Albany, N. Y., was originally supplied with water by gravity from certain reservoirs on small streams west and north of the city. In time, with increasing consumption, the supply obtained from these sources became inadequate, and an additional supply from the Hudson River was introduced. The water was obtained from the river through a tunnel under the Erie Basin, and a pumping-station was erected in Quackenbush Street to pump it to reservoirs, one of which served also as the distributing point for one of the gravity supplies. The intake, which was used first in 1873, drew water from the river opposite the heart of the city. In recent years, the amount of water drawn from this source has greatly exceeded that obtained from the gravity sources.
The Hudson River, at the point of intake, has a drainage area of 8240 square miles. Of this, 4541 square miles are tributary to the Hudson above Troy, 3493 are tributary to the Mohawk, and 168 are tributary to the Hudson below the Mohawk.
The minimum flow may be estimated at 1657 cubic feet per second, or 1,060,000,000 gallons per 24 hours, or at least fifty times the maximum consumption.
The cities and larger towns upon the river above the intake, with estimated populations and distances, are as follows:
| MOST IMPORTANT CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES ON THE WATERSHED OF THE HUDSON ABOVE ALBANY. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place. | County. | Approximate Distance above Intake, Miles. |
Population in | ||
| 1880. | 1890. | 1900. (Estimated.) |
|||
| Troy | Rensselaer | 4 | 56,747 | 60,956 | 65,470 |
| Watervliet | Albany | 4 | 8,820 | 12,967 | 19,040 |
| Green Island | Rensselaer | 5 | 4,160 | 4,463 | 4,788 |
| Cohoes | Albany | 8 | 19,416 | 22,509 | 26,450 |
| Lansingburg | Rensselaer | 8 | 7,432 | 10,550 | 14,980 |
| Waterford | Saratoga | 9 | (1,822) | 1,822 | (1,822) |
| Schenectady | Schenectady | 28 | 13,655 | 19,002 | 26,450 |
| Hoosic Falls | Rensselaer | 44 | 4,530 | 7,014 | 10,860 |
| Amsterdam | Montgomery | 44 | 9,466 | 17,336 | 31,730 |
| Glens Falls | Warren | 49 | 4,900 | 9,509 | 18,450 |
| Saratoga Springs | Saratoga | 51 | 8,421 | 11,975 | 17,010 |
| Johnstown | Fulton | 56 | 5,013 | 7,768 | 12,040 |
| Gloversville | Fulton | 58 | 7,133 | 13,864 | 26,930 |
| North Adams, Mass. | Berkshire | 68 | 10,191 | 16,074 | 25,340 |
| Adams, Mass. | Berkshire | 75 | 5,591 | 9,213 | 15,181 |
| Little Falls | Herkimer | 82 | 6,910 | 8,783 | 11,160 |
| Utica | Oneida | 107 | 33,914 | 44,007 | 57,090 |
| Rome | Oneida | 127 | 12,194 | 14,991 | 18,430 |
| 32 villages | 52,523 | 61,869 | 76,194 | ||
| Total, not including rural population | 272,838 | 354,672 | 479,415 | ||
| Per square mile | 33 | 43 | 59 | ||
Without entering into a detailed discussion, it may be said that the amount of sewage, with reference to the size of the river and the volume of flow, is a fraction less than that at Lawrence, Mass., where a filter-plant has also been constructed, but the pollution is much greater than that of most American rivers from which municipal water-supplies are taken.
The filtration-plant completed in 1899 takes the water from a point about two miles above the old intake. Pumps lift the water to the sedimentation-basin, from which it flows to the filters and thence through a conduit to the pumping-station previously used.