The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-08-20
SEWAGE POLLUTION
Bridgeport Must Buy Out
Factories ooru7nAbandon
Herr Water Supply.
AT EXORBITANT PRICES, TOO
The Story of Tait's Mild Stream a
~ He Ga ueE su.aT
Forecast of What May Happen
to the Rockaway.

Rridgeuort Is in a bad way. Its water
supply is taken from a stream ike the
Rockaway River. along which mills ana
factories find convenient locations. inc
result is the serious pollution of the
water.
The city has had to abandon one
stream altogethegos b story Is 1ouiu
in the Bridgep6ftn DAILY STANDARD" OF
Friday, August 9. of this year, In a re-
mort of a meeting of the City Heaitn
Board.
It is interesting reading for jersey
c;+izans and instructive for those VINO
want to force the city into the aeop1N
of n sewage polluted stream as a source
of supply. Here is the article
state Chemist Wheeler has finished ms
ANALYSIS of the water taken from rant ;
mill stream by the Board OF Healtn Any
as a result the water from that source
was condemned last night by the boaip
and its use was forbidden til II mas
been purified to the satisfaction OF the
health authorities. This action was
taken at a meeting to which mempefs
Of the water mpa were invited pul
JAILED to attend. What its result WIN
he is difficult to predict. for the company
may refuse to comply with the order on
the ground that it will not be aoie 10
snnnlv the city from its Mill river sys-
tenn. The probable outcome. however
will be the purchase of the ob1ecuonaole
property by the ompany
After some of the routine business Oh
the board had been disposed o. d.
Sheedy asked Clerk Mullins # he knew
why the representatives OF the dyolau-
lie company were not present as "a
been expected. The clerk SAID that ne
knew of no reason why they shouiu nv
be there as he had left a notice OF Tue
meeting at the Office of President Shei7
wood with instructions that as ne was
absent from the city it should pc oens-
cred 70 some of the other officers of the
concern. MIR. Sherwood ne was wv
was at Lake Wauremaug on his Vaca-
ton.
commissioned Gfeevey said that SUI
ner;ntendent. Richardson of the company
called on himfins the morning ana salo
that he and Dr.. Warner. another of its
officers. would be at the meeting. Ihey
were not there. though. and the mem
hers of the board were not at all pleased
at the manner in which the summons
had been treated hss A'b j
DR. Sheedy ~thoughtsyfe real reason OF
their n-ou-ateendahces twase a belief that
in their Absence no. action would pc
taken, He knew they did not want the
rats min Stream water discussed at
INST this time. It was a sore eye 70
them and they did not want II investi-
gated and had tpfedcte prevent an IN
DANGEROUS. TO HEALTHs
He then described fHes eeidition of af-
fairs AT HE mill at the time Of the visit
of the board. 1t was really dangerous
to the health Of the city. In the stream
were bales of paper and rags which con-
tanned matter that was certainly ln1ur-
ious to health. Samples of the wafer
were taken from the stream a little De-
low the mill, and the boy who went
into the water and secured them stirred
I'M a gelatinous Substance on the bed of
the stream which was fully an inch
deep. There were used in the manufac-
ture of the paper at the mill refuse ma
terials from the factories hof the Paper
Box and Cartridge companies IN tnls
city, and the Winchester factory IN
New HAVEN Sin addition to these there
were old clothes which were very, filthy,
though some Of hen had been washed
by the drinking water of the city ot
Bridgeport for months.
The samples of the water taken from
the mill stream had been sanalyzed by
Chemist wheeler and DR.. Sheedy pre-
scented TOT the board the result of the
examination. Sample No. 1 was aiken
xu1- 5,e+4botou II #ctraafD and sample
No. 2 from q point fully a mile sand a
haze or two miles further towards this
city, The report was as foilows:E
Bridgeport. July 20 1895.
City Board of Health4
Gentlemen: 1.-The following is the an
iivered by Dr. sheedy:-
No. HMsarked at min. Expressed in
parts per 101.000.)
Color:-Yellowish brown.
Oder at 100 degrees Fahrenheit:-Strong
chlorine horne 9.sooa
PhosDine acid p q trace
Nitrous acid. .Ooo4
Free ammonia. .Vl00
Albumino-d ammonia 2.SWO
Paper pulp and organic matter aooo
Organic and Volatile Gloss on ig-.
milton. 2hWg
mineral matter iHOu-NOidLItJ 5.vvUo
Total solids by evaporation, 60Oyl
With suspended matter, l3,2O0V
Hardness, b-oOVo
Sample No. marked at Bridge eek
pressed in parts per 100, 000.1
AppearancelSlightly cloudy.
Color.-Yellow.sh.
odor at 100 degrees Fehrenheit:-sew-
Chlorine. $4,000
Phosphine acid p. D.. trace
Free ammonia. 1880
Alburninoid ammonia, 1. 1906
fNitrolls ACID. .0C0l
ra n sus pens H. 0 10000
or nitinn apu va sp 10000
Mineral matter -fsen-yoTatfle) 10000
Total solids by EVAPORATION. : 5000
with susnended matter. 7.NlN
rdness.. 5000
UNFIT TO DRINK.
DR.. sSheedy explained that the presence
of the sewage asssshown by the report
proved that-thei waterr was unfit for
drinking purposes and, dangerous to hui
mar life and health. The presence OF
the chlorine. plnosphine ard nitrous
acids. free. ammonia an a~lbV1minoid