The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-01-28
WATER SCARCE IN THE BRONX
Municipal Assembly Charged With
BeimG Responsible for Conditions.

NEW YORK, Jan 2S-About ell that
the residents OF the Borough Of the Bronx.
which Is suffering from & water famine,
can do i 10 wait for rain. That IS what
Chief Engineer BIrdsal. Of the Water De
partmen;. says. he says, too, that the
municipal assembly is responsible for the
present scarcity Of water In speaking OF
the situation Mr.. Birdsall said: The
Borough Of the Bronx is face TO fac
with q water famine. and this department
is helpless. The trouble began three or
four years ago. when the Bronx reached
the limit of its water supply. Since then
every new fathouse that has been put up
has shortened the average individual sup
ply We have applied TO the Legislature
and have had bill passed. providing
means for increasing the Bronx supply by
pumping water from the CroJon main. but
it has been held up by the municipal as
sembly. More than two months age We
foresaw the present difficulty and asked
the municipal assembly for relief. and we
have not been able to get it The present
famine IS The result of a drought.
Such a famine must necessarily follow
every drought until some means has been
provided for increasing the supply in the
, Bronx. This can be done by establishing
, a temporary pumping station to fill the
thirty-siX inch main that supplies the
Bronx This can be done with $50, COG. and
this is what the municipal assembly has
been asked to provide for II was learned
at the Offices of the water department to-
| day that the borough of the Bronx has
never been supplied from the Croton main
Its water supply has always been dra WI
from the williamsburg reservoir. which
-+ar 10 che Of ?
Bronx and Beram rivers. A trirty-siZ
] inch main in Van CoTtlandt Avenue con
duets the water The Jerome Park reSer-
! voir, when completed is to be flied from
/ Croton aqueduct and the amount Of water
! necessary to supply the borough Of Jht
Bronx viii be pumped into the BEon1
mains This pumping station has moi
! been established yet and il was 10 take
: the place Of this station that COInmis-
! sioner Dalton asked for $50, coo 20 build
temporary pumping station at the Gro. or
aqueduct near Gun Hill road with Z
} pumping capacity Of 2U-000, 000 gallons
I every twenty-four hours.
/ TIE resolution asking for this money
! was introduced il the rlunieioaI assembr
/ November %, last year. 1t requested The
! issue Of special revenue bonds 10 the
amount named
/ There IS still some water in the VII
/ liGmsb-idEe reservoir, but there IS no
/ enough pressure to send the water to tbs
! upper stories of the tail fiat houaes
! Pumps have to be used l.. hundreds O
! houses in the Bronx, and the situation j.
so serious now that the North Side Boar,
OF Trade is about TO act 81 the matter
The famine was hastened - the ccIt
snap last week. when in hundreds O
houses water Was allowed to run al
night in order that the water pipes nigh
not freeze. It IS estimated that OG0 90
gallons in the Rronz were lost II tina
way. The amount wasted in this borough
! was Is Geo Geo gallons. The elevated sec
tons Ct the Bronx suffer most seriously
as there no wafer can be obtained wiJkou
/ pumps.