The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-05-02

Geologist vermeule Tells Of Eleven
Dissatisfied Towns.

TRENTON. May 2, ISo0.--In the annual
report Of the State Geologist, Just SUB
mitted to the Governor, Civil Engineer Y.
g. VermeuIe has a highly interesting art
icle on the water supply in the state. ne
speaks of eleven towns or cities n Lhe
state with q population of 465.S23, or
more than one-third of the people of the
State. who are dissatisfied with their
present source of supply. These are Jer-
sew City. Newark, Camden, East orange,
Atlantic City. New Brunswick, Perth
Amboy, Elizabeth. Burlington. Borden
town and Mount Holly. h works IN.
volyed represent a aggregate cost or
sfo.o00. 600. The leading cause Of trouble
is the pollution of streams by other
towns. The supply of 1888 sol people IS
now affected by this contamination. while
61.694 have been affected by natural unit
ness of their sources of supply.
The Boards of Health have q
public sentiment which will not tolerate
longer unwholesome water supply. Inc
result of the present movement will be OF
incalculable benefit to the State. From q
sanitary point of view it is a hopeIul
sign of the times.
Ten towns and villages, aggregatlng a
population of $4,000. have now under con.
struction or are projecting their first
water works. The largest of these is
Plainfield, with s,913 inhabitants by the
census of 1885. While this beautiful CITY
is in other respects the most progressive,
it has for some time been the largest east
of the Mississippi ~unsupDlied with WAFER.
Al supply from driven wells, situated IN
the northern part OF the CITY IS salu 70 ~
contemplated. At least six out OF the
ten new works will draw a supply from
wells.
OF the Sc water works in the State
which supply towns, 43 have streams for
their sources, and IL draw from wells.
Eight of the latter are large open wells,
and s driven tube wells.
Classified as to ownership, 80 OIL the
towns are supplied by private corpora
tons and IS own their systems. VI the
latter, 10 were built by the towns, and 5
by private capital, being afterward
bought by the towns. Among the cities
not owning their water works are Pater-
son, with d population of 63, 273; Hoboken,
population, 37,721: and Elizabeth, popula-
ton, 30, l19. Newark, Camden, Trenton,
New Brunswick and Burlington have
found it expedient to purchase their
works from the companies.
The writer says:-The Importance of
the subject to the people of the State is
apparent from the fact that two-thirds of
its population are now dependent on sys-
TENS Of public water supply. The poilu,
tion Of our streams goes hand in hand
with this, and, as we have seen, now d.
.Fectly affects one-third of our population.
On the Delaware, Bordentown, Burling-
ton and Camden suffer from this cause;
the sewage of Trenton being responsible
in the former two cases. On the Passaic,
Newark, Jersey City n Bayonne have
been driven out by the sewage of Pater-
son and Passaic. The adjustment of
troubles from this cause gives rise to
some very nice questions. Is a
stream more necessary to the town
below for water supply Than it is to the
tnxvn oh0uo for 6ruin crop II yunr1d cQQTn
that the Delaware below Trenton, and
the Passaic below Paterson, are the
natural sewers of their respective dis
tricts, and must be abandoned to that
use.
sit would appear to be the time for q
more active and direct control OF these
matters to be assumed by the State. The
initiative was taken by the act of 1883,
authorizing a commission OF State water
supply, but this commission was not on
tinued. The control of the construction
of dams, the prevention of unnecessary
pollution of streams n guarding of
cities against the adoption or use of con-
taminated sources OF supply, would be
The proper work or such a Commission. =
Mr.. Vermeule says there is an abund-
Rnce of pure water ~obtainable from the
streams in the Highlands and Kittatinny
Valley. A great supply can be found
near at hand for every town and village.
In the red sandstone country, however,
where most of the towns are situated. the
characteristic red is so soluble that
streams having a large portion of their
water sheds upon 1t carry much sediment
in the wet weather. This, together with
the density of population and the high
state of cultivation, makes it difficult to
secure a satisfactory supply from streams.
Where they are used, more or less effec-
tual attempts are made to clarity the
waters. Five of the thirty water works
in the district draw their water from
open wells. The supply from those wells
has thus far been found satisfactory.