The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-11-30
ROCKAWAY WATER
The Board of Trade Hears
the Pros and Cons of
the Proposed
Contract.
SOME FACTIOUs OPPOSITION
And Some Honest Criticism
General Sentiment Favors
the Supply.
NARROW VOTE FOR DELAY
The Bidder Guarantees to Protect
the City Against All Sewage
Or Other Pollution.

The Board of Trade met last night to
consider the proposition before the Street
and Water Commissioners for pure and
wholesome supply of Water. The at
tendance was large, among those
present being President Joseph A. Dear.
L. B. Ward Colonel John j. Toffey, Frank
Earle Commissioner W. R. Cook, Chief
Engineer Ruggles. Water Contractor
Pratt, L. j. Gordon, Cousellor Condit. H.
W. Carr, Edlow b. Harrison, GA. Watson,
James Fleming. Corporation Counsel W.
d. Edwards, John D. Carscallen. Messrs.
Moffet and Clarke of the firm of Moffet,
Hogkins..& Clarke. water contractors. and
Captain Henry White, Mr. Burlingame
and Engineer Van Duyn. ais o connected
with the Water Company. Those con-
nected with the; proposition to supply tn e
city with water were present by the in
vitat1on of the Board.
EXCELLENT WATER.
After the President informed the Board
Of the object of the meeting, he asked for
a report from the Committee who on
Saturday visited, with Messrs. Mofet,
Hodgkins and Clarke the water shed OF
the Rockaway River. Lawyer Condit
| was Chairman of the Committee. He de-
scribed the watershed as an ideal one
and the water as the most beautiful he
had ever seen. He said there was no
doubt that it was absolutely pure. He
went over the description published in
THE JERSEY CITY NEWS Monday. Our
impression of the water She'd" he CO
tinued. land think 1 voice the
sentiments of the entire committee,
is that the water at present is
M nd wa
believe that while the river does not at
present have water enough TO supply the
city, it can be made to do so. The water
shed has a rain fall of fourteen inches and
at le asst one-half of this can be stored,
which would make 7S, 600 600 gallons and
give us supply of 50,OO0,00O gallons each
day. The Committee has not considered
the legal points in the matter. As / said,
the water is pure today in the Rockaway
River, but we have apprehension of the
future, because of the sewage from Dover
and as to whether a-the contractor eau
keep It from communicating the water.
We have heard no solution of this prob
lem. We are not prejudiced, for we think
the water is good, and if it had not Dover
and other towns along the river. it would
be perfect"
DIR. GoRDoN's FEARS.
DR.. L. j. Gordon, also member or the
Committee, said:-'1be portion of the
shed inspected Saturday is an ideal one.
but the portion we did not inspect is
what worries me-" DR.. Gordon read
extracts from report of DR.. Cook,
State Geologist, showing that the
population of the Rockaway watershed
is ITO to the square mile or so per cent
greater that of the Croton watershed.
1.-The river" he said, runs through Port
Dram, Mt Tabor, Rockaway, Mt. Hope.
Divide. Dover and Boonton, all of which
in the summer, have larger population,
nh rUo pon mn fo inf. nf
because we do not know the extent of the
increase. From DR.. Cooks report OF 1876
we find that an analysis of the water
showed that between Port Dram and
Dover it deteriorated to point nearly
as bad as that which we get at our
present intake from the Passaic River.
An investigation made today shows that
eleven sewers, public and private. and
large number OF out houses empty into
the Rockaway River at Dove T. and tnat
sewer larger than those mentioned is now
being constructed.
Perhaps" said the Doctor in conclu-
sion, "the contractors can suggest way
OF preventing this pollution. Ii they can
do so successfully. then they have indeed
an ideal watershed"
ENGINEER WARDS VIEWS.
State Commissioner LeDbeus B. Ward
wrote letter to the Board. which was
read by the Secretary. In it he says:-
In making an exchange, if Jersey City is
obliged to abandon its present source of supply
which In point of volume and accessibility has
an undoubted advantage over all others-the
sanitary quality of the new supply must be the
consideration of first importance. In this re-
spsct the Rockaway River is an unsafe source
OF supply, II tapped at any point below the
Town of Dover
1t is tru. that at present Dover does not pos
sess a system of sewerage Its population Is,
however, between 5000 and 1900; it is provided
with public water supply; and it is Inevitable
that IN tne tuture at some not distant date,
system OF sewers will be constructed. 1t is
argued by the friends and promoters of the
present scheme that either the sewage will be
insufficient to materially contaminate the
stream, or that some me ans will be provided or
some other method put into operation-such as
an nerceptng sewer delivering at point in the
valley below the intake, or in lieu thereof, some
method OF sewage uritication-wherehy the in
mized.
The answer to this is that, if Jersey City,
which located its wafer works aud intake by ex-
press direction of the Legislature upon the Pas
sale at Belleville, in 1853 (when that river was
free from sewage contamination, as the Rock
away is now). has found itself unable to prevent
the direct pollution of that stream by the re-
ceJt discharge into it of the sewage of the CITY
o. Passaic. or TO control the action of that city
by any legal process, it's position simple
riparian proprietor, or as the tenant of a ripar-
ian proprietor, upon the Rockayay, will not
enable 1t to restrain or coerce the Town of
Dover in a similar case.
The danger of sewage contamination is, more
over, not confined to Dover alone. The argu-
lenI Will Apply equally to the towns or Rock
away and Boouton, both of which lie upon the
Rockaway River above the point CT intake.
Boonton. the larger Of these places, is a manu-
featuring town of upwards of 1900 inhabitants.
Its location IS such that an intercepting sewer in
its case would be manageable, but the mauufac-
turing refuse from the factories on the Rock
away River at that point must of necessity enter
the river and find its way into the intake of the
proposed pipe line.
will here remark that modern chemistry re-
jects the old belief in the oxidation of organic
matters in streams under the operation of sim
Dle chemical affinity.
ESTIMATE OF CAPACITY.
The suggestion has been made that a sufficient
supply might be obtained from sources within
the Rockaway watershed without tapping the
Rockaway River itself, thus securing a-xater of
permanent purity Your inquiry as to the are
of the watershed and the quantity of water
which can be mpounded by dams
placed upon the northern tribr-
tafies of the Rockaway River which
flow into it between the Towns of Rockaway
and Boonton, has reference to the practicabilitv
of this plan; the tributaries referred to eirg
Stony Brook and Beaver Brook.
dam across Stony Brook at the point imme-
diately below the outlet OF Dixoa's Pond will
impound 1885 square miles Of watershed. A