New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-12-14
A COLOSSAL WASTE.

The report of the City Club on the waste OF
| water in Manhattan and The Bronx, comparing
| 1902 and 1885, says: ANY distributing system
| (which requires four times the quantity OF
| water for one and one-half times the previous
| ..ponulation must be full of leaks" That is a
verdict from which there can be no appeal, ana,
in point of fact, nobody pretends to doubt that
! the leakage is enormous. As we recently SAID
| in referring to the City Clubs letter to the
Mayor. forecastins the conclusions of the re-
port which has since been completed, the con-
sensus Of expert opinion is that not less than
one-half Of the Croton supply runs away with
out performing any service whatsoever. There
was time. we believe, when the apparent con-
sumption OF water was commonly spoken OF
as q gratifying proof of the extent OF New
York's manufactures and the cleanliness or is
citizens. But that was long ago For many
years it has been we'll known that the apparent
consumption is not real-that a large part OF
the supply delivered to the mains is not used
at all. But II the City Club has made no new
disclosure it has put accessible facts in a strik
ing manner. drawn conclusions which 1t is nee
essary though painful, to accept, and is alto
gether deserving Of credit for its determined
effort to arouse the administration and the
public TO full consciousness of the calamity
which is certain to fall upon us if prompt ae
ton to avert it is not taken.
There Is competent engineering authority for
the statement that year hence the daily con-
sumption Of water will exceed the daily yield
of the Croton watershed. The deficiency must
then be supplied from the storage reservoirs.
which will serve perhaps, into the year 1905.
But at the best IL is evident that before new
sources Of supply can possibly be made availa-
BILE the day Of actual shortage will have arrived
If the present reckless waste is permitted TO
continue. The City Club pertnently asks
whether the citys growth is to be checked
and its commerce and manufactures restricted
If not permanently injured, for lack OF water;
and We do not know that 1t is guilty OF eyag-
geration in saying: This is the question
(which, more than any other, calls for inn
mediate attention and intelligent solution on
''the part Of the city authorities. Farseeing
plans for the future great growth of the city
may well engage attention. but the immediate
land pressing duty is to take steps now to pre-
went the suffering and disaster which will
surely be upon us IL we wait until such plans
''materialize"
If the only thing to do were to hasten the ac-
QUESTION OF an additional water supply, the
prospect would be hopelessly distressing; but
in fact, the existing conditions be readily
relieved, and the only doubt is whether not
they Will be. We admit that the doubt is q
rather large one but the Mayor is deeply in
terested in the matter. Commissioner Monroe
is understood to have taken useful action of
some sort already. and ii seems possible to
bring a strong public sentiment to bear. The
assertion that the threatened calamity can be
promptly aYerted is not guess. Many cities
have obtained complete satisfaction from doing
what 1t is proposed New-York shall do Let
us consider the experience of one of them. as
recounted in the report before us:
In Liverpool in 1873 the supply of water was so
insufficient that 1t sometimes necessary to
limit the flow to only part of each day Addi-
tional sources of supply could not be had for
years The city authorities introduced a simple,
scientific system of metering, accompanied by
careful inspection. BY 1879 this system was in
practical application throughout the city BY
1880 the new sources of supply were made avail
able at a cost of f2,30001O. Meantime the
stoppaEe of waste effected by the metertnp
and inspection had enabled the city to furnish
water ample Tor the needs of constantly grow
ing population ane business, and in 1890 when
the new works were completed, the public reve-
nue. from water formerly wasted, but now saved
through metering and inspection, euualled prac-
tically o-thirds the interest upon the cost Of
the new works Since the completion of the
new works the system of meterinp and
inspection has been continued and with pre-
cisely the same result No is restricted in
the use OF water but the waste of water is re-
duced to a minimum and, while the total con
sumption of water increases year by wear win
the city's growth, the consumption per canita
remains approximately constant at twenty-seyen
and half gallons daily, it was before the
great increase in the water supply.
The people of Liverpool are not abstemous
i'll the use OF water. On the contrary one of
the waterworhs engineers expresses the opin
ion that the legitimate demand is not greater
in any modern city Yet the daily consumption
per capita is twenty-seven and a half gallons
Here the apparent daily consumption is 1874
gallons per capita, and that contrast clone if
there were no other evidence of an enormous
abuse in Aew-York, would go far toward prov
ing the proposition Such facts as these-and
there are many of them-wei support the be-
lief that the waste in this city is most mod
erately estimated at one half the supply When
one thinks of the vast sums of money which
have been spent to provide New-York with