The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-30

residents If Greater New
Ysyr " lc able 4, draw
mountain water from the
domestic faucet. for then our great
auueduct aud its associate features
will he finished and quite tit for SER
vice." SUCH is the announcement
made 10y !. Waldo smith. chief en-
since; e. ne Hoard Of Water supply
who has presided owe, the tatskill
water supply system since the days ot
the inception of the project ii l"Oo.
II doubt IL more than a few OF the
millions Of our citizens rca!iz" either
the vastness OF the undertaking or
the difficulties that have been over
come he went on. ~ gldssfu ~
Catskill mountain water must traNci
the better part OF ITO miles to reach
Manhattan. and to enable II to max"
that journey We have had To battl"
with mountains and to deal with the
microscopic microbc.
"The work has been going on for
nearly nine years. ard the public has
wondered from time to time. as some
spectacular features OF the project
reached completion, why they had
VI "a any iV'S'' IN Wv
water. think I can Snswc" this
question aatisfa ctorily. To put 1t
briefly. at the beginning Of 1916 the
Catskill aqueduci was /, tho condition
Of a very large machine with very
many working parts which had been
assembled for the first time but not
finally adjusted or tested. Scine parts
Of this machine are necessarily "
new and untr!cd designs and developed
to meet conditions never before I'M
posed upon the hydraulic engineer.
The problem noN c~OnTrUnt,ng the
Codrd of Water Supply sud 80 en-
ginccrs j. tn. final adiust'nE and
testing Of this complies apparatus. the
smoothing Of gears 4 BEARINGS, the
replacement or modification Of MINOR
parts which may not properly perfc'm
their functions. the training OF the
operating force. Tho working tr!a! ~
the entire plant and last " all the tun-
ing w aad sy~uchruniZlrg o: all the
parts to the end that performance IN
the future may be safe, smooth. de-
pendablc and continuous. Most ~ ne
current year will lie taken IN IN this
way. but water from the cetskill
Mountains will he delivered Into the
distribution system IT times. az II Fact
has bee the case il The Bronx,
Until september 2. 1918, Esopus
Greek flowed in IT'S natural channel 20
the Hudson River. but with III clos.
ing of the olive Bridge dam OF the
Ashokan Reservoir the course Of the
stream was halted and thus began the
storage 90 'atskill Mountain water for
the use Of New York city. First, al
q phase Of the tuning up process. the
two basins Of the reservoir were partly
hfed n the water allowed to stand
npon the new bottom for a long time
Then the water was drawn rapidly on
through the waste gates. and thi.
movement gave the reservoir bottom
q thorough washing.
Again. the waste gates were CLOSED
and the ~impounding of water begar
anew. Nov this great man made LAX,
Is three-quarters full and about 30.
nOO. 900 90" -Illcns Of water Is store,
In ~, tw, basins.
W." ~ has been going on grea
gu Hi.t'c> have been drawn OF fro'
IL res "voir for the purpose o. mex
Ing hyd"oatat!c and hydraulic tess o
the aqueduct and tur washing Il out
Nature too has been busy testing gu
barriers reared aruua the Ashokal
Eest~vO'r. Winds have blown s:-l'gil
dowr thi. AXE, nearly ten miles long
and have whipped the waters int
waves tf,ccn feet high -, times. Thes
waves have dashed against the ne,
shores aNd the dams, putting our wOr
70 = strenuous test.
"On November - last ca.skil waite
was turned for the first time Into IN
k"n>i"o tas.us ana The filing OF tina
Reservoir begun. Following this. lat
In DeCcmbol .ast. SOM of this watel
although in small quantity onl!
Vas supplied to portions of TIL
Bronx. ON November 80 last the All
ing Of Hill Niew Reservoir was starte
snd, as in the case of the kensic
Reservoir. one of the twin basins wa
thus served to test the strength {
ehe middle dam,
This idea of division has been cai
tic Ou in all OF the reservoirs. TIL
purpOse is to guard against AN acc
dent that might mean the tefnporar
disablement of any of these lakes an
also to facilitate repairs and cleanin
while water still flowed from the 9th.
Salf on to the city,
1T must he remembered that man
phases of the work On the aouedu,
bave been without technical prec,
tents. Careful as we have uniform
Eied to he, still We could not be ce.
&in in advance Of what nature ha