A FEW WORDS ABOUT OUR WATER SUPPLY. II 



is not so apparent, but may nevertheless be a matter of considerable 

 importance during dry hot weather. 



Notk, every community lias a vital interest in its water supply, al- 

 though they are often wilfully ignorant of the fact. In sparsely set- 

 tled districts the natural spring- or well is the usual source. When 

 the neighborhood becomes more densely populated the cistern for 

 collecting and storing rain water comes into use. Finally a public 

 water supply becomes a necessity and then trouble usually ensues in 

 regard to rival systems and the relative quantity and quality from 

 different sources. Costly errors are often made, and considerable 

 nonsense is frequently accepted as truth and gains credence by those 

 who are not acquainted with the facts involved. We who have lived 

 at this end of the Island have passed through these three stages of 

 growth, at least a portion of us have, and the experienced has been 

 highl} r instructive. I can well remember the mystery which was 

 supposed to be inseparable from the source of the springs which are 

 now possessed by the Staten Island Water Supply Co. Some persons 

 even went as far as the Orange Mountains in New Jersey to account 

 for them, utterly ignoring the fact that the immense trap dyke, which 

 begins at the Palisades, forms Bergen Neck, crosses the Kills and 

 extends through our Island from Port Richmond to Linoleumville, 

 entirely cuts them off from this source. Furthermore, we shall see 

 later on that there is no necessity for leaving home to search for this 

 source, and that it can be amply accounted for in a rational and 

 simple manner. 



These springs are situated at the lowest part of a water shed, 

 which though quite large in area is constricted to a single narrow 

 outlet, which is at this point. It includes Silver Lake and the Val- 

 ley of the Clove on the east ; the northern slope of Ocean Terrace 

 from the junction of the Little Clove to the Manor Road on the 

 south ; thence the boundary is an irregular line to Bull's Head, 

 along the ridge of land north-west of the Morning Star Road nearly 

 to its junction with the Church Road, and from thence irregularly 

 to its termination near Bodine's Mill — a total area of aboiit five square 

 miles, or 3,200 acres. We have already ascertained that each acre of 

 our Island receives about 1,316,000 gallons of water per annum, 

 hence the above described water shed receives 4,211,200,000 gallons 

 per annum. Let us suppose that one-half of this amount is carried 



