New-York tribune., 1900-08-26
WATER FOR NEW-YORK.
VAST SUPPLIES STILL OBTAINABI.E FROM
THE CROTON DISTRICT
soURcEs FOR FUTURE NEEDS N THE ADIROS-
DACKs AND CATsKILLS- MERCHANTS
ASSOCIATIONS REPORT.


ASSOCIATIONS REPORT.
The statement that for the next one hundred
and fifty years no further additional supply q
water than can be procured from the Croton
watershed will be needed in Manhattan is the
happiest for the thirsty people Of this city
which appears in the report on the water sup
pIv Of the city Of New-YOrk, an exhaustive vol
ume of statistics, reports. diagrams and maps,
which has just been issued by the Merchants
Association Of New-YorI- The statement ap-
pears at the end Of the report made % the as
socfation's special Water Committee by J. James
r. Cross, consulting engineer, and ne proves
his point in forty-fve closely printed pages
The truth of his statement depends on the com
uletion of the great storage reservoirs noW IN
der construction and the drawing on many
streams and lakes not already tapped The
greatest probable increase in population has
been calculated and much unnecessary waste
which now occurs will have to be checked
For two-thirds Of the century which is now
drawing to a close this city has been using
more CT less water from the Croton dlstr'cI
The Common Council adopted the first plan Tor
procuring CTOtOn River water IN Marcn. 1o'''
and the plan was ratified by popular vote Il
took seven wears to put the plan into operation
and in 1912 Croton water was hrst introduced
D into the city through the CrOton Aqueduct
Z
aqueduct is still available and has carrying
capacity of ninety million gallons day This
capacity sufficed the growing city until Ie'1'
| when the consumption 50 nearly approached the
| limit of capacity Of delivery that steps were
taken for increasing the supply ComnIssloAs
of various sorts sputtered around for eight years
before definite measures were taken Tne4r
| engineers tramped over the hills OF Westchester
and neighboring counties, and examined and re-
STR au0e oF
that region In 1888 the Legislature created an
| independent Aqueduct Commission and early in
! 1885 work was begun on the new aqueduct'
which has a daily capacity of 2SO00OOOO gallons
WORK OF THE COMMISSION
The Aqueduet Commission was reorganized IN
1891. and has since been busy with the construc-
| ton of storage reservoirs at the source and
| terminus of the new aqueduct- The reservoirs
which are now under way include the Cornell
Dam, three miles below the old Croton Dam and
| Jerome Park Reservoir, which is situated in the
Parkway. between Bronx and Van COrtlandt
| parks and which will have an area Of ZZS
acres This work viii be completed in 1875 and
the entire practical yield of the Croton water
shed an area of $50 square miles which was
purified forcibIy by act of Legislature. viii be
available for use in this city.
This additional source of water supply viii
not come TOO soon, SeEtOIS SLitt
been threatened several times during the present
summer and the consumption Of water is in
| creasing year by year with great rapidity- The
terrible thirst from which this great brick city
continually suffers is shown by carefully com
piled table of daily consumption which IS ap-
| pended to the Merchants Association report In
| 1899 S40-71 miles Of pipe were in use, from
which there were an average of 146 taps 20 the
mile, or a total OF 122519 taps The aver
| age daily consumption from these taps was
! PAS, 100000 gallons or 1O24OO00 gallons FOR
| every hour in the day. Although 2+j.l0ottO
gallons were delivered in the mains each day
more than 81 per cent, OF 1JO,3O4,O3o gallons
were wasted. OF this tremendous waste 5tStl--
30 gallons estimated to have been lost
| through unmetered service This leaves I19JO2.
J $40 gallons day unaccOunted for. which must
| have been wasted from the main pipes without
reaching the surface OF the ground. The amount
thus wasted is $4,000 gallons a day for each
mile of main pipes in use
| The increase in the consumption Of water has
been as gradual the increase in population
The following table shows the increase BY dec
| AIDES:
Year Dir. 1s-5 ,isslv
! 1889 z504 zn 81 30 o,1
ioSS- 6S- - ltS-tOttS
S4V 81 80 WV