On the 17th of March, 1822, the Mayor among other measures suggested by him to the Common Council, brought to their consideration, the important question of supplying the city with pure and wholesome water, and requested its reference to a Committee, which was accordingly done. The Committee, of which the Mayor was one, proceeded to the principal source of the Bronx River, in the county of Westchester, known as the Rye Pond. They spent two days, the 20th and 21st of March, in exploring the country adjacent to the River and Sound, and at a meeting of the Common Council, on the first of April, the Mayor, as Chairman of the Committee, made a report of their observations, and recommended an appropriation, with authority to employ a competent engineer to survey and profile the whole line between the city and the main source of the river Bronx, and to ascertain the quantity of water it would afford, and an estimate of the probable cost of completing the project of supplying the city with good and wholesome water from the aforesaid source. The recommendation was concurred in, and the Mayor employed Canvas White, Esquire, a Civil Engineer, to make the said survey and estimate. The yellow fever prevailed in the city during the summer of 1822, and shortly after the termination of the epidemic, on the 25th of November, the Mayor, in a communication to the Common Council, on subjects relative to the preservation of the public health, stated that a very important subject connected with the health of the city, was a sufficient supply of good water; and that on this subject all had been done that it was practicable, under existing circumstances, to perform; that arrangements had been made with Mr. White, a Civil Engineer of repute, to examine the several sources from which a supply was likely to be obtained, and to furnish correct surveys and profiles of the heights and depressions of the country through which the water must be conveyed, and that he had been requested to report as soon as it was practicable. In 1823, the Sharon Canal Company was chartered by the State, and among its duties was that of supplying the city of New-York with pure and wholesome water. The work was not, however, undertaken.