The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-05-14

intakes Of the Morris Canal al n above
Boonton.
propositions Is located a mile and q halt
below the last point on the Morris Canal,
IRON. which 1t can possibly draw any wa
tcrs- from the R~ockaway River.
No reservoir or dam propose IN my
bids will obstruct or change the How OF
q drop of water In the Rockaway River
coming from Lake Hopatcong, The ques-
lions involved in this bid are very differ
ent from those passed upon by the SUI
preme Court ON the bid of the Jersey
City Water Company In the j v ease Of n Van
262. Under that bid the intake OF the
Water. Company was located in Beach
Glen above. the feeder of the Morris Cam
al. and under, the plan water would have
been absolutely diverted from the River,
the Canal and its feeders. In that case
The Counsel for the Water Company bold
necessarily injure the Morris Canal, and
that under the Act of 1895 page 769) the
City through the Company had the right
TO so divert the waters upon making
compensation therefor. 1t was upon this
admission of the Counsel of the Water
Company that the case was decided on
this point.
1t was moi a question of the storage
OF water nor a question of taking a por-
tien of the water so as NOT to deprive the
tions but an absolutely injurious taking
of the water. The COUNSEL of the Water
Company in that case, were instructed. as
4 GAIL IL z " 4 LIE
for the purpose of testing their
rights 10 divert and to condemn
the right to permanently take water Of
the Rockaway River necessary for canal
purposes, under the act of 1895. All that
the case decided was that the city could
not condemn. under existing legislation,
waters OF the canal necessary for naviga-
ton.
Prior to 1895 the Beach Glen Feeder had
not been used by the Company for about
fifteen years, and had only been brought
svNtl ,rn fAr. t1. rr4r 30 1tarrytiD0 m
esta blish a claim against Jersey City.
h Court said in this case OF van
Reipen VS.. Jersey City as follows:--
THE contention is that the canal char
ter of 1924 constitutes a valid contract,
which cannot be impaired, and that its
water rights, which, under and by au-
thority of It's charter, are now devoted
to a public use. cannot be taken under
the power of eminent domain.
Every government which regards the
welfare of its people will exert its hlgn-
est power to preserve the public health
and safety. To that end a supply of pure
water is essential. To secure 1t involves
the exercise by the State, not only of the
power of eminent domain, but also of the
police power
THESE necessities of the public are SUI
preme, and private rights must yield to
them.
That I understand to be the accepted
Ihe right, however. to take private
property, or the property of a corporation,
must be clearly granted by the Leglsia-
sThe Charter of the Morris Canal and
the fact that its water rights are held
for q quasi-public use, furnish no insur-
mountables obstacle to the appropriation
of such rights, TO the uses OF the State
for the preservation of the pubic health
n safety, upon just compensation pe-
ing made" And cases cited.
Under my plans "a and b large stor-
age reservoirs will be constructed IN the
uppe Rockaway Valley, and in Beach
Glen for the storage OF storm waters.
the Morris Canal. in its last sentence. adj
mits that there are such surplus waters
at times of flood.
gineers upon which bids are asked ex-
pressly. provide for the storage of wa
ter I'M order to equalize the flow, and give
rigid formula as to the minimum capacity
and credit to be given to each reservoir.
These requirements are based upon the
tables of Mr.. Sermeule in the State Geo
logical Reports, from observation eA5
are intended to protect the city curing
the years of greatest drought.
My engineers have located and planned
these reservoirs SO as to conform to the
requirements Of your engineers. It has
been suggested that the detention OF these
waters may interfere with the rights OF
that the Company itself. makes no such
specific claim, in fact 1t cannot.
It has. however, been alleged at the IN,
STANCE u i III DldAClS. tiid
uses the Beach Glen feeder to replenish
the leakage and evaporation in the plane
of the Canal extending from RockaWay TO
miles. From the. report made by sCroes
& Howell iii 1871, the requirements Of the
Canal as constructed, for these losses. are
total Of 5000, 0c6 gallons per day for the
whole level. This is the utmost water
that can be drawn from Beach Glen per
day during the season on the Canal and
+o ,,ca n III TIL other feeders must be lR-
nored. There is tributary to Beaver
Brook, at Beach Glen. wat ,sg
s b : niles of a1 snit s fganfy-t give w IL
storage as required by the City's specifi-
cations in the driest season, an average
daily yield of 666, 600 gallons to the square
mile, or over fourteen and one-half MIL
lion gallons of water per day.
When the water works proposed by me
are in operation there will flow from this
reservoir every day in the year more
per day; this uniformity of flow
from the reservoir into the brook will be
absolutely necessary in order to maintain
a uniform supply to Jersey City from the
intake reservoirs and to carry out the
contract. The larger the demands of Jer-
sey City for water the larger and more
steady will be the flow of water required
from these storage reservoirs. As the de-
mands on Jersey City are continuous so
the flow from these reservoirs must be
continuous. At the present time, with
out storage, the waters in Beaver Brook,
passing the1 feeder of the Morris Canal,
VIII run from two million gallons per day,
in the very driest season, up to forty
million gallons per day in the flood sea-
son. Now, at the very utmos the canal
can use at this point, without overlooking
the banks, not more than six million gall
of water per day, and under the
proposed plan there will be fourteen mil
lion gallons passing by the intake every
day. How then can it be said that the
Morris Canal will be injured on this level?
The Morris Canal is not operated during
the months of December, January, Feb
ruary and March in each year; these are
months of great flood, and during these
months the storage reservoir would be
filled, even during the times of greatest
drought known in the last sixty years.
Your engineers can verify these facts
without trouble, as my engineers verified
them before my bid was prepared.
The basis for such yerification can be
found in the tables of Mr.. Vermeule.
Now then. with the reservoir full. one
of two things can happen: either the wa
tiers flowing into the Beaver Brook from
the watershed above the dam will over
flow, in which event the flow of the
stream below the dam will be maintained
contingency, the Canal cannot complain);
or, with the reservoir filled in the seasons
thai the Canal Is not used, the same can
be, and under the contract must be, OPP
GRATED by drawing off water through
gates into the bed of the stream, above
the feeder in quantities largely in excess
of the natural flow. of the stream during
the months that the Canal is in opera
ton; certainly that contingency would
mot harm the canal.
/ have not deemed it wise to overload
this letter with tables Of figures, as your