Documentary History of American Water-works

New York State

The first permanent European settlers New York arrived in the early 17th Century and settled along the Hudson River.  New York was the most populous state from 1810 to 1962.

Waterworks corporations were required to secure a charter from the state legislature before 1873.  Villages were given the right to establish waterworks without state legislation in 1875.

New York Water Environmental Association | New York Rural Water Association | New York Section, American Water Works Association

References
1638-1922 Laws of the State of New York 1638-1922

1829 An act concerning standard measures of capacity.  April 29, 1829.
3. The gallon for liquids, shall be a vessel of such capacity as to contain at the mean pressure of the atmosphere, at the level of the sea, eight pounds of distilled water at its maximum density. [0.128 cubic feet or 221.184 cubic inches]

1865 Report on Water for Locomotives and Boiler Incrustations: Made to the President and Directors of the New York Central Railroad

1873 An act in relation to the creation and formation of water-works companies in towns and villages of the State of New York.  June 12, 1873.

1875 An act to authorize the villages of the State of New York to furnish pure and wholesome water to the inhabitants thereof,  April 29, 1875

1881 Report on a Water Supply for New York and Other Cities of the Hudson Valley, by John Thomas Fanning

1882 Report no. 2 on a water supply for New York and other cities of the Hudson Valley, by John Thomas Fanning

1890 An act in relation to transportation corporations, exception railroads, constituting chapter forty of the general laws.  June 7, 1890.
Pages 1149-1151:  Water Works Corporations

1905 An act to establish a state water commission, to define it powers and duties, and making an appropriation therefor.  June 3, 1905. 
The law provides that no municipal corporation or other civil division of the State, no private water company, and no individual shall have the right to construct a public water-supply system or seek a new source of water supply which involves the acquisition of land until maps, plans, and profiles of the proposed work have been submitted to and approved by the State Water Supply.Commission.

1906 An act to amend chapter seven hundred and twenty-three of the laws of nineteen hundred and five, entitled "An act to establish a state water commission, to define it powers and duties, and making an appropriation therefor," generally.  May 11, 1906. 
Law made applicable to individuals and other corporations.

1911 An act relating to conservation of lands, forest, water, parks, hydraulic power, fish and game.  July 12, 1911.
Article 9. Water Supply

1937 Engineering report on the water supplies of Long Island, by Russell Suter.  | partial maps |

1960 Water for New York : a study in state administration of water resources, by Roscoe C. Martin.

1977 "Water Works History: A Comparison of Albany, Utica, Syracuse, and Rochester" by Joseph W. Barnes, Rochester History 29(1):1-24 (July 1977)

2017 Corporations and American Democracy, by Naomi R. Lamoreaux, William J. Novak

© 2017 Morris A. Pierce