will be required. The whole distance from the factory dam to the distributing reservoir, is 21 miles.

The Engineer made a gauge of the outlet of Rye ponds, on the 15th and 20th of August and 5th of September, and found the discharge to be only 950,400 gallons daily. The running waters of the river were gauged on the 4th and 5th of September, and produced 4,331,880 gallons every 24 hours. Allowing one-fifth to meet extraordinary drought, there remains 3,465,504 gallons. By damming the ponds, an additional supply may be obtained of 2,286,900 gallons, making a total of 5,752,404 gallons, as the quantity that can with any safety be relied on from that source, and which is less than the present wants, by about one million of gallons. A small addition may be obtained from Byram river, but in effecting it, a resort must be made to the territory and waters of another State, which it is presumed would not be attempted, unless by the authority of that State.

The Commissioners having understood, that a proposition from the Manhattan company, to dispose of their works to the corporation, is now under the consideration of the Common Council, and observing by a printed circular from that company, that they have 25 miles of pipes now laid down in this city; and having also been informed, that the corporation have about ten and a half miles of pipe, extending in different directions from their reservoir on Thirteenth-street, they have not deemed it necessary under these circumstances, to enter into a calculation of the cost of the pipes, that may be required to distribute the water in the different parts of the city. The estimates which have been made, however, for bringing the water to the distributing reservoir, are full and large, and intended to exceed, rather than fall short of the cost. The Commissioners think, therefore, that these estimates may be relied on, as amply sufficient, to complete a work that will be a lasting blessing to the present and future inhabitants of this city, and an honor to those who may be instrumental in carrying it into effect.

For a more particular and detailed description of the survey, and other important information on the subject, the Commissioners beg leave to refer to the able and lucid report of the Engineer, hereunto annexed.

The routes which are designated by the report of the engineer, for bringing the waters of the Croton to the city, differ so little in

expense or feasibility, that the Commissioners have not deemed it necessary to make a selection of one in preference to the other, as a further examination, connected with facts and circumstances which may hereafter come to view, will better enable those to decide, who may be selected to carry the project into effect, than they are.

That the Commissioners might be enabled to form as correct an opinion of the subject generally, as the nature of the case and their other engagements would admit, they have personally explored the routes proposed by the engineer, and have made frequent examinations of the situation, quality, and apparent quantity of the water to be taken, and by conversation with intelligent individuals in the vicinity of these waters, or who were acquainted with the country and its localities, they have arrived at the conclusion, that an adequate supply of good and wholesome water is not to be obtained from any source, with as much certainty of success, with greater convenience, or with less expense, than that recommended by the report of the engineer.

The construction of these works will require several years to complete them, and the supply, therefore, must be estimated to meet the wants of the then population, which it is presumed will not be less than 300,000. On estimating the quantity that may be required for all purposes, the Commissioners have endeavored to ascertain the number of gallons distributed in other large cities, such as London, Philadelphia, and Edinburgh.

It appears from an investigation, by order of the British government, into the concerns of the London water companies, that the quantity of water furnished the city was equal to 162 gallons for each house per diem, or 27 gallons to each inhabitant, counting six persons to each house.

The city of Philadelphia, as shown by a report of the watering committee for 1832, supplies 13,806 houses, factories, &c. with about two millions of gallons per day, equal to 146 gallons to each establishment, or about 24 gallons for every inhabitant, allowing six persons to a house.

The city of Edinburgh and Leith distributes about 15 gallons to each inhabitant, estimating 130,000 persons who use the water, or 1,950,000 gallons every twenty-four hours. These works may be

increased, so as to deliver 2,661,120 gallons per day, equal to twenty and a half gallons to each person.

The mean rate of these several quantities of 27, 24, and 15, is 22; and the Commissioners have adopted 22 gallons for each inhabitant of the city of New-York, as the quantity required for every purpose, which will make it necessary that 6,600,000 gallons should be delivered at the distributing reservoir every 24 hours. The Commissioners have shown, however, that five or six times. that quantity may be obtained, and brought to the city, if required.

Every city of note, whether in our own country or in Europe, has found it indispensable, as soon as the population became densely settled, and the streets paved and compactly improved, to look for a supply of water from distant and remote sources.

