PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF STREAM CONDITIONS 



IN NEW YORK STATE 



It is important to outline briefly the work that was done td 

 to the pollution of its streams. An examination of the files in the 

 office of the Conservation Commission brought to light numerous 

 reports made from time to time by various officials and employees 

 of the Commission with reference to the pollution of streams at 

 individual points. It revealed also a record of prosecutions carried 

 on against violators of the law. The evidence thus adduced served 

 to demonstrate the amount and character of the pollution found and 

 the judgment of the courts with reference to the relation of the 

 cases to the law as it stands. 

 General Knowledge 



The condition of the larger streams in the state has been widely 

 and frankly recognized. Indeed the language used with reference 

 to the conditions that prevail in the Mohawk and Hudson is so 

 emphatic as to leave no doubt concerning public opinion on the 

 conditions in those streams. Various surveys have been made and 

 official reports printed which demonstrate the situation equally and 

 in greater detail. Industrial wastes have been discharged in suffi- 

 cient quantities to wipe out entirely the life in several streams in 

 such immediate and conspicuous fashion that citizens reported 

 the finding of dead fish in large numbers along its banks. In other 

 places the accounts demonstrate the presence during considerable 

 time periods of chemicals and of products of decay so offensive 

 as to have attracted general comment and protest. These reports 

 ascertain the facts of the situation in New York state with reference 

 on file and records in print are not by any means confined to one 

 locality or to a single type of industry. They concern the eastern, 

 the central, the western, the northern, and the southern sections 

 of New York state and come from practically every drainage basin. 

 It must also be said that in some cases such conditions originate in 

 neighboring states and are brought into this state with natural 

 stream flow while in other cases New York state is responsible for 

 the pollution of streams that pass beyond its borders and affect 

 adversely neighboring commonwealths. 



Reports of Game Protectors 



With a view to securing more complete information on conditions 

 as they stood at the time, a questionnaire was sent to each of the 



