Among the highland tributaries of Passaic River there are three
principal areas where storage reservoirs for flood catchment may be
placed: (1) The Ramapo, Wanaque, and Pequanac drainage basins, from
which the waters are carried into the central basin by Pompton River;
(2) the Rockaway drainage basin, and (3) the upper Passaic drainage
basin. The remaining principal tributary of Passaic River, the Whippany,
is not well provided with storage reservoir sites. The combined capacity
of catchment reservoirs which could be constructed in these drainage
areas is considerably more than the volume of the heaviest known
rainfall, that of October 8-11, 1903.
In the description of reservoir possibilities in the following pages the
data with reference to many of the basins are computed from planimeter
and other measurements, the United States Geological Survey topographic
maps being used as a base. The measurements are therefore not of refined
accuracy but suffice for the purpose in view--that of showing flood
catchment possibilities.
POMPTON RESERVOIR.
There are in the Pompton system several sites on Ramapo, Wanaque, and
Pequanac rivers which, if utilized, would afford sufficient storage for
flood catchment purposes, but the entire flow of the river system may be
conserved in what has been described as the Pompton reservoir. This
project was first presented by Mr. C. C. Vermeule in the year 1884, the
details being described at some length in the Engineering News, of April
12 of that year, pages 169-171. In this article Mr. Vermeule presented
the possibilities of Pompton reservoir for use as an additional water
supply for the city of New York, at the time when the Quaker Bridge
reservoir on the Croton watershed was being considered. A few pertinent
quotations from this article may be of interest:
This basin, subdivided by minor ridges which cross it, furnishes
several admirable sites for large storage reservoirs, with
catchments from 50 to 400 square miles in area, lying above on the
primitive rock of the Highlands. About 6 miles of the northeastern
end of the basin is cut off by Hook Mountain, a small ridge of trap
which crosses it from east to west, inclosing a basin 21 square
miles in area, known as Pompton Plains, having its outlet at
Mountain View, 5 miles west of Paterson, at a pass in Hook
Mountain, through which the Pompton River flows to join the
Passaic, 2 miles below. This pass is the gateway by which the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, the New York and
Greenwood Lake Railway, and the Morris Canal enter the plains. The
basin is also crossed near its head, above Pompton, by the New
York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad.
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