The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-06-05
OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS.
MAYORS OFFICE,

hecelgeu ana referred TO the committee
OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS.
MAYORS OFFICE,
Jersey City. N. j., May 20, 1897.
To the Honorable the Board of Street
and Water Commissioners
Gentlemen-Tne question Of obtaining a
permanent supply of good water for this
city IS not only of Importance, but that i'm
portance is vital There cannot be any
advance of the city's interests until this
matter is disposed Of. The present con-
tract is q m~akeshift. under which the
The notifications of the contract, made
last April, will not prove for the best in
t~erests of the city, and are, / I'M advised.
illegal. The objections to those modifica-
lions may be partly stated as follows:-
l. The City agrees to take from the
East Jersey Company water greatly in
ferior to the Pequannock water, at prac-
tically the same price.
2. The East Jersey Company must OBJ
tain a supply for Paterson and Passaic,
Montclair, Bloomfield. Kearny. Harrison
contract seems to be solely for their
benefit, to enable them to Obtain a supply
for these towns by virtue of the condem-
nation power conferred by Jersey City.
3. Jersey City furnishes the Company
the means through this contract of
m~onopolizing the whole Passaic River in
such a way that it can prevent Jersey
City from ever acquiring and owning in
OCpCliASllt WdtCi WI AS.
A. After a few years the Company will
control the river, and may increase the
price of water to this City as they see fit.
s. In return for all this the City gets
almost nothing. We will have to pump
at Belleyille next summer, and to take
water from Paterson in $685. No sub
stantial Improvement in our supply will
be had for two years.
b. A new and independent supply free
from the above objections m be OBJ
tained as quickly as we will obtain Little
Falls water by this contract.
7. Less dangerous n less expensive
temporary measures of relief may be
adopted, and the City should Immediately
proceed to procure Independent water
works which may be eventually pur-
chased by the City. No other course is
SO inexpensive and SO safe as this. To
elaborate these objections, the modifica-
ton of the temporary contract
with the East Jersey Water Com
nish a supply from the Falls at Pater-
son from November 1, 1897, the source to
be changed to Little Falls by November
condemnation powers of Jersey City to
obtain the right to draw this water, and
then use it to supply its other customers.
The great danger of the contract lies in
Pequannock supply is taken possession of
by the city of Newark. Works will have
been installed at Little Falls through the
fundamentally Of this contract, and win
PSF oS O41Ay - LIN 0lRR4y " O6A-
sey City, but also to supply Paterson,
Passaic, Montclair, Bloomfield, Kearny.
Harrison and Bayonne. The aggregate
these places will be SIS million gallons
daily, n providing for the usual in
crease in ten years from that time, or by
1910, these places will need the whole dry
season flow of the Passaic River. The
courts held in the case of Newark, at a
time when that city was using 20 million
gallons daily. that she was entitled to
condemn 50 million gallons daily, on the
ground that it was. a reasonable provision
for the future. On the same grounds.
the courts will hold, If this contract goes
into effect, that by virtue of its large use
of water a reasonable provision for the
future entities the East Jersey Company
to the whole flow of the river, and the
result will undoubtedly be that it will
be practically impossible for Jersey City
ever to go to the PaSsaic, or any of its
branches, n obtain an independent sup
ply of water. This will be true because
it is impossible under the laws of the
State to condemn any municipal water
these works, if disposed, could prevent
the condemnation of any quantity of
water from the Passaic above. The
clause in the contract at the end of the
seventh section is claimed to cover this
point and secure the City. It does not
do so, because the rights of the City will
not be abridged in this case by reason Of
this contract, but by reason of the laws
of the State. The almost inevitable re
suit of this contract, if continued unit
1900, or indeed if it ever is allowed to &c
in force at all, will be that the City mus.
continue to purchase water from the Easi
Jersey Water Company forever, and mas
much as this contract can be terminated
at the company's pleasure after 1900, as
position to control the Passaic River, they
will also be in position to charge the City
whatever they see fit. What does the
City get in return for mourning this great
rfSt2 Eirct the da6ucfinn of Sin 400 frar
the Company's bills, or an amount which
could not be collected in court If it had
been contested by the City. Second, it is
true that there is some concession in
price, but it is not so great as it first
might appear. The. original contract
price was on a sliding scale, and for 2S
20 million gallons daily $500, for 80 mil
lion gallons daily s35. Under the modified
contract the prices are: Fol the first year
$37, for the next two years $50, and for
1900 $35. With our rapidly increasing con-
sumption the price would have soon be-
come as low under the original contract
as the price in this modified contract. but
1t must be remembered that the water is
of greatly inferior quality to that of the
~Peuuannock, stipulated for in the original
contract. Next, the contract does not
give us any relief during the coming sum
'mer, as the Company does not agree to
furnish a supply even from Paterson until
November /. 1t is well known that the
water at Belleville is not very objection
able through the winter, and we would be
practically as well off without this con-
tract as we will be with it up to the first
of July, 1898. During the summer of 1898
we will obtain water from the Falls at
Paterson. It is well known that the
Paterson Board of Health traced a ty-
phoid fever outbreak to this source in the
summer OF 1898, and it is a serious ques-
ton whether the relief obtained by pump
ing from the Falls at Paterson is worth
much to this City. The water from
Little Falls will not be available Until
November !. 1898, and it is seen. therefore,
thai the ultimate relief intended will not
be obtained until the summer of 1899.
This gives us two full years from date,
in which time it would be quite possible
pure gravity supply. AS to the final
measure of relief offered, a supply from
Little Falls will be greatly inferior to a
supply from the Rockaway, Ramapo,
Wanaque or other Passaic head waters.
The last bid of the East Jersey Water
Company offered water from the Rock
away River for $50 per million gallons.
An option was given the City to purchase
at seven million of ollar If the City
obtain a supply for seven million
dollars by gravity, and issue four per
cent. bonds to pay for the same, the in
terest charges would be $3.50. 900 per an
mum, and If we add $4,000 for operating
would make a supply of 80 millioI
gallons daily cost us only $50 per millio
gallons, and so million gallons daily woul,
cost us less than SIS per million gallons
and this is for pure water. The present
offer is for $50 for water from Little Falls,
delivered into Belleville Reservoir. The
City has got to add to this the cost of
High Service pumping, or else the cost
of laying q new main across the meadows.
The water at Little Falls is not by any