The Board of Water Supply Annual Reports

The first annual report from Board of Water Supply covered activities of 1904, and was issued at the beginning of the next year. Annual reports since then followed that model with the following categories:

• Cover letter from the BWS commissioners of the Board of Water Supply to the mayor of the city of New York, giving a brief overview of work throughout the entire water system for that given year.
• Administration Bureau, a short section describing personnel, contract processing, miscellaneous supplies and income.
• Real Estate, Taxes, and Legislation, another short report covering system assets and liabilities, by the auditor of that area.
• Police Bureau by the superintendent and covering personnel and income (fines and forfeitures, with no attention to expenses). Reports for 1917-8  were interestibg due to the posting of military guards during WWI.
• Bureau of Claims is the first really subsequent section of the annual report, although it certainly depends upon the number of claims made against the city. Such claims are a function of legal activities under the transfer of property to the city.
• Report of the Auditor is a major portion (40%±) of the annual report, and includes a large number of tables. The fact that each table is folded into the book and was printed on fragile paper heightens the challenge. Most tables when opened would have a width of 9-24 inches wide.
• Report of the Chief Engineer is the other major component of the annual report. His report may be (45%±) of the total and includes photographs and captions about the included materials.

Reports of both the auditor and the chief engineer cover–in detail–activities occurring throughout the entire New York City water system. However, their prime focus was on projects currently being planned, in progress, or completed. The earliest reports obviously focussed on upgrades to the system as a whole; reports of the around 1911-3 focussed on the Ashokan reservoir and planning the acquisition of Schoharie water; reports in the early 1920s focus on Schoharie construction and stating the need for further watershed expansions.

Scanning of the Annual Reports

We scanned each of the annual reports from 1904 to 1927, and we need to extend these resources through the Bureau of Claims reports of the early Depression period. 

The more pressing need is to improve the scans that we have already completed, but have not finalized:

• We never scanned the fold-out tables for fear of damaging the physical printed booka. This is a major shortcoming that we are now rectifying with a rolling horizontal scanner. Until this is done, our PDF files have to be considered at best as beta versions. 
• The main goal for our initial scanning was to access the text, photographs, and captions of the chief engineer’s portion of the report. One of the problems with scanning of text is that a typeface may present very specific problems to the artificial intelligence behind the translation program. For example, the lowercase-H and -B in the 1917 annual report were difficult for the program to differentiate. In talking about the construction of housing for the workers, the program consistently referred to them as “hunkhouses.” We have corrected such errors in our own use of the chief engineer’s report, but have not corrected them in the original PDFs that also keeps these files as beta versions. 

The profession of today’s editor was originally (early 1400s) called a “changer.” We’re talking thousands of pages here, but our scanners are recording the BWS spreadsheets and our changers are proofing the Excel and text files. In the meanwhile, you can review these first beta efforts, and be a changer by emailing the problems you find.

Accessing the current BETA Annual Reports

The letter from the BWS commissioners to the mayor of New York offers a concise overview of each year’s annual report. We will use these summaries to describe each annual report, followed be a link to the beta PDF.

1904 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1905 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1906 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1907 Board of Water Supply Annual Report
We submit herewith the report of the Board of Water Supply of The City of New York for the year ending December 31, 1907. During this year the actual work of construction for which the Board of Water Supply has been planning began. From time to time the work of the Board developed certain features all combining to make the solution of the various problems involved, difficult and serious. The problem is not entirely an engineering one, although, of course, many of its important intricate factors are of that character. Nor is it wholly a financial problem, although large sums of money are necessarily involved, and it is evident that in a project of such dimensions the financial aspects cannot be ignored. Nor is it a real estate problem exclusively, although the acquisition of property is an important feature of the task. Nor is the problem distinctively a geological one, although competent geologists have been employed for the purpose of securing information concerning sub-surface conditions. Neither is it entirely a legal one, although manifestly questions of considerable legal importance have been involved in protecting the rights of the people and of The City, and in determining the countless matters at issue.

