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In the Interstate Sanitation District there is a wide variety of sewage treatment plants. Most of them are for partial treatment of the sewage only. A study of these plants has been made for the purpose of supplying to the Interstate Sanitation Commission actual cost data for plants constructed in the district.

A major part of the work program of this Project has been the collection and analysis of samples of water taken from the various waterways of the Interstate Sanitation District. Some work had been done in this connection in the 1937 but, due to the lack of equipment, was limited to the taking of samples for the determination of dissolved oxygen. The work done in 1937 was somewhat unsatisfactory due to the fact that the method of collecting the samples was not performed in the manner required by the standard methods of the American Public Health Association for water and sewage analyses.

It was not possible under the program prepared for this project to make a complete sanitary survey of the waters of the Interstate Sanitation District. There  are, however, several phases of such a survey that at this time are of particular interest to the Interstate Sanitation Commission.

In order to determine the relative amounts of the commercial traffic as compared with the pleasure craft traveling through The Narrows of New York Harbor, a count was made of the records kept by the Untied States Coast Guard Service. It was found that the records were available from June 1st to December 31st, 1937, and through the courtesy of Commander Baylie the Interstate Sanitation Commission was enabled to make use of this data.

The area included in this report is Long Island Sound and its tidal estimate varies from the easterly boundary of the Interstate Sanitation District at the New York and Connecticut line on the Westchester shore and Port Jefferson on the north shore of Long Island to a line between Hunt Point in the Borough of the Bronx and Sanford Point in the Borough of Queens at approximately the easterly end of Riker's Island.

The development of rapid transit and improved health standards produced a population explosion at America's Front Doorway. Millions of people poured into the area and bean to spread out around New York City. They abused the water resources (which brought them there) with a vague notion that the resources were inexhaustible.

The Research and Engineering Committee was appointed to facilitate the drafting of a Tri-State Treaty to bring about the abatement of pollution of the harbor and coastal waters within the Metropolitan Area. To this end, the committee was given two main objectives:

1. To determine the Treaty Area, to recommend standards of purity for the interstate tidal waters and to recommend minimum degrees of treatment for sewage discharged into the waters of the Treaty Area.

The coastal and estuarial waters and tidal streams coming within the jurisdiction of the Commission are designated herein as the Treaty Area and shall comprise all those portions of the signatory States which are covered by tidal waters and adjacent to the shore-lines described.