DOCUMENT No. SO. 
BOARD OF ALDERMEN, 
APRIL 18, 1842. 
Communication from the Comptroller relative to the 
Establishment of a Water Department, with a pro- 
gramme of a Law for the same. Laid on the table 
and ordered to be printed. 
SAMUEL J. WILLIS, Clerk. 
Comptroller's Office, 
New York, April 18, 1842. 
To the Honorable the Common Council: 
Gentlemen,-I have the honor to submit a programme 
of an Ordinance to regulate the Water Works of the City of 
New York, for your consideration. This shape has been 
adopted as the briefest and clearest form of communicating 
the suggestions it is my duty to make, and to show the prac- 
tical operation of the plan I submit. An Act of the Legisla- 
ture has been obtained at the late session, empowering the Doc. No. 80.] 
618 
Common Council to pass penal laws for the protection ofthe 
water works, and to establish a Department for the collection 
of revenues. 
The Ordinance submitted, proposes to provide for keeping 
the aqueduct and pipes in repair; for gradually extending 
the distributing pipes as the city increases, and for fixing, col- 
lecting, and managing the revenue by an Executive Depart- 
ment according to the charter; the repairsand laying of the 
distributing pipes to be done by contract, made after public 
notice for proposals-the laying of the service or lateral pipes 
to be done by licensed persons, at the individual expense of 
the consumers; the rents to be paid in advance. 
Respectfully submitted. 
ALFRED A. SMITH, 
Comptroller. 619 
[Doc. No. 80. 
EXTRACT 
FROM A LAW PASSED APRIL 11, 1842, ENTITLED 
« AN ACT FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE CROTON 
WATER WORKS." 
The Mayor, Aidermen and Commonalty of the City of 
New York, are hereby authorized to pass such by-laws and 
ordinances as to them shall seem meet for the preservation 
and protection of all or any of the works connected with the 
supplying of the City of New York with pure and whole- 
some water, under and by virtue of the act to provide for 
supplying the City of New York with pure and wholesome 
water, passed May 2d, 1834, and the Acts amending the 
same; provided that such by-laws and ordinances are not 
inconsistent with any laws of this State, or with the Consti- 
tution thereof, subject at any time to be repealed or modi- 
fied by the Legislature, and also to organize a department 
with full power for the management of such works and the 
distribution of the said water. Doc. No. 80.] 
620 
AN ORDINANCE 
TO REGULATE THE WATER WORKS OF THE CITY OF 
NEW YORK. 
The May or, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of 
New York, in Common Council convened) do ordain as 
follows: 
§ 1. A Department to be called the 11 Water Works,'7 is 
hereby established. 
§ 2. The Croton Lake, dam, aqueduct, bridges, reservoir, 
distributing pipes, hydrants, pumps, fountains, and stop- 
cocks belonging to the Corporation, of the Mayor, Aidermen, 
and Commonalty of the City of New York, and all land 
and works owned by the said Corporation, adjacent thereto, 
or connected therewith, shall be hereafter known and desig- 
nated as the " Water Works." 
§ 3. The Water Commissioners for the City of New York, 
are empowered to construct the aqueduct from the Croton 
River to the distributing reservoir according to law. 
§ 4. All other executive duties pertaining to " the Water 
Works," are hereby imposed upon the department established 
by this ordinance. 
§ 5. A Standing Committee, to be called "the Water 
Committee," shall annually be appointed by each Board of 
the Common Council, to whom all propositions relative to 
the waler works, presented to either Board, may be com- 
mitted. The said Committees shall have at all times the 
right to examine the accounts, vouchers, and the state of the 
department. 
5 6. The Mayor, Comptroller, Counsel to the Corpora- 
tion, the Treasurer, the Superintendent, and the Chairman 621 
Doc. No. 80. 
of the Water Committees, shall, by right of office, compose 
the "Water Board;" any four of whom, the Comptroller being 
one, shall be competent to discharge the powers and func- 
tions of such Board. 
