New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-06-15
NETWORK A DESERT.
THE CITY CRYING FOR MORE WATER.
rorE1s AND PRIVATE HOUSES FEEL THE PINCH

Nearly all the large hotels have tanks iil'o
which an immense reserve supply Of water can We
pumped for use in case Of emergency. some OF
them-the Astor House. for ipstance-suppiemen'
the supply from the city by private Wells. but
those that have depend on the city are IN oini-
cultes The engineers do not know why thls
should he. They are informed that there Is
an abundance Of water in the reservoirs Never
theless, two or three days every week, and in
some cases oftener. they have to deal with the
worst problem that can possibly perplex them
lack Of wafer They have 70 resort TO all sorts
Of expfdients TO meet the difficulty. One wOuld
think that the Murray Hill Hotel. for example,
should always have abundance OF water, but
the engineer says that Mondays he has TO " rob
the first floor to get water TO the second We
would make a complaint, ne SAID 10 tribune
reporter, hut what's the use These poll
tcians.- The people al the Grand Union Hotel
would undoubtedly he in the same fix If they
had not q 20, O00-gallon tank on the roof. The
Victoria had experience a few days ago that
.xused great deal of trouble and anxiety
10 it, managers There water for the
laundry The engiuecr there says that the sup
ply has been very short of Late, and that thc
deficiency this year has been much greater than
IL was last year. though there has been no drouth
this summer. Why" said the engineer ycster-
day, "on Monday and Saturday | have 10 shut
down some lines altogether. We never had any
occasion 10 make q complaint before, but this
year we have had 70 complain. When there is
no water for the laundry and bathroom il pretty
bad" The reporter asked several hotel men who
said that they had made complaints il their com
plants had received any consideration The re-
ply was invariably that they had been told that
nothing could he done that they must be eN-
dipo ly full and
was better time coming with the opening of the
new Aoueduct This was sorry satisfaction he
cause hotels are of all places in the town the
most careful Of water. Every drop that they
usc Is recorded by the meters. and the waterfalls
OF the hotels are SO big an item Of expense that
economy in using water is insisted upon by the
managers Another Of the hotels that are suffer
log from the neAplicable scarcity that has been
visited upon the city certainly not by the powers
Of nature, is the Coleman House. which reports
that water is very short
COMPLAINTS FROM HOTELS
The chief engineer AZ the Sturtevaut House,
Mr. Macauley. said two days ago: Our sup
ply Is short. and ] don't know what can bc the
reason. The normal pressure from the street, 10
begin with. is much loss than il used TO he. 1t
Is only half Of what IL two years ago The
water used "a 60 10 the second floor hy its own
pressure and now il needs n bc pumped I can.
not understand that The reservoirs are overflow
ing Down in Sevcnth-ave and ;rwt'lrth-st.,
where live the water won't go higher than the
second floor. The pumps won't pump it 10
the top stories and 'hc tenants have 10 carry it
up. But there's no use kicking. We must get
along az well as we can"
The big apartment houses are even more en-
barrassed by scarcity Of water than the hotels
A N he brings 1iscnmfOrf
inconvenience 70 great many families. In all
these houses therefore. waste Of water is pro-
bbited. and the superintendent and staff keep rs
close a watch as possb on the tenants, in order
that any disregard Of economy may he detected
Tanks OF enormous capacity are kept filled so
that if the supply from without should be cut
of the houses would not he left destitute Of
The superintendent of the eight Spanish
named buildings in West Fifty-niuth-st. the
Madrid the Lisbon and the Others said that they
would he in bad plight if il We're not for their
own pumping and tank facilities Without
pumping. there no hope Of getting the water
above the second floor Factories Use a great
deal o wafer and make no especial draft on
the Croton on Mondays Some Of the factories
complain that they can't get enough
water. In others it is said that there
is lust enough water 10 get along
with In stables also there is a lavish
use Of water and stablemen in these DAYS cs-
pecially at the beginning of the week. when
the factories draw water so abundantly. are often
compelled 10 put themselves on an allowance
TOO ltmcted for their needs To many-storicd
business houses lack Of water is calamity
Ia the Equitable. and several others visited by
the reporter the men in charge said that so far
they had not felt any inconvenience from a
scarcity OF water. and that they did not under
stand why any scarcity should bc looked for
But in store buildings in and near Dnane-st the
upper floors are not sufficiently supplied.
HOW CITIZENS SUFFER-
Most of the complaints OF the scarcity of water
come from private dwelling houses three and
four stories high, and from the tenement houses
IN the poorer quarters of the city. Dwccrs
in tho higher floors of tenement houses are unex-
pectedly having a hard time OF it. Before any
cooking or washing be done they have 70
descend TO the ground floor and carry water up
the weary flights of stairs.
YES sir. have 10 rush the GROWER for
water is how one OF the victims expressed il.
Cases If scarcity in dwelling houses could
be cited by the hundred The reporter
made inquiries at random from people who
live in different parts Of New-York, and in nearly
every instance he was told that it was impossible
TO get water higher than the second floor In
every instance, too, the citizens said that tho
condition Of the water supply than it
had been for many years. and they had read
in the newspapers and heard from people who
had personally observed il that there is abundance
In the reservoirs, they were at loss for ex-
pianation of the UNEXPECTED insuffciency. In
West Fiftcenth-st., in the three-story houses
known as the Astor Buildings, not drop of water
can ne had above the second floor unless it is
carried up.
III 'hrec-story houses in West Twenty -second-st
'neie Is no water running above the second floor.
ana 'he residents say that the deficiency is great
deaI worse tins season than it has been for years
IN west Nlntlst. and in Nincteenth-st. and, in
fact, In most of the West Side streets up 10
forty-second-st, the pressure is not strong enough
u force the water 10 the rooms nnsfairs and the