HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



715 



quantities, although, disagreeable, is not specially unhealthful, 

 nevertheless excessive hardness taken in conjunction with sul- 

 phurated hydrogen produces unsatisfactory water and the writer 

 would hesitate to recommend a water supply containing large 

 amounts of sulphureted hydrogen, with a high degree of hardness, 

 if it were possible to obtain anything else. Such a water, in short, 

 should only be used as a last resort. 



On the other hand, in Illinois and a number of other western 

 States, a very large proportion of the water supplies is derived 

 from wells. We conclude, therefore, that broadly, the question as 

 to whether a well supply is either desirable or possible, is deter- 

 mined largely by locality. 



In regard to special conditions at Lockport a large number of 

 wells have been drilled, not only within the city limits but in 

 the surrounding country. A considerable number of these wells 

 are reviewed in detail and none of them yields more than a few 

 thousand gallons of water per da}' — usually, from a few hundred 

 to two thousand or three thousand gallons is the limit. One of 

 the wells is reported to have flowed when originally bored in 1888. 

 At the present time the water stands permanently from ten to 

 twelve feet below the surface. This fact indicates a permanent 

 reduction of ground water of that amount in fifteen years. 



Moreover, the source of all the water, either upon the surface 

 or within the ground, is the rainfall. The average rainfall of the 

 western plateau, which includes western New York west of the 

 valley of Seneca lake, is for the twelve years from 1891 to 1902, 

 inclusive, 37.03 inches, but the rainfall at Rochester for the year 

 1888 was only 27.34 inches, while in the preceding year of 1887 it 

 was only 20.61 inches. We had, therefore, two years of low rain- 

 fall, the rainfall of 1887 being the lowest for the period of thirty- 

 two years during which observations have been kept by the United 

 States Weather Bureau at Rochester. If, therefore, this well 

 actually flowed in 1888, it is certain that the large number of 

 wells put down since that time have materially lowered the 

 ground water and it is extremely doubtful if now more than 

 100,000 gallons per day are being taken from the ground from 

 wells at or near Lockport. It follows, therefore, from the known 

 facts of wells at and about Lockport, that there is no possibility 

 of obtaining an adequate supply for the city — at any rate, on 

 the basis of present use, which as per a statement made by the 

 superintendent of waterworks under date of January 1, 1903, 

 is at the average daily rate of 4,500,000 gallons. 



The problem reduced to its simplest terms is this. If the tak- 

 ing of perhaps 100,000 gallons per day has lowered the ground 

 water 10 to 12 feet in fifteen years, during which time the rainfall 

 has been mostly several inches above the average, how much 



