New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-12-27
NETWORKS WATER SUPPLY.

NETWORKS WATER SUPPLY.
The question Of water supply for the metropo-
lis is up again. bill is being prepared, to be
introduced at Albany early In the session. pro-
viding for official examination Of the Adlron-
dacks and other possible sources. The idea Is
70 secure from some remote and unpolluted
source supply that will be ample for the con-
solidated cities for all time. Such supply Is
needed. Nothing Is more essential than q
penteous supply Of pure water. But 1t is by
no means sure that the means under consd-
GRAFTON are the best for attaining that end. The
Natural impulse Is to 60 to some available
place. impound the precious nuid and convey
it TO the city. That is what has hitherto been
DONE with some success, but with much hard
ship. Pestilence or war would scarcely have
been 4 greater scOurge to parts Of Westchester
County than the taking Of Croton water has
been. Property has been seized without ade-
Quate compensation. families have been made
homeless. villages have been all but ruined
and prosperous farming regions have been
transformed into worthless fvildernesses Per
haps good mas been done to more people In this
city than evil to people In the country. But it
ought to have been possible to do the one with
out the other.
1t Is thought that by going to q remote place
water can be got without lnhicting such hard
ships upon any one Perhaps. Lake George
which has often been mentioned as a source
must then be ruled out To take the supply
from 1t would ruin it and do gravest injury to all
the jewellers on its shores No harm might be
done in the Adirondacks Yet the destruction Of
timber In that region has already materially
affected the flow Of the rivers and brooks and to
draw some hundreds Of millions of gallons daily
from them could scarcely fail to have q per-
ceptible influence. There Is now no more water
there than Is needed for the woods themselves
and for the rivers and canals that are fed from
them. By going still further adeld to Lake
Champlain or Lake Ontario, q supply might
be got without the slightest injury to any ex-
listing interest. But the construction Of an
aQueduct from so remote a point to this city
would be an enormously and, 1t may well be
suspected, needlessly expensive undertaking.
There is reason to believe that present sources
Of supply are sufficient for the next hundred
years or more, II only their yield Is properly
husbanded.
There has already dawned upon this public
a glimmering comprehension Of the fact that
the way to keep streets clean is not to make
them dirty. Similarly, the lesson is to be
learned that the way to get a sufficient water
supply is to make the present supply sufficient
That does not mean that people are not to have
all the water they need. 1t does mean that
they are not to waste It, 1t has long been no.
torious that much water Is wasted in this city
Now and then an attempt is made to check 1t
by the i've Of meters. But these have been put
chiefly into tenementhouses and other places
where they exact tribute from the poor The
great offenders 60 free. There is no doubt that
II the waste OF water now practised In this city
were stopped. or as nearly stopped as 1t might
be, the present water supply or that which will
be secured by the completion Of the Cornell
Dam, would be seen to be ample for a century
10 come And that could be dcne without cost
but with actual pecuniary gain to the city
There are other points worthy Of careful con-
sideration-more worthy Of 1t than the Adiron-
dack scheme. Ono IL that suggested by the
Chief Of the Fire Department last week and
hitherto often suggested by other competent
authorities, namely, to lay second set Of
mains through the principal parts Of the city.
through which sea water shall be pumped for
the extinguishing of fires, washing of streets
and similar purposes A large proportion Of
me present Croton supply now goes for such
purposes. which sea water would serve not only
~ WELL but actually better. Would 1t not be
A>alish to spend millions on an aQueduct to