Note-These officers are selected because the Mayor is 
the chief executive officer of the city, and as such, is charged 
to see all the laws executed. The Comptroller is the chief 
auditing officer, and is required here to be always present, 
in order that all acts of the Board shall be entered in the 
Comptroller's office. The Counsel to the Corporation is in- 
dispensable in the formation of the by-laws which the Water 
Board is empowered to make, and in the enforcement of 
them. The Superintendent will, at all times, be practically 
informed of the condition and requirements of the Water 
Works. The Chairmen of the Committees will form a ready 
link of communication with the Board and the Common 
Council. 
§ 7. All vacancies in office in this department shall be 
temporarily supplied by the Water Board. 
§ 8. The Water Board shall possess the powers and dis- 
charge the duties enumerated in this ordinance, or which 
shall hereafter be by ordinance declared. 
§ 9. The Water Board is hereby empowered and directed 
to cause the water works to be kept in complete repair, in- 
cluding all station houses, wiers, offices and other edifices 
belonging to the water works ; and at such places from time 
to time, to erect such other offices and station houses, as 
they shall deem necessary for the supervision and profitable 
use of the works. 
§ 10. The Water Board are hereby empowered and di- 
rected to appoint all such officers, other than those created 
by this ordinance, as they shall deem necessary for the pro- 
per administration of this department, and to determine the 
compensation to be allowed to each of such officers, and fix Doc. No. 80.] 
622 
the nature and amount of surety to be given by each, for 
the faithful performance of their respective duties. 
To fix, from time to time, the rate of rents to be paid by 
the inhabitants for the use of water, and prescribe such rules 
and regulations relative to their collection, and impose such 
penalties and forfeitures of money for the breach thereof, as 
they from time to time shall judge proper; no such forfeiture 
or penalty to exceed dollars, or to be binding where 
the Corporation shall have by ordinance specially provided 
a penalty for the same offence. 
To cause all such public fountains to be erected, and 
such mains and distributing pipes to be laid, and such ordi- 
nary repairs to be done to the water works as they shall 
deem requisite, the amount thereof not to exceed the appro- 
priations previously made for these objects respectively. 
To direct the employment of so many agents, workmen, 
and other persons as they may judge necessary to effect the 
said objects, at such compensation as they shall judge rea- 
sonable. 
To have the general care and superintendence of the 
water works, and to keep and preserve regular minutes of all 
their proceedings. 
To file in the office of the Comptroller a certified copy 
of all rules and regulations and forfeitures established by 
their Board under this ordinance. 
All officers of the Water Department, and all parties con- 
tracting with any such officers, or with the Water Works 
Department to be affected thereby, shall subscribe to the 
same before entering upon the office or trust they shall have 
accepted, or performing the work or service, they shall have 
undertaken. 
To assign to all officers of the Water Department their 
respective duties. 
§ 11. Whenever the Water Board shall have received 
from the Superintendent the plan of any extraordinary re- 
pairs or improvements on the water works, and a detailed 623 
[Doc. No. 80. 
estimate of the expense thereof, if such estimate shall not 
exceed dollars, they may direct such 
improvements, or repairs to be made, provided the unem- 
ployed balance of the proper appropriation remaining unex- 
pended will permit; but if the estimated expense exceed the 
said sum, or the said balance or either, they shall report the 
plan and estimate, with their opinion thereon, through the 
Mayor, to the Common Council. 
§ 12. The Water Board may, from time to time, make such 
rules and regulations in respect to service and conduit 
pipes, tapping, paving and repairing the streets, and other 
matters affecting the distribution of the Croton water, and 
impose such penalties and forfeitures of money for a breach 
thereof as they may judge reasonable. 
