New-York tribune., 1901-02-21
RRooKLYN.s NEEDED RESERroIR.

Arguments about the proposed Forest Park
reservoir. both pro and contra, are premature.
So is the proposed action upon the subject. II
Brooklyn needs a seventy acre reservoir. Forest
Park may be the best place for IT, or may not.
There is a good deal 10 h. said on both sides.
The Tribune our readers will testify. has
always stood most resolutely against the sur
render Of park areas 10 other uses. whether il
be Tweed courthouses or elevated roads. world
fairs or racetracks. But we are not sure that
the creation Of an artificial lake. occupying one
eighth Of the park area. would he a spOliation.
ON the contrary. IL may be argued that such a
body of water is positive enhancement of n
parks attractiveness and usefulness a park.
III the creation Of the reservoir would destroy
fine woodland. and if other land without trees
and as well situated for reservoir purposes is
obtainahle. there. OF course is n good argument
against taking the park land. But IL there is
no other satisfactory site for the reservoir. and
II such reservoir is needed for the good Of the
public there is a strong argument in favor of
putting il in Forest Park
The fundamental question. however. is
whether Brooklyn needs such a reservoir and
that. n seems 10 us. is 70 he answered in the
negative The proposal is condemned by its
own terms II is proposed 10 construct n
of holding a two or. AZ most. three days supply.
That would not be storage but receiving
and distributing reservoir. such Manhattan
has I'm Central Park The Central Park reser-
voirs hold we believe. about a billion gallons
or n trifie more, which is n very few DAYS sup
plv. Now, Brooklyn already lras such a reser-
voir at Ridgewood. II holds, we believe. about
three hundred million gallons. and might with
out difficulty be enlarged so 10 hold five
hundred million. Such a reservoir. with a
proper complement of water towers for high
service should be ample for the receiving and
distributing needs of Brooklyn. just as the Cen
trail Park and High Bridge reservoirs are ample
for Manhattan. and that at Jerome Park will
be- on completion. for The Bronx
What Brooklyn needs. then is not another
distributing reservoir, in Forest Park or else
where but a series of great storage reservoirs
out on Long Island. Manhattan does not de-
pend upon its Central Park reservoirs for stOr-
age hut upon the vast chain OF natural and
artificial lakes which il OWNS in Westchester
and Putnam counties. There are a score or
more of these. with a storage capacity of nearly
fifty billion galons-a supply sufficient TO meet
all needs. not merely for few days. but for
five or six months. That is the sort OF storage
reservoir system which Brooklyn needs She
needs II imperatively to secure her against
water famine. Last summer. when the un-
necessary and artificial water famine was i'm
posed upon the city. there were scores Of mill
ions of gallons Of good water running 10 waste
daily. lust because OF the lack of such storage
reservoirs. Were such reservoirs provided and
all available water impounded therein. there
would be no more cause for water famine in
Rrooklyn than for shoal wafer In mid d-Atlantic
Brooklyn cannot of course, have the advan-
a natural elevation. from which water flows bv
gravity to the city mains. She will be com
PEELED TO maintain her reservoirs at low level
and 10 pump the water up 10 the distributing
reservoir al Rdgewood That. however is a
mere detail of engineering calling for nothing