314 



Water and its Impurities, with 



Even the four or five miles of conduit between the lake 

 and the reservoir had been cleaned on the inside through 

 every foot of its extent. Notwithstanding all these pre- 

 cautions the water supplied from this source was affected 

 with an exceedingly offensive taste and smell, that had 

 lasted for some time and remained during most of the 

 season. During a part of the time the odor was that of 

 dead vegetation undergoing decomposition in water, 

 and to this was added at intervals the peculiar smell of 

 dead fish. The water when drawn deposited a reddish 

 brown sediment having the identical appearance of iron 

 rust ; if it were permitted to drop for some days on the 

 side of a white bowl, a stain would be produced so similar 

 to that of water containing an excess of iron as to deceive 

 a casual observer; these stains and sediments would have 

 been considered serious impurities, had not their disa- 

 greeable effects been entirely overshadowed by the 

 intolerable taste and smell — the offense to the eye was 

 not to be compared with that against the other senses. 



There was at the time scarcely any smell to the waters 

 of Rensselaer lake. The same might almost be said of 

 the water in Bleecker reservoir; 1 the following diagram 

 represents the arrangement of these lakes : 



A 



A. Rensselaer lake. 



B. Conduit from Rensselaer lake to Bleecker reservoir. 



C. Bleecker reservoir. 



D. Main for supplying the city from Bleecker reservoir. 



The marked peculiarity which presented itself in the 

 water of the reservoir became evident if a glass was held 



1 It is proper to state that Mr. Carpenter, after the reading of this paper, 

 differed with me in regard to this fact, his impression being that there was 

 a bad smell in the water at this time. In the city it was so offensive as to 



