﻿IO NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Taking into account the small relief possible in this direction and 

 the certainty that in less than five years the demands of the city 

 will be greater than the total capacity of the Croton watershed, it 

 is clear that some other source of large and permanent supply is an 

 absolute necessity. 



In the search for such additional sources, there has been much 

 careful work done by able commissioners. 1 In the meantime, resi- 

 dents of certain districts where there are possible supplies have 

 taken steps by legislative action to effectually 2 prevent New York 

 city encroaching upon their territory. Criticisms 3 of all kinds 

 largely by those only partially informed as to the magnitude and 

 complexity of the problem and partly by those ignorant of the 

 simplest factors in its solution, have been kept perpetually before 

 the public. One needs only a slight acquaintance with such public 

 works to realize that it is much easier and more common to criticize 

 and raise the cry of corruption or incompetence than it is to give 

 really valuable advice or solve a real problem or carry an enterprise 

 of the most vital public importance to a successful issue. 



It is sufficient here to observe that exhaustive studies of the whole 

 question of water supply by competent men have resulted in a 

 practically unanimous conclusion that the streams of the Catskill 

 mountains are the most satisfactory, economical, reliable, abundant 

 and available future source of water. 



1 The Report of John R. Freeman C. E., 1899-1900; Report of the Burr- 

 Herring-Freeman Commission, 1902-4; the Studies of the Department of 

 Water Supply, Gas and Electricity, 1902-4; Investigations of the Board of 

 Water Supply, 1905 to the present time. 



2 Acts of the Legislature of 1903-4. 



3 The commonest suggestions neglect the question of permanence or 

 constancy of supply. The following sources are often mentioned, (a) Lake 

 George, forgetting that this beautiful lake has an abnormally small water- 

 shed and could never figure as a large permanent supply; (b) artesian, 

 wells, ignoring the fact that with the exception of certain portions of Long 

 Island there is almost no artesian capacity, and on Manhattan and the 

 mainland the crystalline rocks make such development useless; (c) Lake 

 Ontario, apparently overlooking the great distance (400 miles) and the 

 many other complications that this international water body involves; 

 (d) the Housatonic river, neglecting the difficulties of interstate origin; 

 0) Dutchess county, where the city is prohibited by legislative enactment; 

 (f) the Hudson river, ignoring the fact that the Hudson is an estuary 

 of the sea with brackish water of a very impure quality and wholly unfit 

 for domestic uses. It is, however, worth while to note that Hudson river 

 water is sure to be used more and more extensively for fire protection and 

 similar purposes in the more densely populated portions of the city by 

 means of an entirely different system of conduits. This is one of the 

 most promising directions of relief looking to the more distant future. 



