Year: 1876

Our Croton Water supply.


just now the question of quantity domi-
mates that of quality when considering this
important subject We recently had occa-
sion to complain that the impurities sus-
pended and in solution in the Croton water
were such as to give grave cause for alarm
to the million of inhabitants in this city,
but II possible a still greater danger threat
ems us in the failure of the supply needed
for the common wants of the population.
The quantity of Croton water available for
this purpose is unhappily made to depend
on the variable conditions of rainfall and
evaporation over the Croton watershed. In
selecting this collecting area we fear that
more regard was paid to it's convenience
than its water producing character and in
this seems to lie the whole root of the pres
ent trouble regarding the supply. Topo-
graphically considered the Croton water
shed region is admirably adapted for the
collection of water in natural or artificial
storage lakes but in this respect
its merits cease Geologically it does not
afford an adequate capacity for retaining the





lower levels, because its formations are
barren of those absorbent qualities which
are necessary to that end. The rainfall
flows rapidly down the abrupt slopes of the
hills and quickly fills the existing recep-
tacles, whence it as speedily flows as waste
over the Croton dam. The country does not
hold the water for any time during which
reserve supply from spring sources can be
relied on for dry season therefore we are
wholly dependent on mere storage in lakes,
and that only to limited extent.


Viewed from meteorological standpoint
the position of the Croton watershed is still
more nnfavorable for the purposes of secur-
ing an adequate supply 1t is located to
the eastward and on the sheltered side of
the Allegheny Mountain system which ex-
tends northward into the Catskill range and
which acts as a physical barrier to the
movement of the rain areas that
traverse the continent from the west
explained in the HERALD the influence Of
this mountain wall on the movement of
storm centres and the precipitation over the
Middle States that it is unnecessary to re-
peat here what is now generally known to
our readers The only great rivers having
outlets on the eastern side Of fthe Alleghanies
penetrate that chain of mountains and de-
rive their waters chiefly from the regions to
the westward of the divide. Hence the
regions eastward of that line receive only q
small share in proportion to their areas Of
the rainfall of the year. Now, it is evident
that in selecting the Croton watershed as
the collecting area for the supply of
New York the foregoing facts were either
unknown or ignored, with q strong proba-
bility in favor of the former, by the Commits
sioners and Engineers of the Croton Aque-
duct Department. The supply at the time
was sufficient for all purposes. Why not for
oil time said the wiseacres who adopted it
1t is proposed to build o new aqueduct; but
are we certain of having the aqua? We do
not think SO By any means, although q tenn
porary relief may be obtained by such a
work, supplemented by new storage lakes
and the prevention of all water waste over
the Croton dam. To insure an inexhaustible
supply we must select a watershed far to
the northward Of the present one, and to
secure it may be compelled to go toward
Albany for the liquid as we'll as the legis-
lation.