New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-09-20
THE POLLUTION or THE PASSATC.

Today's meeting Of the New-Jersey State
Board Of Health at Trenton will be OF excep-
tional interest 10 the people Of Newark. Paterson,
Passac and the adjacent towns and villages.
1t will be held chiefly to consider the condition
Of the Passac River and the best means OF I'M
proving II. That Is matter urgently calling for
consideration and immediate action The river
in It's lower reaches Is public nuisance and a
grave menace TO tie public health. Time was
when 1t was thing Of beauty and JOY. Its
water was clear and pure. the scenery on Its
banks was beautiful, and people loved to live
near It, and artists to paint 1t and poets to write
of It. Now, man and beast, and even carbon
feeding fish, avoid II as though 1t were pest
house. and It's shores are In danger Of becoming
deserts This change has been brought about
by the works Of man; works that were greedy,
perhaps thoughtless. but none the less wicked.
The great falls of the Passaic, aifording some
Of the finest natural scenery In this part or the
continent were early seized upon for manu-
featuring purposes, and great Industrial city
was built UP around them. From an aesthetic
point Of view 1t was bad enough to have the
splendid cataract entirely destroyed. as 1t has
been Incomparably worse was 1t, from prac-
teal and sanitary point at view to turn all the
sewage Of the great city, and all the poisonous
drainage Of Its vast mills, into the river-bed be-
low the falls. How great that inflow OF liquid
foulness Is, perhaps few men realize 1t amounts
often TO 80 per cent, and at times TO w per cent
Of the entire volume Of the stream. Under any
circumstances n river Of which from % TO w
per cent was sewage would be thing OF horror
But the case OF the Passaic IL especially bad be-
cause from Paterson to Newark Bay 1t flows
through a level country. The fall Is very slight
At Paterson the river Is only p feet above tide
level At Dundee Dam, or just below IT, II Is
only feet above the Bay And 1t has fifteen
miles or more yet to flow. The current Is there
fore extremely sluggish II does not scour or
wash out the riyer-bc1 in the least degree. On
the contrary It permits the settling and reten-
ton Of solid matter. until the river-bed Is thckly
coated with deposits Of indescrlbable fOuness.
AT MI times the stream Is offensive to sight and
smell But when dry season causes it to be
diminished in size, there is exposed along each
bank n strip Of fostering, rocking filth, that fills
the air for miles with nauseating and health
destroying stenches. That Is the condition OF
the Passaic and It's shores today, from Paterson
to Newark
The Board Of Health will do well II II shall
adopt some measure, however drastic. which will
afford immediate relief from state of affairs
that has become intolerabe. II will do better
still If It shall in some way prevent the further
pollution Of any river In the State by the pour
ing in Of sewage. To empty sewage into tidal
harbor and TO dump garbage and refuse Into
the ocean, az we do here. Is a stupid wasteful
and barbarous practice. To make fresh-water
river far inland receptacle for such matter
Is all that, and Is positively criminal TO boot.
There is no more excuse for pouring liquid filth
into the streams than for piling up solid filth In
the public highways