§ 13. Within twenty days after the second Tuesday in 
May, the Water Board shall make a report to the Common 
Council, stating the condition of the water works, the im- 
provements and repairs made during the past year and con- 
templated to be made, the amount of money expended on 
the water works, and the receipts, with such recommenda- 
tions in relation to the water works as they shall deem the 
public interest to require. 
§ 14. Complete manuscript maps, with full notes, of the 
water works, and of the lands belonging to the said Corpo- 
ration, adjacent thereto, or connected therewith, with all in- 
tersecting roads, towns, villages, &c. shall be made, on 
which the boundaries of every parcel of such lands to which 
the said Corporation shall have a separate title shall be de- 
signated, and the names of the former owners, and the date 
of each title be entered, under the direction of the Water 
Board, and when approved by that Board, shall be authenti- 
cated and filed in the office of the Comptroller of the city. A 
copy of such map and notes, so far as the same shall be com- 
prehended in the County of Westchester, shall be transmit- 
ted and filed in the Clerk's office of that County. 
§ 15, All contracts relative to the water works, directed to Doc. No. 80. ] 
624 
be made by the Common Councilor the Water Board, shall 
be made in writing; and of each contract three copies shall 
be executed by the parties-one of which shall be filed in 
the Comptroller's office, and one retained by the Water 
Board. 
§ 16. All work to be done, and all materials to be pur- 
chased on or for the water works, except in sudden and im- 
minent cases, shall be by contract, made after due public 
notice; and no money shall be paid thereon until such con- 
tract, approved by the Water Board, shall be filed in the 
Comptroller's office. All bills presented for payment shall 
be first approved by the Superintendent. 
§ 17. Public notice shall be given of the time and place 
at which sealed proposals shall be received for contracts for, 
or on account of, the water works; which notice shall be 
published, at least one week, in the paper designated by the 
Corporation. No alternative, or indefinite condition, or 
limitation as to price, in a proposal, shall be received or 
acted on; nor shall more than one proposition, from any one 
person, for the same contract, be received. All the proposi- 
tions, when more than one is offered from the same person 
for the same object, shall be rejected. 
§ 18. Every person who shall enter into any contract 
for, or on account of, the water works, shall give satisfac- 
tory security for the faithful performance of his contract, 
according to its terms; and if any person shall neglect or 
refuse to perform his contract, he shall be excluded from 
any interest in any future contract in relation to the water 
works. 
§ 19. No extra allowance, over and above the contract 
price, shall be made to any contractor, unless such extra 
allowance be directed by the Common Council. 
§ 20. A Superintendent of the Water Works, a Water 
Purveyor, and a Register of Rents, shall be appointed by 
the Common Council, to hold their respective offices during 625 
[Doc. No. 80. 
the pleasure of the said Common Council, unless sooner re- 
moved for cause by the Water Board. 
Note-The Superintendent is the head of the Depart- 
ment, and is the principal supervisory officer. The Water 
Purveyor is subordinate to him, having desks in his office. 
The Register has his desk in the Comptroller's office. 
§ 21. The Superintendent shall have the immediate 
care of the water works, and shall be a practical and scien- 
tific engineer. He is hereby created the head of the Water 
Department. 
§ 22. It shall be his duty once in every three months, 
personally to inspect the whole line of the works, and report 
the result in writing to the Water Board. He shall appoint, 
with the assent of the Water Board, one or more suitable 
intendents, to reside at the several station houses, and assign 
to them their districts and duties, so that the whole line be 
daily inspected. There shall be a station house at the fol- 
lowing places : the dam; the weir, one mile and a half north 
of Sing Sing; the weir at Mill River, north of Tarrytown; 
the river at Bolmars, two miles north of Yonkers; the weir 
at Tibbet's Brook, four miles south of Yonkers; the bridge 
at Harlaem River; the gates at Manhattan Valley; the re- 
ceiving reservoir, and the distributing reservoir. 
