The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-08-02
MAY
REFUSE OFFER
FOR PLANT,
One From Hudson Co., for
BeIleyiIle Water Works,
Regarded as Too Low.

The opinion rendered to the Board of
Works yesterday by City Counsel James
r. Nugent as to the power of the board
to lease public lands and water sites,
takes the matter out of the hands of
the board and puts it VI to Common
Council, so that the proposition of the
Hudson County Water Company to
lease the Belleville pumping station,
owned by the city of Newark. at a
nominal rent of 10000 per year, sub
mitted to the oar of Works and
tacitly approved by tina body on rec
o~mmendation of City Engineer Morris
r. Sherrerd, several weeks ago, will
have to be made by Common Council,
and In view of the fact that the
project has received considerable OPP
position, the latter body. 1t is said, will
turn down the offer as being too small
a remuneration for the use of the plant
and water.
In the opinion yesterday the city coun-
sci told the commissioners that under
the law the right to lease. sell or exchange
public lands that are not used, needed
or desirable for public purposes, belonged
to the body controlling the finances of the
municipality and consequently to Common
Council. but. added Mr.. Nugent, that as
the board seemed to have some power
vested in 1t under the old Aqueduct Board
legislation, It would be MS well to have
both the Board of Works and Common
Council take action in authorizing the
lease.
The property at Belleville in question In
cludes 1877 acres. two basins, each 140x340
feet. and about 70 feet deep. which may
be used for holding ground water, the
pumphouse. in which are two 5000, 00O-gal-
Ion pumps and two S,OOo.0Oo-gallon pumps.
and the boiler house containing nine 6x20
horizontal boilers and two chimney stacks
and two and one-half story houses and a
row of four two-story brick houses are
also on the property.
The we'll plant consists of sixty-eight
three-inch and ten four-inch driven wells.
taking water from water-benring strata.
about fifty feet below the surface. and
nineteen eight-inch wells and two ten-inch
wells drilled into rock.
A report of City Engineer Morris r.
Sherrerd shows that a ifteen-day test to
determine the capacity of the plant shows
that the average was eight and two-thlrd
million gallons every twenty-fOur hours.
Analysis of the water by the Board of
Health shows, both by chemical analysis
and ARCHAEOLOGICAL examination that the
water was exceptionally pure and of ex-
cellent quality, its hardness being only
twice that Of the Pequapnock. AT the
time of this test the city engineer made
a statement to the board in which he
declared that 1t would be safe to esti-
mate that from six to seven million gall
loms Of water could be obtained as the
minimum Of the supply.
When the company last year made APP
plication to the board for a lease on the
unused property in question the matter
was taken into consideration, but public
sentiment was that 1t would be giving
the plant away to lease 1t for the amount
offered by the Hudson company, and 1t
was dropped, only to be brought up
again this year. While some of the ma
sblnery at the plant is old 1t is mostly
in Iced condition and could be put into
first-class working order at a very small
cost.