The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1900-08-09
RESERVOIR SCUM.
Newark Officials Find Oak
Ridge Bogs Pester-
ing Spots.
OVERGROWH WITH VEGETATION
Algae Plainly Evident Little
or No Coping on Sur
face Spillway.
O7ERGROWH WITH VEGETATION

tfon of the watershed made in company
with former Judge Child and Prosecutor
Riker. The two last named returned to
Newark Tuesday night. Their observa-
tions of the conditions in the Pequan-
mock region will be made use of by the
lawyers when the hearings in the suit of
the city against the East Jersey Water
Company are resumed on September 4.
These lawyers and Cortlandt Parker have
recently been chosen by City Counsel
Price as associate counsel in the legal
proceedings.
The visitors to the watershed Tuesday
had the novel experience of driving for
long distance down the bed of Oak Ridge
reservoir from which reservoir Newark of
late derived its whole source of supply un-
til last Thursday, when the East Jersey
Water Company began to draw upon the
$500, 900 gallons in Clinton reservoir
The dregs of Oak Ridge are still being
permitted to flow into the Macopin intake
and thus mix with the Clinton water.
To the Newark officials and lawyers the
practical dryness of Oak Ridge was
revelation. But it was the awful condi-
ton of several bogs of comparatively
small area that gave them a shock.
"Wholly inexcusable," said former
Judge Child.
High banks of fine gravel surround
three sides of these fostering spots, and
yet with this cure ready to be applied to
them the East Jersey Water Company
neglected to take advantage of the oppor-
tunity when the reservoir was originally
constructed, and apparently is still in
different.
Mr.. Sherrerd took photograph of one
of the bogs. Algae were visible in all
the bogs, as were streaks of dull red
substance that had dried under the hot
sun.
large part of the bed of the reservoir
was overgrown with vegetation. The
| foundation stones of old houses and old
stone walls, left to be submerged by the
| impounded water, are now visible. A
| thin, narrow stream winds its way from
| the inlet to the outlet. That an an oc-
casional hollow of shallow water is all of
| the water that is left in this big storage
| basin having a water surface of 353 acres,
What object the company had in ex-
hausting the supply in Oak Ridge, when
| Clinton could have been tapped earlier. is
a puzzle to the Board of Works Commits
sioners. Commissioner Garrison yesterday
company's engineer, for the solution
| Mr.. Herschel looked amused and inti-.
| mated that that was a little way the
company had of doing business.
| The popular belief is that the company
was unwilling to use Clinton till forced
to do so, thus saving from possible ex-
| posure its bed, the condition of which is
| said to be much worse than that of Oak
Ridge.
pocket filled with water was observed
at the bottom of the inside slope of the
dam at Cak Ridge and close to it. This
was regarded by the visitors as an indi-
cation of faulty construction. There was
no apparent outlet for the water
AT the inside of the reservoirs outlet
| there was a greenish-yellowish scum on
the surface of the water. At the mouth
of the entrance to this outlet a dead fish
ten inches long was found afioat The
odor from the water there was intense
| ly offensive, but not so disagreeable there
| or elsewhere in the reservoir as it was
| last week The tops of the outlet pipes
| on the outer face of the wall were visible
| yesterday. This is the point about which
| Professor Mason, called by Newark as a
| witness, testified that on July 10 last 1t
smelled like a pigsty." There, too the
| witness swore, he had found fifty cyclops.
He declared on the stand that the water
| was not pure and wholesome and that the
| bad condition was due to preventable
sources.
| Over the weir below the Oak Ridge out
| let it was roughly estimated that yester-
| day the water was passing at the rate of
about 100000 gallons day. Just below
the weir, where there is a public road
! way bridge a cow was fording the stream
when the Newarkers arrived there. On
| that bridge the party was photographed
| twice by Mr.. Sherrerd. The second picture
| included Prosecutor Riker who had
| walked along the entire bed of the res
| ervoir and had not Joined his associates
in time for the first snapshot.
| In the rip-rap on both slopes of Oak
| Ridge dam the visitors saw holes through
which the earth backing could not be
seen. The surface spillway had little or
| no coping on it,
| What water could be seen in Oak Ridge
clear J. James r. Croes, an expert en-
| gineer, who has appeared for the city as
a witness in its suit against the water
company, has testified that the difference
| is due to vegetable growth in standing
water and along the shores. He also tes-
| titled that he did not consider the reser-
voir alone big enough to hold the water
| from the area drained.
| 1t was the belief of some of the exam
iners yesterday that this could be RENE
died by raising the dam higher.
| What is known as the west arm of the
| reservoir is in rank condition. To the
| eyes and nostrils it is most unpleasant.
| Just below Clinton's outlet, where the
| water came tumbling along the odor of
1t yesterday was like that of suiphuretted
hydrogen. Standing on the dam or spill
/ way in the teeth of the breeze that pre-
vailed. there was no perceptible odor. The
water had gone down about two feet 1t
| appeared to be clear. This reservoir has
capacity of S51S,eeOO0o gallons and a
water surface of 423 acres Its elevation
above sea level is 992 feet Clinton is
seven miles above the intake. Its spill
way and overflow channel were regarded
| as in. poor condition Leakages were found
/ in the spilgway and the rip-rap of the dam
/ was, as one of the observers put it.
/ rocky In more senses than one. Expert