The magnificent works of the Romans, erected for the purpose of conveying water to that city, are spoken of with admiration by those who have examined what still remains of them. We are told that the water was brought from sources at the distance of thirty, forty, sixty, and in some instances, of one hundred miles; that there were twenty aqueducts through which the water was conveyed, and the supply was equal to 40,000,000 of gallons daily. To effect this object, mountains were levelled, rocks excavated, in one instance of a mile in length, and valleys were filled up. The aqueducts of Nismes, and Metz in France, and of Constantinople in Turkey, also owe their construction to the Romans.

In more modern times, reference may be had to the cities of London, Paris, Versailles, and Edinburgh in Europe, and Philadelphia, and several other cities of less note in our own country.

Most of these cities possessed local advantages for a supply of water, far greater than the city of New-York; for in addition to their wells, our only resource, the waters of the rivers on which they were situated, were fresh, while that which surrounds this city is salt and unfit for the use of man.

The city of London, until it became densely settled, drew its supply of water from wells and several small streams in the vicinity, and when the well water became hard and unfit for ordinary use, and the streams obstructed by buildings, resort was had to the water of the river Thames, by means of machinery; but this was

found so liable to become turbid and foul, that pure water became a desirable object with the inhabitants, and in 1608 the present works of the new river were commenced, and finally completed in 1613.

The people of Rome were contented with the water of the river Tiber and the wells in that city, for a length of years after its first settlement; but when the buildings and population became dense, they also found it necessary to resort to remote places for a supply of pure water, by the means of aqueducts.

The same causes which operated in these and other cities, and which induced a resort to distant sources for a supply of good water, are now operating in the city of New-York with increasing force-viz. an almost total deterioration of the water obtained from the wells and pumps, in all that part of the city closely built upon and densely populated.

The water procured from a large portion of the wells of this city, where the population has become dense, is unfit for ordinary use, and very deficient in supply: and the well belonging to the Manhattan Company in Reed-street, which supplies a portion of the inhabitants with water for drink and culinary purposes, although it is said to be capable of yielding more than 1,000,000 gallons in twenty-four hours, is nevertheless of the same bad character with the other wells in the thickly populated parts of the city, and is so impregnated with foreign matters, that the use of it, in the opinion of the Commissioners, must be more or less injurious to the health of those who partake of it.

In 1831, a communication was presented to the Common Council of the city of New-York, by a committee of the "Lyceum of Natural History," answering certain queries proposed to that institution on the practicability of supplying the city with good water within its own limits. In the communication alluded to, the committee enter into an examination of the sources, the quantity, and the purity of the water on the island of New-York, and arrive at the following conclusions:

First, that the water obtained from the wells in this city is derived wholly and exclusively from the atmosphere, either in the shape of rain, hail, or snow; that this is first absorbed by the sand or earth, through which it descends until it reaches the rock on

which the island rests, or until it saturates the earth and can make no further progress.

Second, that by numerous observations the annual fall of water, on an average, is calculated at about thirty-six inches; but, that the available amount cannot be accurately estimated, as allowance must be made for the evaporation and the quantity carried off over the paved streets, and other outlets to the river.

Thirdly, from analyses of a number of the well and pump waters, in different sections of the city, by George Chilton, esquire, chemist, it has been ascertained, that the water of one of the wells contained ten grains of foreign matter in a pint, or eighty grains to the gallon; another, seven grains to the pint, or fifty-six to the gallon; a third, thirty-six to the gallon; and a fourth, about thirtythree to the gallon. These gentlemen state as their unanimous opinion, "that no adequate supply of good and wholesome water can be obtained on this island, for the wants of a large and rapidly increasing city like New-York."

There are wells, however, in the thinly settled parts of the island from which good water is still obtained; but from the fact, within the recollection of hundreds, that but a few years back the wells now producing bad water then produced good, the Commissioners conclude, that the water obtained in the northern parts of our city, when that section shall become densely populated, will share the same fate as that in the south, where it has undergone a change from good to bad.

An opinion is entertained by many of our citizens, however, that water of a good quality, and in sufficient quantity, may be obtained in any part of the city of New-York, by deep excavating or boring of the rock on which this island rests.

The Commissioners have endeavored to obtain information on this subject, and, with that object, they have inspected such of the wells as have produced good water, in considerable quantity, by deep excavation or boring in the rock; and to the same end, they have been furnished by Mr. Levi Disbrow, who holds a patent for his improved instruments used in penetrating or boring rock, with a detailed statement of the whole of his operations in boring for water on the island of New-York.

From this document it appears, that he has operated in twentythree different sections of the city, and has, except in a few in