§ 23. There shall be appointed by the Superintendent 
a Deputy, to assist him in his duties, upon whom the 
powers and duties of the Superintendent shall devolve 
whenever such Superintendent is unable to perform his 
duties; and it shall be lawful for such Superintendent to 
exact sureties from such Deputy against any neglect or un- 
faithfulness in the performance of such duties. 
§ 24. The Superintendent is empowered to examine into 
the qualifications of all persons that may apply for a license 
to tap the pipes, &c., and to grant license for that purpose; 
keeping a register of all such persons licensed, and making Doc. No. 80.] 
626 
a report thereof to the Water Board, who are empowered to 
cancel such licenses at any time. 
§ 25. Whenever, in the opinion of the Superintendent, it 
shall become necessary or expedient to make any extraordi- 
nary repairs or improvements, it shall be his duty to cause 
accurate specifications to be made with an estimate in min- 
ute detail of the probable expense to be incurred, and to sub- 
mit the same to the Water Board for their action. All work 
to be done or services to be performed, shall be to the satis- 
faction of the Superintendent, and with his approval, before 
any payment shall be made therefor. 
§ 26. The Superintendent shall keep his office in the 
Old Alms House Building, open from 9 to 4 P. M. 
§ 27. The Water Purveyor shall be under the imme- 
diate direction of the Superintendent, and perform such 
other duties not herein provided as may be assigned to him 
by the Water Board or Superintendent. 
§ 28. It shall be his duty to attend all fires that may 
happen in the city; to provide against all unnecessary waste 
of water, see that all hydrants are closed at the termination 
of each conflagration; and for this purpose he shall have 
control of the Watch and Marshals attending. He shall re- 
port after each fire the names of the Marshals andWatch- 
men that assisted him, to the Common Council. 
§ 29. The Register shall keep full and accurate ac- 
counts of the lettings of the water, and receive the rents for 
the same. He shall keep his accounts, make returns of the 
moneys collected, and adopt such mode of conducting his 
office as the Comptroller may direct. 
§ 30. The applications must be in writing directed to 
the Register; all discontinuances must also be in writing ad- 
CT I CT 
dressed to the Comptroller. 
§ 31. The Register is required to file with the Comptroller, 
on the first day of May each year, a duplicate of all the rents 
payable on that day. It is the duty of the Comptroller to 627 
[Doc. No. 80. 
compare the same with his own books to correct any inac- 
curacy therein, and to notify the Register thereof if any are 
discovered. 
§ 32. The supply shall be cut off in all cases where the 
rent is behind ten days. 
§ 33. All persons contracting for a supply of water, shall 
at their own expense procure the materials and labor neces- 
sary to make the connexion with the conduit pipes, under 
the rules and regulations of the Water Board. No street 
shall be opened, nor pipes bored, or connexion made, unless 
under the direction of a licensed plumber, under the penalty 
of fifty dollars for each offence ; one-half for the use of the 
city, and one-half for the use of the Fire Department Fund. 
§ 34. All licensed persons are forbid to open any street 
pavement, bore any water pipe, for the purpose of conduct- 
ing the water into any dwelling, or other edifice, under the 
penalty of fifty dollars for each offence, unless with the 
written permission of the Register, countersigned by the 
Comptroller and Superintendent, one-half of said penalty to 
go to the City Treasury, and one-half to the Fire Depart- 
ment Fund. 
§ 35. All rents for the use of the water shall be paid in 
advance, at the time of applying to the Register for the wa- 
ter, and before any permit is issued, to be calculated up to 
the first day of May succeeding, and all rents shall continue 
to be collected in advance on the first day of May annually, 
so long as the contract exists. 
§ 36. All rents and other emoluments which may accrue 
from the use and application of the water, shall, in the first 
instance, be applied to defray the interest on the water stock ; 
next to meet the expenses of the water works ; next to the 
redemption of the water stock ; and thereafter to any further 
improvements to the City of New York, or in aid of the 
taxes on its inhabitants.