Independently of the uncertainty both as to the quantity and quality of the water which might thus be obtained, the multiplication of wells and steam engines that would be required to produce the supply needed estimated at 4,000,000 gallons, daily was a decisive objection. The Artesian well of the Manhattan Company, at Thirteenth-street, which is considered as a very successful experiment, yields but 20,000 gallons daily, and it would require 200 such wells, with steam power at each, to supply four million gallons.

The plan for relying on the Croton, admitted to be that which ensured the most abundant supply, was put aside by reason of the great cost of the work, and because the Bronx river presented an adequate resource nearer by, and at less expense.

The minimum daily supply from that river, was estimated by accurate measurement and survey, made by Canvass White, in 1826, at 4,302,720 gallons, and by damming the Rye ponds, an additional supply of 4,798,000 gallons would be obtained, so as to make a daily aggregate of 9,100,000 gallons, equal to the wants, at 20 gallons per head, for a population of 450,000 persons.

The committee, therefore, unhesitatingly recommend, that the Bronx river be the source, and thence proceed to consider the mode in which the water should be conducted to the city. Three plans were suggested : an open canal, an arched brick tunnel, and iron pipes. The first is condemned, because of the impurities, which, in its course it would be liable to gather ; and upon the whole, the preference is given to the arched tunnel, which, according to an estimate of Canvass White, might be constructed, of five feet diameter, for $31,174 per mile, making the whole cost, from the point where the water was taken from the Bronx to Macomb's dam, $400,000.