THE NEW CHARTER AND THE WATER SUPPLY

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THE NEW CHARTER AND THE WATER SUPPLY

(Concluded.)

With respect to the preservation of the sources of water supply from contamination and pollution, in order that there may be no possibility of wilful or other offenders escaping punishment, the charter of Greater New York expressty provides that all lakes and reservoirs construction or maintained under the provision of the act of consolidated shall be “subject to such sanitary regulations as the State board of health shall prescribe.”

Brooklyn and 1 ,ong Island City are not forgotten in the charter. Section 517 ordains as follows:

For all the purposes of this act all of the rights, powers, privileges, duties, and obligations heretofore created by law or otherwise of t e city of Brooklyn or of anv of its departments or officers respecting the water works of said city are,so far as they are consistent with the provisions of this act, hereby vested in the city of New York, as constituted by this act, and as matter of administration devolved upon the commissioner of water supply of the city of New York to be by him exercised in accordance with the provisions, directions, and limitations of this act, and all of the rights, powers, privileges, duties, and obligations of Long Island City, or of any or either of its departments or officers,or of any town, village, or district ir. any of the territory hereby annexed to the corporation heretofore known as the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city of New York, and by this act consolidated into one city, in respect to any of the public water supply thereof, the sale and distribution of the same are hereby vesud in the city of New York, and for the purpose of administration are hereby devolved upon the said commissioner of water supply of the city of New York to be by him executed pursuant to the provisions, directions, and limitations of this act. Section 518 explains the powers of the commissioners appointed under the act of 1883 as to new work and defines the limit of their term as follows:

Nothing in this act contained shall be deemed or construed to repeal or in any wise affect chapter 490 of the laws of 1893. entitled “An act to provide new reservoirs, dams, and a new aqueduct with the appurtenances thereto for the purpose of supplying the city of New York with an increased supply of pure ,and wholesome water,” or Ihe sever d acts amendatory thereof; but the said act and its amendment shall remain in full force and effect, provided that the commissioners therein specified shall not hereafter begin the constitu tion of any mw work, except such as may lie properly and nevess irfly apputttnant to work, the construction of which has been be^un before the date upon which this an takes effect. The term if office of the commission appointed rnd existing urwleri’e aforesaid act shall cease ami determine on the first lav of |ai -uary, 1901, and thereupon all papers, documents, and revon s in possession of the aqueductcommls-lon shall be delivered (o t ic commissioner of water supply w ho shall continue and complete in ihe manner provided by ihisacl all work of every kind and discription whatsoever left uncompleted by said commis sion.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

THE NEW CHARTER AND THE WATER SUPPLY.

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THE NEW CHARTER AND THE WATER SUPPLY.

(Continued.)

WITH respect to the charges for supplying water to the citizens of New York the municipal assembly, on recommendation of the board of public improvements, is authorized to fit a uniform scale of rents and charges, apportioned to different classes of buildings in reference to their dimensions, values, exposures to fire, ordinary uses for dwellings, stores, private stables, etc., the number of families, or occupants or the consumption of water, subject to modification, alteration, amendment, and extension to other description of buildings and establishments. All extra charges shall be deemed to be included in the regular rents, which shall become a charge and lien upon the buildings upon which they are respectively imposed. No charge whatever is to be made against buildings provided with meters—in whose case only the quantityof water actually used shall be charged for.

The water commissioner is empowered (always with the consent of the board of public improvement and that of estimate and apportionment) to contract from time to time with the city of Yonkers or its board of water commissioners for a supply of wholesome water for the Twenty-fourth ward and other parts of the borough of Bronx, from the water works of Yonkers for such time, in such quantities, and at such places as may be agreed upon by them, and these commissioners may purchase pipe, lay whatever mains may be necessary, and set hydrants enough for the needs of the borough and to arrange with the owners of lands in the ward for an irrevocable license to enter upon the lands through,and in which such mains are laid and hydrants set.

Meterage is provided for as follows: The commissioner may cause water meters,whose pattern and prices shall be approved by the board of public improvements to be placed in all stores, workshops, hotels, manufactories, office buildings, public edifices, at wharves, ferryhouses, stables, and in all places in which water furnished for business consumption—the quantity of water used, and that amount only, to be paid for by the consumer. It is also provided that

all expenses of meters, their connections and settings, water rates and other lawful charges for the supply of water shall be a lien upon the premises where such water is supplied as now provided by law * * * The moneys collected for expenses

of meters, their connections and settings, shall be applied by the commissioner of water supply to the payment of expenses incurred in procuring, connecting, and setting, said meters.

The annual rents for water are to be paid before August in each year under penalty of an additional charge of hvc |>cr cent up to October 31, after which there will be a further additional charge of ten per cent.

The rules and restrictions for the use of the water arc to be printed on each permit and shall be sufficient notice to the water takers and authorization for the exaction and recovery by legal process of any penalties which may be imposed in addition to cutting off the use of the water, if necessary.

No patent, hydrant, valve, or stop cock is to be used by the department of water supply, unless the patentee or owner shall allow its use without royalty.

The commissioner of water supply is charged with the preservation of all lakes and waters whence the city’s water is drawn, as well as of their banks, from injury and nuisance, and with the execution of whatever measures are necessay to preserve and increase the quantity of water and keep it pure and wholesome and free from contamination, and shall also see to the management, preservation, and repairs of dams, gates, aqueducts, reservoirs, etc., the construction of new works, and the purchase and laying down of mains and pipes authorized to be purchased. All who pollute or con!amin«’e the water in any way or do or cause any work to be done, or build or place any nuisance on the banks of any of the sources of the city’s water supply shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punishable by $100 fine or three months’ imprisonment in the jail of the county in which the offence was committed, or both at the discretion of the court.

The charter also lays down that nothing contained in its provision concerning the water supply

shall authorize or empower or permit any water in excess of the ordinary flow thereof to be drawn from lake Mahopac, in the town of Carmel. Putnam county, between the first days of March and September in any year.

(To be continued.)

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