The sun., 1918-03-23
FLOODS RISING
UNDER MADISON
SQUARE PARK
Catskill Aqued.lct. Mains.
Springs and Scepage
Are Blamed.
PUMPS HARD AT WORK
Danger Is Feared to FOunda-
tions of Surrounding
Buildings.
PUMPS HARD AT WORK

Water has been welling up into a
crar excavation in Madison Square
PARK. sometimes at the rate of ninety
.''lons a minute. swamping the under
tack passage of the new Broadway sub
Wy station at Twenty-third street and
sdlns 10 the worries Of superintendents
n buildings fronting on the park. The
food has inspired Public Service Com
nission engineers and others with a be-
!'f that the Catskill aqueduct IL leaking.
Commissioner Chadwick Of the Board
O. Water supply denies that the aaue-
o1,i is 10 blame. lie admits it did leak
In hat vicinity for a while when the
7,er was first let through 1t. but says
"athng in copper OF l.Io0 feet OF its
"ror stopped the leak efrectually a
ar and half ago. Any trouble since
eu, lie thinks. must be due to the
i'turn Of the ground water under Madi-
son Square to the height where it stood
Haturally before the aqueduct tunnel
oIrng construction began to act as an
underdrain and carry the seepage of.
The Department; OF Parks is not salts
fei with this view. The cellar hole in
question is for new comfort station.
~ l. 10 De sixteen feet deep. Digging
vas begun last fall. When the d!ggers
got most OF the way down a gentle spring
delayed their operations. On October
= an electric pump. having a capacity
o! llo gallons minute. began its en-
duFance contest with the spring and kept
i up all winter. working twenty.four
hours a day most OF the time until q
few days ago when the pump gained. :,
Those in charge say the ground water
under Madison Square Is always excep-
tonally high, but not as high as that
tad the Park Depa rtment and the Board
6; Water Supply have conflicting ideas
as TO which should pay for the extra
TIN" and work on the comfort station.
city engineers said yesterday that
they understood emergency pumping had
feen done recently in the cellars Of the
Metropolitan Life Insurance Building
I'D others fronting on the park. The
sIp'rntendent OF the Metropolitan build
~ said it hadn't been. A pump is al
Ways kept going. he said. to take care
q 'hr water of springs. but nothing more
LIS neen needed.
Tlc comfort station cellar Is onS4he
'a:' ,idc Of the park. Over on tho west
'p' # the park an undertrack passage.
l' he one in the Times Square station
o. .u" old subway. connects the uptown
A. low ntown platforms of tho broad
Nsy ubway At the Office Of the Public
Serr 70" commission II was said that high
water in the ground had never affected
to suhway itself. but had percolated
r'o this passage so copiously as to rise
- mes almost to the platforms.
An extra pump had taken care OF the
ra,er The pump is still there and
to"z, worked by the operating company.
TIC aassage is not yet In commission.
ft" aqueduct at Twenty-third street
Is -op feet down. A shaft drops to it
'.oS4 - the Worth monument. Before
- 'hatt and the tunnel were lined they
carried off good deal of ground water
b.. secped into them. Accordingly the
water lowered for the time being
From this Ciuse, said a Public Ser
commission engineer the water hap
n'''a 10 be abnormally low when the
h'.'dUay subway was planned, lie
thought the engineers on tho subway
TF' have failed to take account OF the
4" hat would follow the lining and
''o7'ng of the aqueduct.
Old Creek Recalled.
." superintendent OF the Mctropol-
''' Guiding said that springs were nu-
'"sfpHs IN the region OF the square. and
"h o'l creek which used to cross II
might stll account naturally for con-
81 aoie extra water.
NaeO Commissioner Chadwicks office
h''' discussed the matter 1t was said
a. tao water hindcring the cellar dig
,rrs probably came from n leak in a
'"'a'" Main But the main would have
.'4 . be leaking nearly five months.
shl all mains near by have recently
'"'" tested and discovered sound. Engi-
Ne's said leaking main would unques-
I'hdo!y have made trouble in the sub
way itself
Later the copper sheathing OF part of
.oe a1uednct was verified by the Com
missioner, who admitted the aqueduct
"'l leaked two years ago.
IA" head OF water near Twenty-third
'"'''' he said, lis about ESQ feet. That
me srsvity pressure would send II
-,'t h'-h tn the piping OF a building,
me resistance of the aaueduct to such
'"oTh'ns pressure depends, not upon the
~ Fet' lining, but upon the rock by
Nh''I u is enclosed. II the rock is
'NS'lNd and gives the concrete neces-
a'lF Sive' also, and enough OF slip
'eA4's 10 allow some seepage."
Repair Not Dimcult.
Eia1neers said that IL the aqueduct
''aIly !"aklng anywhere enough
MAKE serious trouble the only thing
W 20 would be 10 stop the water al the
eS'es' gate above and hunt the leak
trough the tunnel and patch II up. This
pHrh'Ns, they said, would not be a great
."4'r'aNing, but while 1t was being at
ven. q TO croton water would have to be
H." considerable leakage continuing in
~e"Nh"'" might become dangerous 10
N'FHAndng buildings by undermining
lhc folnda'ions.
ne comfort station will have dry
h.,, mar come what may. There will he
sHas, or hydrostatic floor OF reinforced
concrete, with floor and walls all in one
''ecs and impervious to water.