 13

on Passaic River ... ............ 15,16,17-18

on Pequanac River.................... 23

on Ramapo River ......... ..__..... 20

on Rockaway River-......-........--- 24-25

on Saddle River ....................... 19

on South Branch of Raritan River... 14 

on Wanaque River .--..---....-....... 21

Rafter, G. W., reference to..--- ....... 3*

Ramapo River, course and character of.. 19 

flowof _....._...-.......-..._..-....-- 20

water supply from .-...---....--.----. 20-21

Ramapo Water Company, offer of ...-.-- 65 

Raritan, population of and pollution at.. 14 

Raritan River, character and flow of .... 11-12

pollution on -.............-..-...,.-..- 14-15

tributaries of, hydrography of --....- 13-14

See also North Branch of Raritan 

River; South Branch of Raritan River. 

Realty values along Passaic River, effect

of pollution on.-............... 33

in Hudson Basin, effect of pollution

on...-.....-........-.-. ..-. 69-72

Rensselaer, water-supply and sewerage

systems of ...------...---.----. 38

Rexford Flats, Mohawk River at, diagram showing flow of--------- 47

Rhinebeck, pollution from..-._.-.-...-... 40-41 

Riverdale, Pequanac River at, flow of.... 22

Rockaway River, flow of and water available from ...................... 24-25

Rondout, canal at, view of.... ...... 34

Rondout Creek, pollution of ....... 44-45

Roosevelt, T., reference to ._-.......-..--. 66

Round Lake, water supply of......... 58

Saddle River, course and character of ... 19 

St. Johnsville, pollution at-.... __...... 50

Salem, pollution from .................. 43

Saratoga Springs, Moody v., opinion of

court incaseof.-..-.-------...- 70

pollution from --.........--.-.. . 59

Schaghticoke, pollution at.. ....... 42

Schoharie River, falls on, view of.... 7 

Shriver, S., v. Village of Johnstown, opinion of court in case of... 70 

Slack, G. P., reference to -...........---.. 40

Slope, effect on water ..-....-. --------- 8

Smith,T., reference to.---.-.......-.....,. 60,69

work of ................................ 53,55

South Branch of Raritan River, hydrography of ....-.--...--......... 14

South River, hydrography of ___...___.... 13

Splitrock Pond, capacity of............... 24

Somerville, population of and pollution

at............-....... ........ 14

Sterling Lake, storage capacity of .... 21 

Summit, pollution from.............. 87

Troy, water supply of....... _..... 88
INDEX. 75

Page. 

Tucker, W. G., work of................... 54

Utica, pollution at......................... 50

Venneule, C. C., cited on power at Pompton ............................. 20

estimate of power by ................. 13

quoted on flow of Passaic River...... 17

quoted on Pequanac River....------- 22

reference to ,.......... ............ 30

Walden, pollution at.-.....-..---... 45

Wallkill River, pollution of .............. 44-45

Wallomsic River, pollution of............ 42

Wanaque River, flow of and water supply from..-.....--.......-. 21-22

Page.

Water, analysis of, from Hoosic River... 42 

analysis of, from Hudson River . 35 

from Mohawk and Hudson rivers 54 

character and uses of, general discussion of.......................... 7-9

Water power. See Power.

Water supply in Hudson Basin, damage

from pollution.........-..-.. 64-69

Waters, polluted, general discussion of.. 9-11 

Williamstown, water from Hoosic River

at, analysis of... ............ 42

Winnisook River, view of .. .-...... .. 5t)

Wynant Kill, character of basin of ... 41

o