The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-05-22
PASSAIC POLLUTION
Governor Griggs' Commis-
sion Trying to Find Out
What Contam1nates
the Water.
DREADFUL STATE OF AFFAIRS
Sewers OutbuiIdings and Factories
Empty Their Refuse Into
the River.
DREADFUL STATE OF AFFAIRS
Special 10 the Jerscv Citu Ne,cs.

april N Dy Governor GrlggS, mas taken
rooms in the London. Liverpool and Globe
Insurance Company's building, No. 500
Broad street The commission, which
consists of DR.. H. C. H. Herold and
William Hunt of Newark, and DR.. E. ].
Marsh, of Paterson, is just now engaged
in looking over the ground. The members
wish before considering the subject of
preventing pollution to acquire as definite
a knowledge possiblel of the exact state of
the Passaic, what sewers empty into the.
river and what factories discharge their
refuse into the stream, how much in
volume they pour into the water daily,
and of any other source of pollution along
its banks or in the country through which
it flows which in any way contaminates the
waters of the Passaic. With this object
in view they recently met in the City
Hall in this city and listened to a report
by City Surveyor Adam, which gave the
number of sewers at the present time
discharging into the Passaic River, within
the city limits, their respective dimensions,
drainage area in acres, number of miles
of tributary sewers, approximate quantity
of hourly flow in gallons, and approximate
population as per census of 1895, which
makes that of the whole city 215,S07.
The eight large sewers drain a total
area of 1916 acres containing a population
of 114,S79, and discharge ], ,1S3, 40 gallons of
sewage per hour into the river
Eventually the Woodside districts will
have to be drained into the Passaic
River.
The sewage of East Orange Township is
now carried through the Mill Brook sewer
system. The quantity is said to be about
one and half million gallons per day. 1t
is included in the measurement of dis
charge from the Mill Brook sewer at
the Passaic River. The ultimate dis
charge from Eeast Orange Township is
estimated to be 100000 gallons per day.
The flow of the Mill Brook sewer con-
tains large quantity of ground water
and the overflow from the Branch Brook
pond, estimated in 1884 to be 10000 gal
The quantity of sewage to be dis
charged by tie union outlet sewer of
Orange, Montclair and Bloomfield was
assumed to be one and a half million
gallons per day at the completion of the
sewer, withla an ultimate discharge of s,0Oo-i
600 gallons.
1--WE gaugings taken at the flow of the
Passaic River by Messrs. Croes & Howell
in 1878, gave the following results. as
stated in their report upon additional
water supply for the city OF Newark -
Taken at Paterson on October Il, when
the dow was as low as as d had been known
day, or 5,264,000 gallons per hour. Taken
at Dundee Dam December q when
freshet occurred, which was said to have
gave II, ,579, ,072 S38 gallons in tWenty-four
hours. or .243, ,S625OO gallons per hour.
AT a subsequent date the Commission
visited Paterson and City Engineer Fer
guson explained the course of seven mixes
Of sewers of that city enptying through
sixteen outlets into the river. 1t was
river bank in Sadie River and Acquacka-
monk townships had held indignation meet
ings last summer, and threatened e; It to des-
Mr.. Ferguson did not believe the removal
of the dam would remove the nuisance. 1t
would rather be accentuated, as ten feet
bed a, mud fat. The amount Of wafer
running into sewage flow was abont H.
This would not be materially increased
in twenty years. The sewage acreage of
Paterson had been laid .cut with view
to the shortest route to the river. 1t was
SO laid that an intercepting sewer must
be erected along both banks.
Mr. Hunt here found that there was no
Dundee, neither was there a river ordin-
ance preventing dyehousas from emptying
tons of ashes and refuse into the river
daily. Six hundred houses built along
the bank had built private sewers directly
into the river. Ten million gallons of
water impregnated with dyes.uffs and
chemicals was also discharged into the
stream.
William T. Ryle; President of the Pas
safe Water Company, declared that there
he had a supply of 25, ,0oo, 900 gallons daily
Had the pollution of the river been pro-
tected by the ironclad ordinance i've years
before the Dundee nuisance would not
exist. The trouble was caused at the dam
by mill owners running night and day,
stretching a ten hour s, supply l.,, to meet
drawn off and an island OF corruption OBJ
truded as natural result. # the Dundee
Water Power Company was prevented
nC L
quarter Of an inch of water was running
over the dam. the nui sance could be
was positive that 10000, 600 gallons Of sew
age were emptied into the river at Pater-
son daily.
On Monday the Commissioners took a
trip up the river in a steam launch to
learn what they could by personal OBJ
servation. The water was high and very
sewer outlets and the Shiny banks were
under water. The Commissioners then
went to the City Hall, where they met
number of city officials.
City Surveyor Colin r. Wise. of Pas
sale, who is also superintendent OF Sew
age, said the sewage systenl of the city
outlets directly into the river. IT was a
pipe sewer system, and the conduits vary
in size from six to fourteen inches.
About $780, 900 gallons of sewage, he said,
were discharged into the river daily, and
of this amount 1000 gallons was Of
water. An automatic coTltrivance was
used and the sewers flushed with clean
water every two hours during the day
time When the city made its contract
the water company was compelled to fur
nish water for the flushing of the sewers.
THE company has, SO It is. said, found
that the agreement has entailed consider
able expense, and that a greater amount
of water is consumed by the city than by
private individuals.
Passaic was about 10000. The sewer sys-
tenn ran through all OF the residential
portions of the city. and about 800 dwell
ings were connected with the sewers All
each household, there are 10.500, about
half of the population deriving benefits
from the sewers. The surveyor explained
that he could give nothing like an accu-
rate estimate of the amount of refuse,
waiter and sewage discharged into the
riyer/by the various firms along the bank
or the stream. He had never had the op-
portunity to make an examination. The
sewage Of several factories was provided
for by private disposal works. Moses e
Wgrthen, of the Print Works Company,
said it cost his firm about 5000 per year
TO dispose of solid matter contained IN
The sewage of his concern.
DR. Heroid asked what disposition was
made of night soil removed frstm prem.
ises not corrected with sewers. and
brought out the information that much
Efforts are made to prevent that very sort
= Ma4al a'1l'iS z II MaeE,ean explained that The
pdorIess Exc ting Company deposited