The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-06-11
THE HORRID PASSAIC.
Facts for TWo-Foot-R
Hooker From Inspector
Leake's Report.
WATER CHEMICALLY ANALYZED.
Enormous Mass of Impurities-The
Deep Channel Backs Up
the Refuse.
WATER CHEMICALLY ANALYzED.

1
| Two-foot-rule Hooker remarked, while
| sailing up the Passaic River last Wednes-
| day Evening with Water Inspector Leake
and the Street and Water Commissions
ers, II don't see all the dead dogs and
cows we hear so much about, do you
Ma jor2"
"That man evidently expected to have
the steam yacht run agroun on bed OF
dead animals" said a gentleman last
evening. Every month Inspector Leake
| removes dozens of de ed animals from the
| river, and l have no doubt but what many
escape his atte ntion. I ha vent seen this
months report, but l imagine it will be
enough to make a person shudder to think
of the stuff we are compelled to drink"
Water Inspec tor Leake's monthly re-
port has been filed with the Street and
| Water Commissioners and it shows
| clearly that dead animals were removed
| during the past month and that the water
| is In a filthy condition. Here it Isl
"Since my last report to your honorable
| Board have visited Newark, Belleville,
Woodside. Soho, Montcair, Bloomfield,
| Orange, Avondale. West Rutherford.
| Passaic. Garfield and Paterson. The
water has been in a very dirty condition
| during the month. large quantities of
| coal tar and oil coming from the Standard
| Oil Company's tanks at Saddle River and
| from the Newark Gas Works. Second
| River has been in a very dirty condition
| all the way to Montcair. caused by the
refuse Of the hat sh ops in Bloomfield and
| from Samuel Cromp's Label Works at
| Montclair. They are progressing with the
| Orange sewerage system and expect to
| have it completed sometime this summer.
| That will drain very large territory,
| comprising the cities of Orange. East
| Orange, South Orange. Montclalr and
| Bloomfield. / have collected all the evi.
| dence could get and submitted the same
| to the Corporation Counsel as requested
| by him.
1.-The city of Passaic is making new
connections with its sewerage system
every day. The time will soon come when
every home in the city OF Passaic will
empty its refuse into the Passaic River;
| and the factories are only waiting for the
| time to come when the decision will be in
| favor of Passafc, then they will empty
| their closet refuse in also. AS 1t fS now,
| they put all their refuse in, except closet
| refuse. They are building two large
woollen mills at Dundee. / have had
| Mckenzie and Ward at West Rutherford
clean out their pond. / have taken from
the river and its tributaries foflr dead
dogs and one COW. The water is Ia bad
| condition for this time Of the year,
1T. ". LnAKE."
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS.
| In conjunction with this report, which
is not pleasant one to read before inn
| bibing Passaic, an analysis of the water
| during the past five months. is submitted
| by Chemist Phillips The analysed water
was taken from the hydrant at Newark
avenue and Grove street.
| In the month of February the water
had turbid appearance. was yellowish
brown in color, marshy in oaor, con-
| tanned 2S of organic and volatile matter,
mineral mat ter 26. making total of 81
of solids, besides Al chlorine in chlorides;
7.30 quivalent to sodium chloride; 90 in /
notregin in nitratis; .044 of free am
monia. and .146 albuminoids.
| In the months March. April and May,
| it was found that the appearance, odor
and color were identical with the month
of February. In March the water con-
| tained 81. of volatile matter; "a. mineral
matter; April. "a. of volatile matter; 20.
mineral matter; May. 2s. volatile matter;
| 1853 mineral matter.
| On the first day of June sample of wa
| ter taken from the immediate vicinity of
the intake at Belleville was analyzed.
| The water had very turbid appearance,
was Of a brownish.yellow color and
smelled marshy. 1t contained SO. of vola-
| tile matter and 1850 mineral matter. or
| a total of 1914. 80 of solids. During the en-
| tire five months the amounts of free am
| monia, chlorine, alouminoids aud sodium
were about on the same average as given
| above.
| Water Inspector Leake. in speaking Of
| the condition OF the water, said:-'I have
| never seen the water in snch filthy con-
| ditior. It is not fit for people to drink,
and maintain that day by day 1T is get
| ting worse. The further up the river one
| goes the worse the water becomes. The
| Government has been digging out the
| channel, and since that has been done
| the refuse matter dumped into
| the river does not run as far
| down the river. AS matter of fact the
| change of tide sends the refuse back with
u rush and l maintain that lots of it is
| drawn into our intake. There is no way
| OF getting away from the fact that jersey
| City Will soon have to secure new sup
| ply of water. Pipes will either have to
| be run above the falls or a supply OBJ
tanned from some lake. The water this
summer will probably be worse than
| during any summer for years past"
| From Friend to Friend