NJDARM: Archives Collection Guides: Governor Arthur Harry Moore (1879-1952), 3rd Term (1983-1941), Delaware River Water Supply Project Aerial Photographs of Delaware & Raritan Canal and Proposed Pipeline Route, 1938

The State of New Jersey acquired title to the Delaware and Raritan Canal by legislation approved 3 May 1934 (Laws of 1934, chap. 139). In May 1938, during his third term, Gov. A. Harry Moore proposed to the State Legislature that the 59 miles of the combined canal feeder and main line be used to create a water supply for northern New Jersey. This would entail diverting upwards of 150 million gallons of water daily from the Delaware River (as allowed by the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company's charter), through the canal feeder to Trenton, and then through the main line to New Brunswick. The proposed cost to the state was estimated at the time as $28 million. The legislature at that time chose not to consider Moore's proposal. A month later, in June 1938, Gov. Moore appointed a committee to study the feasibility of the proposed project. The committee was comprised of three engineers already employed by the State, as follows: Charles Capen of the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission, Howard T. Critchlow of the State Water Policy Commission, and Harry P. Croft of the Department of Health. The committee's report to Gov. Moore the following October showed that the project would require an average of 180 million gallons diverted from the Delaware River daily, including 30 million gallons taken in at Trenton for use in that area. Three possible plans were presented, ranging in cost from $29 to $33 million. Gov. Moore again presented his proposal to the State Legislature by a special message dated 13 February 1939. But despite additional documentation, the Legislature again chose not to consider the proposal at that time. Finally, beginning in 1944 and following a failed movement to restore the waterway for commercial traffic, the canal was rehabilitated as a water conduit under the Water Policy and Supply Division of the Department of Conservation.