The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-04-21


In conjunction with Mr. Ruggles. your
Chief Engineer, I have prepared drafts
beg to submit herewith for your consid-
AS to the general form adopted for the
specificat tions the following are considera-
tions which have mainly determined it.
The legal powers which you possess at
present only enable you to contract for
your reservoirs and paid for by the mil
lion gallons. This removes from consid-
GRAFTON at once any steps looking to the
building of waterworks by the city, un-
less II is decided to be wise to proceed
on these lines and trust to being able to
remove the legal obstacles at some future
time It is BY no means clear that the
city would obtain any marked advantage
through this course. even If it were legal
ly possible, for there are important finan-
eial considerations which must be care
fully weighed before such step is taken
The urgent need of a settlement of the
water supply question also seems to make
IS much the wisest course to proceed un-
der existing legislation to exhaust all
means OF procuring pure supply of wa
ter unless there are better reasons for
delay than are now apparent, for past
experience has shown that every year
OF delay only adds to the difficulty.
been suggested is that the city shall pre-
pare specific plans for new waterworks
or at least select a specific source of sup
ply and specify other important features
OF the works. If the argument made for
this plan has any force at all it must BE-
followed to its logical conclusion, and
utest detail, so that nothing will be left
Optional with the bidder. This means
that detailed surveys must be made, in
Guiding bor1ngs for the foundation of
dams and the preparation of complete
working drawings of every appliance.
The exact location. OF dams, reservoirs
and intakes must be determined There
is no special difficulty In dong this pro-
vlded that a year is allowed for it, and
a sufficient amount of money appropri-
ated to cover the expense. If the city
could build It's own works, unquestion-
ably this would be a wise and proper
course, but we must bear in mind that
we can only purchase water. The works
to be built must for the present. and may
always continue to be the property Of
the contractor You have the legal right
works, but you cannot bind the city 10
purchase. Under such conditions | am
Ieerced by experience to the conclusion
principle, insist upon furnishing his own
|Splans for his own works, and there is
gray, grave dol, donbt whether plans prepared by
ture that the city pIy' cannot m 'pg obsain III,
the power to build. the plans may prove
of Newark in 1878 under similar circugn-
stances. You are aware that in the past
each bidder who has Offered to supply
troll valuable rights on one or the other
of those sources Of supply which we
should naturally select for your city
These claims have been strengthened
from gear to year, and it must be appar-
ent that the selection of any one source
would favor certain interests to the pre-
judice of others, and under such conditions
you can obtain no real competition. Ii is
clear to me, therefore, that real compe.ti-
tion can only be obtained under such gen.
eral specifications as will enable bidders
10 offer you any one OF the several good
N nd To- 37lo1,
iety OF plans for works as is called for in
the proper development of the different
sources which We have in mind. We must
allow the bidder to submit his own plans
only specifying those things which are
necessary to procure in a proper manner
the delivery Of the water fo- which you
In preparing the specifications
chasing water S and = not = building ding
water works has been kept in mind. The
the works is clearly only an additional
measure of precaution and Safeguard
over what is already furnished by the
laws. AS I have said, it does not bind
the city to take these works if they are
rot built in substantial and acceptable
manner, nor does it prevent the city from
taking them at a fair valuation which
may be determined at any time in the
| future by due process of law. While it
| is unquestionabiy true that works such
as these will always be valuable to the
| contractor WITH INCREASING Qem9nQ Tor
water in this district, it is equally true
| that this growing demand may, before
| the expiration of the proposed contract.
! lead to. such radical changes in methods
! of supplying this great metropolitan dis
| trict as may make tine ownership of
| these works unnecessary and undesirable
| for your city. II will be seen that the
burden of building the works in a proper
manner rests SO heavily on the contractor
| that the necessity for such specific plans
as you would require in case the city
was building its own works does not ex-
ist
1 am, therefore, led to recommend to
i you specifications general in character,
/ providing only the barest essentials and
bility as much as possible. upon the con-
| tractor. The specifications are con-
seqently, on similar lines to those prev
iously adopted by your Board, but some
/ what simplified and made to conform to
| the principles laid down in the recent de
cision of the Supreme Court, as we under
/ stand them.
Specification A is for delivery by grav-
ity into the present reservoirs at Bergen
and Specification B is for delivery by
! gravity at Bergen reservoirs. with suffi-
cient pressure to supply the High Service
| district and the whole of the city without
pumping. Under Specification A the
city will continue to work its High Ser
| vice pumps as heretofore, but all other
is necessary to go to a considerable dis
| tance to obtain supply of pure
| water even by pumping,
do not consider that any plar
| which contemplates pumping at thu
source of supply can possibly compete
| merit and price both considered, with {
gravity supply. This conclusion is basst
on the experience of bids received BY
| you in the past, as well as on my owr
information BY calling for both low ani
high service delivery we allow compet
| ton from all sources of supply which arr
! at all suitable for your city.
FILTRATION.
My attention has been called to ths
| propretys of receiving bids for filtration
and publication of the water of the Pas
sale River near the present pumping
station. In considering this matter / have
thought that the wisdom of advertising
/ for such a bid must be largely determined
by our conclusions as to the wisdom o.
the city itself constructing filtration
/ works. 1t has been urged that thil
might be done in a small way with thu
funds which the city may have at com
mand under the present legislation. II
order that you may judge of the wisdom
of committing the city to a plan OF fill
tration without the intervention Of a con
submit few facts. We willingly adnli
that. in view of the obstacles whicl
surround and impede your efforts t.
procure that supply of pure water which
your city SO much needs. filtration ma.
possibly yet prove to offer at least a TEN
poFary solution of the problem which yol
| might wish to avail yourselves of. New
ertheless, 1T is not a solution which cal
be compared in merit with the procure
ment of a suitable gravity supply from
an u1lpelluted source. If your city con