The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-09-16

office, and reassert it as a fixed prin-
ciple that has guided me in my action
on new water supply, that the supply
must be absolutely free from pollution.
i have kept constantly before me the
determination first to obtain the proper
kind of water. and secondly to deter
mine whether the price was fair, rather
than to obtain unsatisfactory water at
a cheap price. Believing that the water
offered by the Jersey City Water Com
pany is so gathered in it's present shed
above the sources or even danger of
pollution, both present and future, and
of quality above the standard required
by the specifications, and that the price
per gallon is a very reasonable one,
readily conclude that it is to the advan-
tage of the city for me to approve the
resolution awarding that company the
contract.
I might say in passing that do not
know what is meant by any discussion
on this matter which directs attention to
and nothing more. None of the bidders
plans are identical, the statutes are alb
solutely silent as to the manner in which
conclusion may be arrived at, and it
based on the best effort to decide cor
rectly was denied to officials empowered
to make contract, and the city and it's
officials placed at the mercy of a con,
tractor offering water supply based
primarily and only on question of cost
TEMPORARY SUPPLY.
have never advocated any temporary
supply available from the Newark sup
ply surplus. 1 did not think it a well
considered undertaking on the part of the
Board of Street and Water Commission
and as the Board of Finance has unani-
mously concurred in this award, will
state my reasons for believing it to be
a very doubtful expedient, and why 1
have acted upon the resolution as 1 have.
Jersey City's present supply is pumped
into the Belleville reservoir, and from
both that and the High Service reser-
voirs the water is delivered by gravity
to the city and it's customers, excepting
that portion of the city, or rather Hill
section, which is supplied by the high
duty pump at High Service. At the
present time, as has been frequently
stated, the pumps at the Belleville sta
tion keep the reservoir there full at
all times, while the three mains across
the meadows have not sufficient carry
ing capacity to keep the High Service
reservoirs full, especially during seasons
accepted offer Of the East Jersey Water
Company is to deliver their temporary
supply into the Belleville reservoir only.
1t can readily be seen that such sup
ply can only accomplish so far as suffi-
cheney of supply is concerned the same
as what our pumps are doing at the
present time, viz: fill the Belleville reser-
voir and leave the same scarcity of water
in those portions of the city supplied
by the High Service reservoirs and the
high duty pump as at present exists.
I know that many of our people who
are now annoyed by the scarcity of wa.
ter were deluded into the belief that the
temporary supply would afford them i'm
mediate relief were most earnest in thei,
q ~
luton to the exclusion Of the other
while such an action would not have
obtained for them what they need While
those who were not so circumstanced
agitated the matter on the same lines,
forgetting that such a supply would not
reduce in any way except at Belleville the
cost of maintaining the water department
and even there only a small fraction as
against an additional outlay by the city
| of $313. 10000 per annum for twenty mill
ion gallons of water per day at SAB per
million gallons. When it is considered
that the water offered must be mixed
with the Passaic water and supplied, too,
at a cost of SAB per million gallons as
against about s22 per million as at pres
ent furnished. that the cost of coal, oil,
labor, materials and of everything now
in use to maintain the water department
was not to be materially reduced; and
when these conditions are coupled with
the fact that two of our present Gus
toners, Kearny and Bayonne, have
made contracts for Independent supplies,
and that Harrison is now considering
proposition from the East Jersey Water
Company for a new supply, it seemed to
me that none of these features had
been considered by those who advocated
the signing of that resolution, or by
the members of the Board of Finance,
who unanimously voted for it's adoption.
So that it can readily be seen that the
disposition of the resolution was mat
ter of greater concern and much more
troublesome to me than the resolution
awarding the contract to the Jersey
City Water Company. especially in view
of the almost unanimous desire for
| immediate relief which yhad sprung up
without any calculation having been
made as to its cost or results. The
question of insufficient mains between
|