Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1913-03-13
THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 1918.
New York's Water Supply.
<
How Catskill River Water ls
Being Brought To Metropolis.

How Catskill River Water Ia
Being Brought TO Metropolis.
The following article is taken from the
Scientific American of March lst.
Greater New York is adding to its
population at the rate of lao, 600 peo-
pie per year. In view OF this rapid
growth, it was evident at the outset
that schemes for increasing the water
supply must be made upon the broad
est possible scale.
On May IL, 1905, the Stat" Water
Supply Commission approved of the
application of the Board of Water
Supply OF New York, for obtaining a
daily supply of 5OO,OOO,O0O gallons
Of water from the Esopus, R"nd"nt,
Schoharie aud Catskill creeks in the
Catskill Mountains, at an estimated
cost of $161 1857, 900. In l91Oa plan
for the distribution of the water thro
Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx
by deep pressure tunnel was APP
proved by the Board of Estimates,
the additional cost of this scheme be-
ing sl5, O0O,00o.
The new supply of water, OF the
finest mountain quality, is to BE- TAX
en- from four water sheds having to-
tai area of nearly 900 square miles.
The total estimated capacity OF these
four gathering grounds is, even in
unusually dry years, equal to supply
ing 40, 1000, 600 gallons daily. Res
ervoirs will be built, as they are re-
auircd, in each of these basins, and
they will be connected by aquc'ucts.
For the present Esopus watershed
only is being developed. In a series
of dry years this watershed can fur
nish a daily supply of $50, 100000
gallons, but the aqurduct leading t"
the city is being built double that ca
pacity.
The system under construction and
now nearing completion consists of 4
large reservoir in the Esopus basin,
an underground aqueduct seventeen
feet in diameter by which the water
is led for sixty -four miles to another
large basin, the kensicO reservoir,
which will serve for emergency stor-
age; a third reservoir situated about
fifteen miles south of kensicO and
just over the New York City line,
known as the Hill View reservoir.
Between Hill View and the city the
system consists of deep circular,
high pressure tunnel, through which
the water will be led beneath Man
haitian, to be distributed by surface
mains throughout the other districts
of Greater New York.
The great Ashokan reservoir is sit
uated about fourteen miles west of
Kingston on the Hudson river. lts
cost is $4,000, 900, and it will hold
sufficient water to cover the whole of
Manhattan Island to a depth of %
feet. The surface of the water when
the reservoir is full is $50 feet above
tide level. The total length of the
main dam is 4 $50 feet, and the max
imum depth of the water is 100 feet.
The area of the water surface is 1913
square miles, and in preparing the
bottom it was necessary to remove
seven villages, with total popula-
ton of 1900. Forty miles of high
way and ten bridges had to be Quilt.
The water is conducted from Ash
okan reservoir as huge underground
artificial river. The aqueduct is 80
miles in length from Ashokan to the
northern city limits, and is built on
a gentle grade. The acqueduct con-
tains four distinct types: the cut-and-
cover, the grade tunnel, the pressure
tunnel, and the steel siphon. The
cut-and-cover type, which is used on
80 miles of the aqucduct, il Of horse
shape and measures seventeen feet
high by thirteen feet six inches wide,
inside measurements. 1t is built of
concrete, and on completion it is COW
cred in with an earth enbankment.
OF the many siphons constructed.
by far the most interesting and diff
cult is that which has been complet.
ed beneath the Hudson River. The
preliminary borings made from scows
in the river showed that great depths
would have TO be reached before rock
sufficiently solid and free from seams
was encountered to withstand the
enormous hydraulic pressure OF water