Our thriving neighbor, Hoboken, just across the Hudson River, has a
large and vitally important problem to solve. Of the 720 acres within
the city limits, 270 acres lie at a considerable height above the river
and constitute what are known as the knoll or uplands of Hoboken.
Between this low ridge and Palisade Ridge lie 450 acres of marsh lands
or meadows, 140 acres of which have already been built upon. The marsh
is about half a mile wide, and something like a mile and a half long,
extending southward into Jersey City. The surface is a network of matted
vegetation and roots perhaps five feet deep, and under that lies a mass
of blue clay or river silt 100 feet or more in depth. The original
tidal flow over these marsh lands has been obstructed by viaducts for
railroads and streets, leaving only two natural outlets, a sluice way at
Fifteenth street on the north, and on the south a basin constructed by
the D. L. & W. R. R., 100 feet wide, and 2,300 feet long. The average
level of the marsh land is three feet above mean low water and a foot
and a half below mean high water. In the part built upon the streets are
but two feet above mean high water.
During long easterly and northerly storms, especially at times of high
spring tides, the level of the water in the Hudson is often such as to
cover the meadows even at low tide; and on several occasions the water
at high tide has been 4½ feet above the level of the meadows, and a foot
or more above the established grade of the streets.
The problem is to drain these marsh lands so as to make them properly
habitable and to protect them from invasion by high tides and storm
waters.
The first drainage map of the district was made about fifteen years ago;
since then over $100,000 have been expended on tidal sewers and other
devices, and several acts have been passed by the New Jersey Legislature
in furtherance of the work. An extended review of the plans proposed
and the experiments made thus far is given in a report presented to the
Board of Health and Vital Statistics, last May, by Engineers Spielmann
and Brush. Ten years ago Mr. Arthur Spielmann, on being directed by the
City Council to prepare plans and estimates for a contemplated sewer in
Ferry street to the western boundary of the city, reported adversely
to the project, believing that such a sewer would fail to answer the
purpose of its construction.
There were but two ways, he thought, of securing the end desired: First,
by raising the grade sufficient to give a good drainage; second, by
making reservoirs and forcing the drainage matter out into the river by
steam pumps. The first method he found impracticable on account of the
cost of filling in so large an area and of raising the large number of
houses already on the low ground. The second plan was recommended as
being much cheaper and entirely practicable. Substantially the same
position is taken in the report of last May, wherein it is alleged that
the superior economy of a pumping system has been sufficiently attested
by several eminent hydraulic engineers who have since investigated the
problems involved. On a small scale the efficacy of the pumping system
has been practically tested, first, in Meadow street, between Ferry and
First streets, and more recently in the southern part of the city, where
a number of property owners have kept twenty-five acres free from water
(except during storms) by means of a private pump.
The comparative economy of the pumping system is shown by estimates
in detail of the cost of constructing and operating such a system in
contrast with, the cost of raising the grade and introducing tidal
sewers. Under both systems the cost of the ordinary sewers will be
about the same. A proper system of tidal sewers, it is claimed, will
necessitate the raising of the grade of the streets on the low lands
to a height at least ten feet above mean high water. The extra cost of
raising the streets is estimated at $3,000,000. The cost of the pumping
system, with machinery and power sufficient to remove all storm water
and sewage, is put at $150,000, while the running expenses, including
interest on the first outlay, are put at $30,000 a year. The interest on
the preliminary expenditure of the first plan considered is $180,000 a
year, or six times as much as the pumping system would involve.
According to the estimates made by Engineer Kirkwood, in his report
of 1874, a total pumping capacity of 134,500,000 gallons a day will
ultimately have to be provided to meet the requirements during the
heaviest storms, besides some six or seven million gallons a day of
sewage proper, exclusive of storm waters. Not more than half that amount
of pumping will be required at first, the increase to be made gradually
as the marsh land is built upon.
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