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1908 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

1909 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1910 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1911 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1912 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1913 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1914 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1915 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1916 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1917 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

Since early in last year and with but two brief interruptions, Catskill water has been continuously delivered into all five boroughs of the City. The aqueduct, with its appurtenant reservoirs and structures, sufficient for securing the first half of the Catskill supply, has been so far completed that it has now gone into regular service. For the final completion of the first stage there remains to be done however a material amount of important work. 

On August 1, 1917, those parts of the work which had been entirely completed were formally turned over to the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity for operation. This event was marked on October 12, 13 and 14, under the auspices of a committee appointed by the Mayor. On October 12, before a large assemblage of citizens, the Commissioners of the Board of Water Supply presented a brief, formal report to the Mayor, and officially announced the delivery of the first installment of Catskill water to the City. On the afternoon of the same day a fountain of the Catskill water was opened in the upper Central Park reservoir of the Croton system. The jet from this fountain, rising to a hight of more than 100 feet, gave visual evidence of the higher elevation at which Catskill water is delivered and the material economy which is thereby made possible through the elimination of pumping, both directly by the City and by individual consumers. 

This first installment of the Board’s work, covering the development of the Esopus watershed, has been put into service within the anticipated time and at less than the estimated cost. Operations on the second stage, covering the development of the Schoharie watershed, have been actively begun. It seems appropriate, therefore, to very briefly review what has been accomplished.

On June 3, 1905, the act under which the Board has conducted its work became a law, and on the 9th day of that month the first commissioners were appointed by Mayor George B.McClellan. On October 9 the Board presented to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment a special report containing a plan and estimate for a complete system of works for obtaining not less than 500 million gallons of water daily from sources in the Catskill mountains, this report being accompanied by a comprehensive map. Adoption by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment followed October 27, 1905, and the approval of the State authorities on May 14,1906.

Streams west of the Hudson river in the Catskill mountains were chosen as the most available, economical and best sources of supply, for both legal and engineering reasons. To secure the quantity of water required daily the plan contemplated the construction of a storage reservoir, of 132 billion gallons capacity, known as the Ashokan, in the foothills of the Catskill mountains about 10 miles west of Kingston. From this reservoir the aqueduct, was shown to extend 120 miles to Staten Island, crossing under the Hudson river 3*4 miles above West Point, and having a branch 7 miles long from the heart of Brooklyn to Queens borough. Three miles above White Plains in a suitable natural basin, the Kensieo reservoir, of 38 billion gallons capacity, was to be constructed and to equalize the constantly fluctuating demands for water in the City against the steady flow of the aqueduct, the Hill View equalizing reservoir was provided for just north of Van Cortlandt park. At the extremity of the aqueduct on Staten Island the Silver Lake terminal reservoir was located. 

Surveys, designs and investigations were progressed along with the legal preliminaries connected with the securing of the approval of the State authorities and the acquisition of the needed lands. The first important contract was awarded in March, 3907, and others followed in rapid succession. 

Storage of water in the Ashokan reservoir began in 1913, and the filling of Kensico and Hill View reservoirs in November, 1915. Catskill water was first delivered into the distribution system of New York City in December, 1915. Large quantities of Catskill water were delivered somewhat irregularly during the year 1916 and the early part of 1917, the aqueduct being finally put into regular service during the summer of the latter year. 

To effect the transfer of the Catskill aqueduct, Ashokan reservoir and appurtenances, to the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity, for maintenance and operation, the Board of Water Supply, on July 24, 1917, adopted the following resolution:

“RESOLVED, That the Board of Water Supply hereby transfers to the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity, which is the administrative department charged with the maintenance and operation of the water systems of The City of New York, the responsibility for, and control of, those portions of the Catskill water system with the appurtenant lands and structures listed in Chief Engineer’s Communication 12,042, with the exceptions noted, and it is further
“RESOLVED, That this transfer shall take effect August 1, 1917.”

