The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-12-18
x SPARTAN
BOARD OF
IOmcial Proceedings.1

BOARD OF FINANCE.
IOficial Proceedings.l
Continued
contracting for the construction of water
works, the provision might be well
enough; but the city is happily wholly
without power to complete works aban-
doned by a contractor. This contract is
to be for a supply of water, not for the
construction of works. Upon this and
other points in the report of your com
mittee, however, l prefer to let a third
party speak, and therefore append a copy
of a report made by j. James r. Croes,
fications were submitted. / preferred to
avoid the publication of the criticism OF
MIR. Croes, hoping that a suggestion OF
his objections might lead to alteration of
the specifications, but your assumption
of conclusive knowledge renders publica-
ton necessary. His report is as follows
RELATING TO JERSEY CITY WATER
CONTRACT.
JERSEY CITY, October s, 1897.
To His Honor Edward Hoos, Mayor OF
Jersey City, N. j.
Sir-I have examined, with care, the
specifications for a new water supply for
Jersey City, which you placed in my
hands, with a request for my opinion as
to their a~daptability for the purpose for
which they were intended, viz: the Sc
curing from responsible contractors of
proposals for furnishing an ample supply
of the best water On the most economical
terms to the city.
The first specification is limited to the
furnishing of a supply by gravity from
sources sufficiently elevated to deliver
the water at 127 feet or 210 feet above
tide level. The water is to be delivered in
the condition in which it may be at the
time, in storage reservoirs in which 1t
has been collected, n is only required
to "be pure and wholesome for drinking
and domestic purposes"
The area of water shed required, the
amount of storage necessary to be pro-
yided, the dimensions of the conduits,
the character of the materials and work
manship demanded, are all very fully and
explicitly set forth in the specifications,
which on careful examination appear to
be framed with great care and In general
accord with the latest information and
experience in engineering practice.
which proposals are asked fora. The
supply of so million gallons per day, at
an elevation of 210 feet; B.. The supply
of IS million gallons per day, at the ele-
walton of 210 feet, and So million gallons,
at the elevation of 127 feet; c. The sup
ply of 10 million gallons per day, at the
elevation of 17 feet.
The GENERAL CONDITIONS are, on
he whole, well framed and expressed.
There are some points on which more
explicit statements are desirable.
On page 6, the bidders are required to
submit plans and drawings OF their
different Schdmes, it is desirable that
similar plans should be drawn TO the
same scale and the specifications should
so require and define the scales.
On page s, it is required that the water
must be pure and wholesome for drink
ing and domestic purposes" This is
vague and indefinite. No standard of
purity is fixed and no arbiter or judge
of the purity is named, except perhaps
inferentially the engineer.
The requirements which follow, regard
ing possible contamination of the water
by the sewage of several villages in New
Jersey and New York and the prevention
of such contamination are impracticable
of accomplishment. Neither the City nor
the Hudson County Board of Health have
any powers ito place at the disposal of
the contractor in the premises, and the
contractor cannot construct trunk sew
ers or sewage disposal works without
special local or State authorization. The
whole paragraph, under the heading,
Quality of Water" is of no value as 1t
stands.
Page 1s-woRK MUST BE INDIE
The tacit permission given in it to the
contractor to dispose of water to other
communities, prior to the purchase of the
works by the city, should be clearly ex-
pressed, with such restrictions as may
seem desirable.
Page 13-TIME TO CoMPLETE-Iast
Cause.-The determination of the "un-
a@Syoid rafdlisyon Of g de lay q larry Carrying : s with nd it
day against the contractor, is made de-
pendent solely on the certificate of the
engineer in charge of the work. No
explanation, report or statement of rea-
sons is required-simply the certificate Of
one man, and he not a public official, but
simply an employee of the Street and
and Water Board.
Page 13-Right of Eminent Domain-The
provisions in this section are very prop
er, but bidders should be notified that
there is serious doabt as to whether the
city possesses the power to invoke the
right of eminent domain in behalf of
an individual COrDOrdtiOn.
Page ABANDONMENT OF CON-
TRACT-The provisions for completion
of the contract by the contractor are de-
fective. The earliest period at which the
purchase of the works BY the city can
take effect is on the completion of the
works and the delivery of the water, and
at least eighteen months notice in adj
vance is necessary to this purchase. In
the absence of such notice it is difficult
to understand how the city could enter
upon and complete works in which 1t had
no proprietary interest, present or pros
pective, and how it couid procure the
funds necessary to a for the same,
pending the time at which the amount
of the rental for water shall equal the
expenditures for completion and opera
ton of the works. This whole section
needs material alteration.
Page 19-THE BIDDER MUST IN,
FORM HIMSELF2The provisions that
prior to the opening of the bids, the
engineers who prepared these papers shall
be the sole interpreters of clauses in the
specifications Of doubtful meaning, is
probably correct, but such interpretations
should be in writing and copies filed with
the Street and Water Board, SO that
more explicit statements OF meaning may
embodied in the specific contract to
prevent future difficulties with the con-
THE FILTER SPECIFICATIONS.
These are in a separate document and
provide only for fltering water to be
Delivered INTO the present DurnD-Wells at
Belleville, to be then pumped at the
expense by the present antiquated
and extensively operated pumping ma
chinery. The quality of the water after
is not sufficiently defined and
provision is made as to who is to de-
tefmine the question as. TO whether the
is proper for use Dy the city. I'm
der such specifications as these, no fair
competitive bid for a Rev water supply
could be made INVOLVING filtration.
The plans and specifications on which
proposals for a new water supply are
called for are not sufficiently eompre-
= f. & - G-t ~ II