The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-03-12
Need Of Protection for the
Unpo1luted Streams in
the Upper Watershed.
THE STATE CONFESSIONS REPORT
Engineering Features Endorsed by
Experts-Vast interests In
yolved.


fair prospects of am addition to the list of
staTes which have taken steps to pre-
serve the purity OF their inland waters
Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and
Ohio ere already doing good work along
this lhne, although in different ways and
with varying degrees of success. New
Jersey has long needed to take vigorous
measures to stop the rapidly increasing
pollution of many of dts beautiful streams,
but until last year 1t has shown almost to-
tel indifference to the subject, at least so
fsr ais effective Legislation is concerned.
This is the more remarkable since that
Stae is largely inhabited with a class OF
people who have gone to 1T because OF ITS
~nlatrral beauty and healthfulness, which
it now owes largely to the very streams
which are being SO rutnlessly polluted.
Many Of the streams of New Jersey are
yet in almost as virgin a state of ptlTtdty
aus when the solitary INDIAN followed their
sanlous courses in search of bird, beast
or fish, but even these need sanitary pro-
lection against the FREDERICKSBURG inroads
off summer visitors, permanent country
homes and industrial establishments OF
many sorts. In THE more thickly PEG
pied suburban residence or manufac-
turing section of the State the sream
pollution ranges all the way from its
ia1ltial stages, serious only because Of Its
prospects in the future, to vilerfess almost
flBdescribable.
An example which, with Its headwaters
and lower reaches, well serves to Illus
trate the two extremes, is the Passaic
River. 1t is the revolt against the fur
ther destruction Of the natural attractions
Of this great and beautiful drainage area
which has giverA rise to the first sub
stantial step towards the reclamation and
conservation of the inland waters of New
Jersey.
The rivers in the New Jersey uplands
which combined to form the Passaic are
the Ramapo, Wanadue, Pequannock.
Rockaway, Whippany and the upper Pas
safe. These. with the ponds and lakes
in their areas, are in that beautiful high
land region of New Jersey. which is and
well may be the pride of the State. As
yet these streams are practically unpol-
luted, as is the case with the main sewer
as far down as Paterson. But already
| pollution begins to be Imminent at some
points in the upper drainage area and it
shoudd be stopped while this may easily
be done. Below Paterson the condition
of the Passaic is already serious. The
lower valley is naturally a beautiful one,
but the river carries so much sewage that
fish and pleasure craft rave largely
abandoned the stream, and the spacious
and pleasant homes along its banks are
| many of them deserted. Even the manu-
featuring and commercial industries are
carried on at a disadvantage, and in some
| cases at a loss, because of the pollution
| of the stream, which at times is very Of
| fensive to those working near or on it,
and does not furnish, as ut once did,
| water suitable for Industrial purposes.
The interference with industry, homes
and pleasure-seekers along the river is a
direct financial loss to the State in a
variety of ways, to say nothing of ats de-
leterious influence upon health, either dt-
| rectly, through the Dreaming of impure
air, or indirectly by depriying some of
outdoor pleasure possible here, but not
obtainabie elsewhere. AS a matter of
| health, the most serious in connection
with the Passaic and many other streams
| of the State, is the preservation of the
purity of public water supplies. The
Passaic drainage area rs the natural
source of water, supplies for Newark,
Jersey City and a host of smaller but
rapidly growing municipalities nea New
York. The lower Passaic has long been
unfit. without publication, for water sup
ply purposes, and has now reached a stage
where the pollution must be greatly les
| sened to make the river tolerable for
those living or working near 1t. The up
per Passaic, with judicious management,
pose pose to 70 w aspi It R's may i be desired to devote
1T, but already there are some nge
points at hand, and many more may
spring up at amy time if wise and firm
measures are not taken to prevent them.
A solution for the whole Passaie has
been presented in an able and commend
elsewhere i'm this issue. Briefly stated,
it is proposed. to establish a commission,
with power to drive the sewage from the
lower Passaic and to establish and en-
force rules against pollution in both the
upper and lower valleys.
The proposed act under which this work
would be done Is equally applicable tic
any other stream of the State, whenever
a commission. like the present one has
been created BY the Legislature to study
such stream and declares its pollution to
be a nuisance and a menace to health;
the other streams. because.-D Nothing
whatever cam ne done for a stream un-
til public sentiment becomes so aroused.
as to secure the necessary legislative
| commission; and (2) the act applies only
where q nuisance and menace to health
exists.
The lower Passsasc became simply intol-
| cradle to the people in the valley before
they began the public agitation which led
to the appointment Of the present COM
mission, while nearly two years has
elapsed since the agitairfon began, and
/ only a report TELLING how to abate a
nuisance Thought unbearable in 1895 is
the result of the effort which was then
begun to stop 1T.
Instead of waiting until a stream is
4 faaf1ntnd# QlYnnGts n1Gf >o1nyrarSfio1, 4.,4o ~
should be enacted to prevent pollution
from the start, and instead of requiring
a separate legislative act and investigaf-
ing commission for each stream, powers
for the preservation of the purity of the
inland waters Of the whole State should
be vested IN a permanent body. These
powers should be judicial and police pow
sewage disposal works to local bodies,
either those of existing municipalities, or
where a number of towns and cities are
involved, to a special commission, like
that proposed il the act under discussion
In expressing these opinions we are not
SO much crsticising the recommendation
] of the Passaic commission as pointing out
uable to the State as a whole for whom
the commission made the Investigation
gratuitouSly, 1T may be added.
The engineering f~eatures of the report
need no discussion. The commission en-
ployed by Mr.. Alphonse Fteley, M. Am.
Soc. C. e., as consulting engineer, and
the late Charles A, e. Jacobsen as res
ideut engineer. The recommendations Of
the engineers. which were adopted by the
commission, were for joint disposal, and
for dischargfng the sewage in a volume
II - - sl.rr fNNT sk- = y-.--Z -.