NATURE MAY 12 101 ie 
209 
THURSDAY,: APRIL.,. 30; 
IQ14. 
NEW YORK WATER -SUPPLY. 
The Catskill Water Supply of New York City: 
History, Location, Sub-surface Investigations, 
and Construction. By Lazarus White. Pp. 
xxxli+755. (New York: John. Wiley and 
Sons; London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1913.) 
Price 25s. 6d. net. 
ECHNICAL records of important engineer- 
ing undertakings, so far as their accessi- 
‘bility to the public is concerned, are apt to be 
scattered and fragmentary. A paper will usually 
be read before one or other of the leading profes- 
sional societies, giving in condensed form so much 
of the history of the work as is deemed suitable 
for publication. In addition, articles will have 
appeared from time to time in the technical and 
daily Press, authoritative in varying degree, 
giving descriptions in. general terms of the pro- 
gress made. But these, while admirable in them- 
selves, scarcely exhaust the desire for informa- 
tion on the part of the general body of the profes- 
sion, who would often wish to be furnished with 
certain specific details omitted from the condensed 
official accounts. A marked reticence, for in- 
stance, is observed, as a rule, on the subject of 
cost. There seems to be a fear lest the disclosure 
of more than a few figures of comprehensive signi- 
ficance should give rise to criticism of an adverse 
and inconvenient nature. And such details, 
accordingly, are almost invariably withheld, or, 
at best, are obtainable with difficulty. 
These remarks are prompted by the considera- 
tion that the volume before us is quite exceptional 
in its scope and treatment to the experience 
described above. It is a commendably full, clear, 
and complete account of an undertaking of con- 
siderable magnitude, in which a great wealth of 
information germane to the subject is set out in 
much. detail. 
The author, a division engineer engaged on the 
work, has been fortunate ina chief who encour- 
aged him in his task of compilation, and “gave 
him a helping hand throughout.” He was also 
favoured with the cooperation of his colleagues. 
The long list of names mentioned in the preface 
demonstrates a very generous and loyal effort on 
the part of all concerned to produce a trustworthy 
and comprehensive account of the experience 
gained, the difficulties encountered and overcome, 
and the carrying through to a successful. conclu- 
sion of a notable engineering feat. 
The water supply of New York City has long 
been the subject of contention and conflicting 
opinion. It has been derived from many and 
Nose2a29;, VOL. 92) 
| eerie sources. tonal Mie € early days of Dutch 
colonisation it was aha drawn from public and 
private: wells. One well in particular, we are 
told, known as the Tea Water Pump, was so fre- 
qqenten that its neighbourhood became congested 
with water carts, and the spout of the pump had 
to be raised and lengthened to permit pedestrians 
to pass -under it. Wells, however, are not a very 
trustworthy source of supply, and “A the growth 
of the town they became tainted and inadequate. 
Spurred on by the ravages of epidemics which 
visited them, the inhabitants initiated a variety 
of schemes for obtaining a better and purer 
service; but it was not until 1830 that the first 
public waterworks were inaugurated. These con- 
sisted of a shaft, 16 ft. in diameter, sunk 112 ft. 
deep into the solid rock at a point situated at the 
junction of 13th Street and Broadway, with two 
horizontal galleries near the bottom of the shaft. 
The daily yield obtained by pumping was 21,000 
gallons—an utterly inadequate provision for the 
needs of a rapidly-developing town. 
The first really effective undertaking was the 
old Croton overflow weir or dam and aqueduct, 
constructed between 1837 and 1842, the former 
being located about six miles above the mouth of 
the Croton River. The capacity of the aqueduct 
was estimated at from 72 to 95 million gallons 
a day, and the population at this time was about 
300,000. As time went on, it became necessary 
to increase the number and capacity of the storage 
reservoirs, and in spite of efforts made in that 
direction, the city experienced serious shortages 
of water in the years 1869, 1876, 1880, and 1881. 
By this last-named date, the population had in- 
creased to a million and a quarter, while the 
supply, augmented by a connection with the 
Bronx River, did not come to more than 102 
million gallons a day. It was estimated that 
the demand was for 45 million gallons in excess 
of this. And here it may be remarked, in passing, 
that the daily consumption of water per head is 
curiously very much higher: in the United States 
than it is in this country. For six of the largest 
cities in the United Kingdom, the quantity aver- 
ages 35 gallons per head, as compared with more 
than roo gallons in New York, 139 gallons in 
Chicago, and 187 gallons in Philadelphia. 
The new Croton aqueduct from Croton Lake 
was built between 1885 and 1890, and the daily 
consumption of the population of 1,720,000 in 
1890 immediately mounted to 170 million gallons 
—about one-half of the maximum capacity of the 
supply. ~The new Croton dam, commenced in 
1892, was completed as recently as 1907. 
As, owing to the growth of the city, the capacity 
of the Croton watershed showed signs of becom- 
K 
