The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-02-01
MAY BUY
ALL Land
Newark Officials Wish to
Guard Against Pollution
Of New Water Shed.
NEGOTIATIONS GOING ON
East Jersey Company Will
ing to Take Water In
stead of Cash
NEGOTIATIONS GOING ON
Especial to ..rhe Jersey city News.''1

city of all the land owned by the latter
corporation in the P~equannock watershed.
Very little has been done so far, it is true.
but the company has been asked to state
how much property it has and what price
it would accept for the same.
Though no official action has been taken
by the board directly with the water com
pany, the subject has been under con-
| sideration for several weeks. it is said,
and the visit to the proposed reservoir
site at Stone House Brook a week or SO
ago was in connection with the same gen.
eral proposition to acquire more land in
that section.
AS near as can be learned the subject of
buying land was brought upon the occa-
| sion of a visit made by COMMISSIONS Herr
and Engineer Sherrerd to the office of the
East Jersey Water Company in New York.
There the Newarkers were informed that
the company had an offer from a party
who wanted to purchase the land around
Echo Lake including the cehouse on the
lake and the right to cut ice in winter.
Before accepting the offer. Comptroller
Gardiner, of the water company, said that
that corporation wanted to give the city
Of Newark the first opportunity to pur-
chase the land, SO that the city could
/ provide against possible future pollution.
During the talk which followed, Mr..
| Gardiner was asked about the company's
holdings of realty in the watershed and
his reply is said TO have been that he
could not even guess the number of acres
without having an examination made.
Then it came out that the company still
owned the Stone House Brook watershed,
and Mr.. Gardiner remarked that this
property was also for sale.
The water company's representative is
said to nave informed the Newarkers that
the company would transfer the land to
Newark in consideration of its being per-
mitted to use some of Newark's surplus
water after the city shall assume control
of the watershed in 1900. 1t was after
that proposition had been made that the
members of the Board of Works visited
the Stone House Brook site.
The Stone House Brook drainage area,
as it is designated, comprises about 600
acres, and its estimated water yield is
about 100000 gallons a day.
The value placed upon the lane by the
water company is s59, 900, without the wa
ter rights, and it is understood that the
proposition made by the water company
in the way of payment, is that it should
be allowed to draw water for its own
use from Newark's present supply at a
cost of $40 per million gallons, the daily
draught not to exceed $15, 0O0, 900 during
the first two years, nor 10. 900, 900 gallons
a day after that time, until the purchase
price should be wiped out.
No official action has been taken on the
proposition by the Board, but it is under
.+11d +la+ fha rnotfor is still in ahav-
ance.
Many questions of the utmost import
ance are involved in the subject at issue
and it is said that both the city's and the
company's representatives are sparring
cautiously, looking for an opening, as it
were. Under the terms of the water
contract Newark cannot sell its surplus
water to any municipalities other than
Belleville. South Orange, East Orange
and Clinton. When $4,000, 900 gallons shall
be available daily after September "a,
1900. the city will have a surplus of at
least Is, 000,0 G0 gallons a day, the amount
decreasing as the city's consumption in
resa s.
II is upon this surplus hat the East
Jersey Water Company is said to look
with eovetous eyes, for there is nothing in
the contract which prevents that corpora
ton from becoming a customer OF the
city, if the necessary agreement can be
made. The East Jersey Company has a
contract to supply Bloomfield and Mont
clair with water. These municipalities
consume from 1000. 900 to $500, 600 gallons
of Pequannock per day. Should Newark
shut down entirely on the water company,
in September, 1900, another source of sup
ply would have to be depended upon by
the corporation to enable it to fulfill its
obligations with Bloomfield and Mont
clair.
If the company should induce the city
to make the swap of land for water at
the prices proposed by the East Jersey
people, Montclair and Bloomfield could be
taken care of for a long while. Drawing,
say $500. COO gallons per day, at $40 per
l 600. 600 gallons. it would take the com
pany nearly six and a half years to con-
sumo SIS, 600 worth of water. If the daily
draught should be larger, the bargain
would. of course, be concluded in shorter
time.
So far no intimation has been given by
the board that the company's figures will
be accepted. Or the other hand, it has
been said that there will have to be a de-
cided revision of the prices proposed be-
fore the commissioners will go further
with the negotiations. AS near as can
be learned by the local officials the Stone
House Brook property cost the water
company between $500 0 and so, 600 more
than ten years ago. Now the company
wants more than twice what it is sup
posed to lave cost.
No such increase is made, however, in
the price offered for the city's surplus
water. The company's contract with Jer-
sey City is at the rate of $50 per million
gallons. and it is figured out that Bloom
field and Montclair, being smaller con-
sumers, certainly get the water no cheaper
than Jersey City. Yet the ompany offers
but $40 a million gallons for what 1t would
like to purchase from this city.
From another viewpoint, it is argued
that Newark cannot get control of too
much territory in the watershed, as a
matter of protection for the future. The
value of an additional drainage area
yielding 100000 gallons a day, is said to
be very hard to determine and among
the conditions which, it is pointed out,
must he considered is the possibility of
some other company or municipality get
ting control of the land and thus shutting
Newark out.
AS it stands, the city cannot secure the
property by condemnation, as 1t is held in
the name of one of the East Jersey Com
pany's affiliated corporations, to which
domain. 1t is expected that the water
4 nornronx will Submit farms IInon which