The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-08-20
What NEWARK FINDS
Cumulative Evidence as
to the Filthy
PaSSaic.
ALL KINDS OF ANIMALS.
These Are Supplemented With the
Debris of Factories, Sewage
aud Excreta from Various
Sources.

From month to month for many years
Thomas Leake. Inspector for this city of
the water of the Passaic River. has rem
dered reports to the Board of Pollution
and later to the Board of Street and
Water Commissioners concerning the
condition of the water. These communi-
cations have treated in full of the foul
condition of Passaic water aud its unfit
ness for household purposes. To ascer-
tain If all the evils complained OF by Ia.
spector Leake exist / went to Newark
VI terday and stopped at the Office Of the
Aqueduct Board.
This Board is now called the Street and
Water Commissioners OF Newark 1t is
the same In all respects as the Board of
Street and Water Commissioners of this
city and has full coutrol of the water de-
partment The Office is located In
building entirely separated from the
street department. Chief Clerk Enos
Runyon greeted me when i entered and
said he would take pleasure in showing
me the report of Inspector Henry j. Nah
Ter. who performs for Newark the same
duties that Inspector Leake does for this
city. That is. he carefully patrols the
Passaic Rivers and its tributaries in search
OF impurities In the water and the Causes
When these are found they are reported
to the Street aud Water Commissioners,
who take such action in the premises as
they deem proper. Mr.. Runyon said the
report for July had not yet reached the
Commissioners officially, but he uuder-
stood that 1t was worse than that Of June.
He could not show 1t to me until the
Commissioners had received 1t, but l was
welcome to all the information the report
for Juue contained. This being the last
official description of the water in the
Passaic River 1 accepted the offer will
ingly. The report sets forth that
"Parrow Brook, a tributary of the Pas
coff met oh Ia
ark, from Central avenue to New street.
Orange, is in very filthy condition; not
alone from stagnant water and the flow
from filthy yards which Grain into it, but
from almost every other known cause,
particularly dead animals.
WORSE AND WORSE
This condition becomes worse as the
season advances, especially the vegetable
matter. Between South and Hill streets
and along Parrow Brook a plot of
ground was used until recently as
dumping ground for all kinds of garbage.
i have found this section OF Parrow
Brook so filled up with refuse and gar
bage that a person could walk across
it without wetting mis- shoes. On April
20 l took three .putrid dogs from the
found about the same condition OF
Things"
The branch that has It's source in Rose
dale Cemetery, West Orange, has one hat
lHCIDEY Oh IL. near Iut ctI1tItFJ. anu
where it flows into the main stream 1t
passes under another hat factory at East
Day and Kearney streets. The next bad
place examined was the East Orange
Sewage Company's works, where the
company chemicaiizes and filters the vast
amount of sewage matter that enters its
works daily. The company tries to purI-
fly this matter before the waste flows into
the brook and into Second River, but the
limit of its capacity to do this has been
reached. East Orange has 1900 sewer
connections which 500 persons use. This
sewerage all flows into these works, TO be
disposed of chemically"
ssAt Avondale, March %, | took from
the water a mule that had been In it for
long time. April 9. removed dog
from the river and May % / took another
out OF the water at Belleville. May 25 l
took dog from the water at the Della
ware, Lackawanna Railroad bridge near
Belleville, and since then to June 30 |
have taken out of the river three dogs,
one cat and one large snake. June l
removed COW, the stencil OF which was
HORRIBLE"
After reciting the above list of the con-
comitants to the ''pure and wholesome
water" of the Passaic, that the people of
this city and Newark must drink, the re-
port touches more serious matter, one
that can not be read too carefully or
studied too much. 1t says
HERE'S A PRETTY MESS.
s'Passac City is at present honeycombed
with sewers which are connected with
Passaic River or the Tail Race tribu-
tary which flows into the Passaic. At
present there are two sewer pipes that
flow into the river and Tail Race, one at
Passaic street and the other a5 the foot of
Washington street; also the Park place
sewer which is built of brick and flows
direct into the Passaic River at Acker-
mans lumber yard, and the Lafayette
avenue sewer, which is a pipe sewer that
flows direct into the Passatc River. The
flow from this sewer can not be seen, for
the pipe extends quite distance into the
river"
1T is not necessary to see what flows
from this, for more than enough can be
seen from the others, especially the Park
place outlet. have watched these sewers
carefully every week but did not find any
excrete or other solid matter flowing from
them until June 1, although every week
/ found an increase of waste and wash
water flowing from them. June / the
tide was very low. found Mt the Park
place sewer outlet quite some excrete
matter floating about and also sticking
to the shore. 1t was in very prime con-
dition. Since then have found flowing
from each an increase OF excrete and other
filthy matter"
There are between $50 and 400 houses
that have sewer connections and many
others are constantly being added to the
number. for the bottom seems TO have
fallen out of certain suit in regard to
the city of Passaic emptving its sewage
into the Passaic River Things
are daily growing worse. There are
thousands of gallons of sewerage that
daily How from Passaic City into the
Passaic River. the washing of filthy aud
nasty clothes. the draining of cessDools
and water closets, besides the quantity
of excrete matter which is flushed
from the sewers every twenty-four
hours, the numerous dead and
decomposed animals which are found
floating with the tide. and which expert
authorities say Is the most vile of all pol
lntions. ana will in certain stages of de-
composition contaminate a million gall
Ions of water hourly. Such was the case
on June when the COW was taken from
the river near the Belleville pumping
station. and also the mule taken from the
river March % The only remedy for this
evil Is to get a new water supply through
our pipes as soon as possible.
1.-The output from the mills on the Pas
sale River and Tail Race make quite a
showing at times on the surface of the
Passaic River"