The Board of Health would therefore recommend that an order be entered herein declaring the water now being furnished by said Greenbush water works company to constitute a nuisance injurious to the public health of the inhabitants of said city and directing and requiring the said Greenbush water works company to cease furnishing water of the character and quality now furnished to the said city and the inhabitants thereof, within six months from the date hereof, unless before that date said Greenbush water works company shall obtain water from a different supply and of a purer character, or filter the water taken from the river in a manner to be approved by the State Board of Health. All of which is most respectfully submitted, together with the testimony taken. OWEN CASSIDY JULY 9, 1900 DANIEL LEWIS, M. D., President New York State Board of Health: Dear Sir-The New York State Board of Health, through the Governor of New York, having ordered the Greenbush water works company of Rensselaer to cease furnishing water of the character and quality now furnished, and remedy the difficulties of its present system either by obtaining a different supply and of a purer character or by filtering the water taken from the river in a manner to be approved by the New York State Board of Health (see recommendation of the Board February 14, 1900), and those who have taken this matter in charge for the company having made a careful study of the water problem for Rensselaer, the surrounding watersheds, possibilities of contamination, distance, taste and quantity, and after such study having come to the conclusion that the best solution of the problem is a filter which might meet with your approval, I beg to address your honorable body to ascertain if a certain form of filter which has been recommended to us and has seemed to us proper and desirable will also meet with your sanction. The New York filter manufacturing company are prepared to make a contract with us for the installation of a 3,000,000-gallon plant which shall be subject to the following guarantees: (1) The water shall be bright, clear, practically free from turbidity, matters in suspension and color. (2) Where the number of bacteria in the unfiltered water is 3000 or more, there shall be a bacterial reduction in the filtered water of not less than 97 per cent; but where the number of bacteria in the unfiltered water is less than 3000 the average number of bacteria in the filtered water shall not exceed 100. (3) The filtered water shall show no trace of alumina in excess of that of the unfiltered water. I append herewith a description of the filters with full specifications of their construction. The form of house which we should erect would be a good, substantial brick structure, with gravel or slate roof with iron truss; building to be large enough to accommodate the proposed six filters and also sufficient space to permit an enlargement of the plant in case the demand should grow. Awaiting the opinion of your honorable Board in regard to this proposition, and desiring to know specifically whether it has your sanction and approval, I am, dear sir, Most respectfully yours, CHAS. F. FLAGG Secretary SPECIFICATIONS 15-FOOT JEWELL GRAVITY FILTERS The plant shall consist of six (6) Jewell gravity filters connected up in battery, each filter being capable of furnishing 500,000 gallons of water per day. TANKS Each tank shall be 16 feet 6 inches outside diameter by 16 feet high outside; and each shall contain an inside tank 15 feet inside diameter by 6 feet high. The staves of each tank shall be 3 inches in thickness, made to dress 23 inches. Each tank shall be FILTERING MATERIAL The filtering material shall consist of 4 feet of carefully selected screened sand, having an effective diameter of from .36 to .4 of a millimetre. INTERIOR OF FILTERS The inside tank shall be supported by eight 8-inch by 8-inch Norway pine posts dressed, and shall be supported by four 8-inch by 10-inch dressed Norway pine girders. The inside tank shall be attached to the outside tank by 3-inch by 4-inch dressed cypress segments throughout the entire circumference. There shall be two 6-inch by 10-inch dressed Norway pine beams to support the agitators, properly supported by brackets, the brackets to be bolted to the tank by 4-inch by 5-inch bolts. AGITATORS The agitators shall be of the Jewell patent reversible type, similar to plate 1 of atlas. The gears and pinions shall be machine cut. SCREENS There shall be 702 screens to each filter. All screens shall be made of gun metal, provided with deflecting plates, and shall be fitted with aluminum or phosphor-bronze perforated screen metal, held by copper rivets. MANIFOLDS AND BRANCH PIPES All manifolds and branch pipes shall be made of cast iron securely attached. VALVES There shall be two (2) sewer valves, one (1) inlet valve, one (1) discharge valve, one (1) rewash valve and one (1) wash valve. There shall also be one (1) copper inlet float tank with butterfly valve and one (1) Western controller, which shall regulate the discharge at all times to within two (2) per cent. TOWN OF GREENPORT North bay nuisance STATE OF NEW YORK-EXECUTIVE CHAMBER ALBANY, May 1, 1900 To the Honorable the State Board of Health, Albany, N. Y.: Gentlemen-The inclosed petition from the local board of health of the town of Greenport in Columbia county is herewith submitted to your honorable body, and the Governor requests that pursuant to the provisions of section six of the Public health law, you direct that examination be made, and speedily, into the matter complained of, and that you report your conclusions to him at as early a date as may be practicable. Very respectfully WM. J. YOUNGS To His Excellency THEODORE ROOSEVELT, Governor of the State of New York: We, the undersigned members of and constituting the local board of health of the town of Greenport, Columbia county, N. Y., do respectfully submit that complaint in writing has been made to our board by S. T. DuBois, F. W. and G. C. Bartlett, residents of said town of Greenport, residing and owning real estate adjacent to the North bay (so called), situated partly in the town of Greenport and partly in the city of Hudson, N. Y.;that said North bay, particularly the upper or northerly part thereof, is in an unsanitary condition, detrimental to the public health and affecting the security of life and health in the locality thereof. And we do further submit the report of Professor Landreth upon the unsanitary condition of the North bay, made to the State Board of Health in August, 1897, of which the following is a copy: "SCHENECTADY, N. Y., August 18, 1897 "Hon. C. W. ADAMS, Chairman Drainage Committee, State Board of Health, Albany, N. Y.: "Dear Sir-In the matter of the complaint filed with the State Board of Health on July 13th signed by Samuel T. DuBois, F. W. Bartlett and others concerning the defective drainage and consequent unhealthy condition of the North bay adjoining the city of Hudson on the north, which complaint was referred to me on the 10th of August, I beg leave to report that I visited the locality on the 13th instant and found the following conditions to exist: "North bay is one of the numerous bodies of shallow water cut off from the Hudson river by the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. embankment; the length of the bay is approximately two miles, and the width varies from 100 to 1000 feet. In the absence of any map of the bay and of time to make a survey before this report is needed, the accompanying free-hand sketch of the locality is appended as roughly showing the relative positions. The range of tide in the river at this point is approximately three feet; at high tide the water stands about three or four feet deep in the bay; at low tide less than one foot deep, except in the channels, and some portions of the bottom are entirely exposed. There are now three culverts by which the tide ebbs and flows in the bay by giving it connection with the river outside. “These culverts are ample in area of water-way to permit the bay to fill at flood tide before the tide turns but their location is such as to contribute largely to the present very bad condition of the bay. These culverts are all in the southern half of the length of the bay, one being at the extreme southern end, and the most northerly one, as well as the intermediate one, being near the middle of the length of the bay, leaving the northern half of the bay unprovided with any outlet. |