New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-02-24
Water Board Sweeps Aside
City Beautiful Idea
for Necessity.
REPLIES TO PROTEST
OF N. Y. MERCHANTS
Hints That Public Would Have
Known Nothing AbOu! II Had 1t
Not Been for the Press.

In a long report full oftechnical de.
tails the Board of Water Supply replied
yesterday to tho protest of tho Mer-
chants Association against the erection
of pumphouse in Morningside Park as
a part of the Catskill water system.
The idea of the city beautiful and
the reservation of all park space for
park purposes only vert swept aside in
the report on tho ground of "neces-
sity" In short, the pumping plant now
in construction had come to stay; en-
gineers of large experience and geolo-
gists who had made deep and plentiful
soundings had decreed that 1T could
not be erected elsewhere, and, despite
the pleadings and arguments of civic
bodies, Morningside Park could not be
spared
In its efforts to pass the deep gorges
i'm the bed rock at the Harlem River
and Manhattan Avenue, 1t was eX-
planned, geological conditions made
necessary a deep depression on the
tunnel from a point east OF The Brons
shore of the Harlem River TO point
south of Morn. ngside Park. II so hap
pened, the report says, that the deep
est part of the this depression OF the
tunnel was under Morningside Park
Under these coalitions the park wa.
selected as the most practicable and
II. h. gD
Charles Strauss, president OF the
Board, in his report to the Merchants
Association, stated that in as much
as the construction OF the tunnel ano
the drainage shaft have been com
pleted, the conditions cannot now be
changed without delay Of several
wears in the delivery of the Catskili
water to the city, and that the expens
cntailed by any change would be great
Careful consideration is given IN the
reply to the Merchants Association
and to the important press criticisms
against the use OF the park. In prac-
tically all instances the answer has
been along the lines of impracticability
due TO delay in construction and con
demnation proceedings and to the addi-
tional cost 10 the city.
"The problem IS difficult one, the
report continues: Persons offering
suggestions through the daily press and
other channels are imperfectly in
formed. The problem is unprece-
dented, and only the engineers who
made an intimate study of its details
can be expected 20 have complete
understanding of it.
Experience with similar unwstering
equipment in the tunnels north OF the
city has demonstrated that when work
ing three shifts a day it may be ex-
pected that 3,500,000 gallons of water
will on the average be removed from
the tunnel each day. Therefore, TWEEN
ty days would be required for empty
ing this portion of the tunnel. The
capacity OF the pumps in the Morning
side Park unwatering apparatus IS
5,250,000 gallons for twenty-four hours
During the last five years We have
developed these plans in cooperation
with the Parks Department, which has
been cognizant OF our intention TO build
a superstructure at that point and IT
was not until the steel frame was being
put up for the temporary building now
being erected that public attention was
invited to the matter by the press.
During that time the deep pressure
tunnel has been completed, the shsrtt
has been completely constructed TO 4
depth of 449 feet, and the tunnel for
the last two months has actually been
filed with Catskill water and is now
la use"