This resolution was transmitted to the Commissioner of the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity on July 27, receipt of which was acknowledged by him under date of July 31, as follows:

“I acknowledge receipt of your letter of July 27 inclosing a copy of a resolution adopted by you July 24 transferring to this department the responsibility for and control of certain portions of the Catskill water system. The Department is prepared to assume such responsibility and exercise such control.”

In this very simple manner was the new water system delivered by the construction board to the operating department.

During 1916, final authorization of the source for the second half of the proposed additional supply was obtained, based upon the selection, late in 1915, of the site for a dam across the Schoharie  creek at Gilboa, above which point there is a watershed of 314 square miles, sufficient to provide all the water needed to complete the full additional supply contemplated in the original plan filed in 1905. This fortunate outcome of the Schoharie  investigations rendered unnecessary the construction of much more expensive works on Rondout and Catskill creeks. Schoharie Creek water is to be diverted into Esopus creek through a tunnel 18 miles long, penetrating the mountain ranges between the two drainage basins. The contract for the construction of this tunnel was awarded in November, 1917.

In connection with the Schoharie development, 192 parcels, having an aggregate area of 2,153 acres, have been acquired for the Schoharie reservoir and the Shandaken tunnel. Maps for these Schoharie reservoir and the Shandaken tunnel. Maps for these takings have been duly hied, the Commissioners of Appraisal have taken their oaths of office, and title to the land is now vested in the City.

It is estimated that about seven years will be required for the completion of the Schoharie work, so that this water will not be available for use until 1925, when it will be much needed.

When the Board began its operations the greater City had a population of 4,000,000. Its present population is almost 6,000,000 and there is no indication that the rate of the City’s growth has been materially reduced, if at all. Its transient population was never so great and the use of water is at least keeping pace with the increase in population.

Military guards were placed on the Catskill aqueduct February 5, 1917, immediately following the severance of diplomatic relations with Germany by the United States government on February 3. Detachments from regiments of infantry and cavalry of the National Guard of New York were assigned to this duty. When these National Guard regiments were taken into Federal service, the guarding of the water-works was directed from the United States Army headquarters on Governors Island. When, however, the last detachment of these regiments was withdrawn under  Federal orders, on August 10, a new organization, known as the First Provisional Regiment of the New York Guard, was ordered by the Governor to protect the City’s water-works. August 1, this feature of the maintenance of the aqueduct, along with the others, passed to the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity, excepting that since May 3 the Ashokan reservoir and the Headworks of the Catskill aqueduct have been guarded by the small remnant of the Aqueduct Police, pending the  beginning of active construction on the Shandaken tunnel.

During the year 56 indirect and business damage claims, brought under the provisions of the statute and relating to the. Esopus watershed, were tried by the Commissioners of Appraisal. These claims aggregated $240,400 and the awards made were $17,328.60. Fifty-one similar claims, aggregating over $150,000, were dismissed.

For property acquired, construction, engineering, administration, and miscellaneous expenses the total disbursements to the end of the year 1917 amounted to $138,154,089.52. 

Detailed descriptions of the work which has been done have been printed in the preceding eleven annual reports of this Board and in a booklet entitled ” Catskill Water Supply—A General Description and Brief History,” published by the Board in October, 1917, in connection with the civic celebration of the delivery of Catskill water.

The Board’s official report of October 12, 1917, printed herein as Appendix A, furnishes a more complete review of the work and is referred to as a part of this report.

At the end of the year, the forces of the Board were divided as follows:  administration, 38, including Commissioners and the offices of the Secretary, Auditor, and Bureau of Claims; Police, 55; engineers and assistants, 261; mechanics and laborers, 173; total, 527. Beta 1917

1918 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1905 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1904 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1919 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1920 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1921 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1922 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1923 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1924 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1925 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1926 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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1927 Board of Water Supply Annual Report

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