Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/434

* WATEK-WORKS. 364 WATER-WORKS. leakage suspected, it has given good results. Such simple plans as observing the rate of pumping or the fall of water in reservoirs during the hours of minimum night consumption, or the relative day and night pressures, often assist in controlling waste. Some idea of the water con- sumption in the larger American cities, the effect of meters thereon, and the increase- in consump- tion from 1890 to 1900 may be gained from the preceding table. The fir.sl half of the table shows the 50 largest cities of the country grouped in order of population by the census of 1900. In the second, or right-hand half, most of the same cities are rearranged in the order of consumption per capita. It will be seen that as a rule there was an increase in per capita consumption during the ten years, but that it was greatest where few or practically no taps were metered ; also that most of the cities with low rates of consumption were well metered. The statistics for 1900 were taken from a collection of figures for 134 of the 159 cities of the United States having a popula- tion of iojOOO or more by the Twelfth Census of the United States. The average daily consump- tion for the 134 cities was 137 gallons per capita, having less than 10 per cent, of their taps metered used and wasted as an average 153 gallons, and those having more than 50 per cent, of metered taps consumed only 62 gallons per capita. Public Policy. The only points under this head that can be considered here are the appor- tionment of the cost of service between the vari- ous classes of consumers and one or two phases of the municipal ownership question. Appor- tionment of cost of service involves not alone the quantity of water consumed by the various users, but the hea;^ capital charges incurred to make very large rates of consumption available for the few minutes or at most hours at a time when water is used for the extinguishment of fires. Large reservoirs, pumping plants, and mains are provided for fire protection, and used in the aggregate for a short time only in each year. This makes high capital charges, even though the cost of operation for fire protection is small. The other public uses to which water is put, like street-sprinkling, scwer-flusliing. and the supply of parks and school buildings, may be paid for on the same general basis as water sup- plied to private consumers. It is a rare thing imder either public or private ownership to find a scientific adjustment of the cost of public and private service between the general taxpayers and private consumers, respectively. But equity demands such an adjustment. The fire, school, street, and other departments should be debited and (lie water de|)artmcnt. in the case of mu- nic)i)al ownership, credited with the value of the services rendered to each. The taxpayer should not be called upon to meet bills of private con- sumers, nor should the man who uses water for a bath tub and lawn sprinkler have included in his bills for these services the heavy cost of fire protection in the business district. As between different individual consumers in the same class the meter is the best means of apportioning the charges for water. So-called fixture rates arc arbitrary guesses and compel the careful water- user to pay for the waste of the careless. Pl'BLlc OwMEBSiiip demands for its proper con- sideration, from the economic standpoint, ac- curate detailed figures of expenses and revenue, on a comparative basis. Such figures are rarely available. The sanitary interests of a community, de- pending as they do largely upon police meas- ures, are generally considered to be safer where water-works are under public rather tlian private control. The course of public ownership in this country during the past century is sliown below in the table giving the number of works at the close of each half decade : Number of Public and Private Works is the U.n'ited States at the E.d of each Half-Oecade, Begixning with 18(10 (Compiled from The Manual of AmericnD Water- Works tor 1891 and 1897) YEAR Public Private Total Percent, of total Public Privat* 18110 t 5 5 5 5 9 15 23 27 33 48 57 68 116 227 293 447 806 1690 15 21 21 21 25 27 36 39 41 43 60 68 79 94 127 195 3U5 669 1072 1489 16 23 26 26 30 32 44 54 64 70 83 106 136 162 243 422 698 1013 1878 3196 C.3 8.7 19.2 19.2 16.0 15.6 20.5 27.8 35.9 38.6 39.7 45.3 41.9 42.0 47.7 53.8 49.0 44.1 42.9 63.2 93.7 1805 91 3 1810 80,8 1815 80 8 1820 83.4 1825 84 4 1830 79.5 1835 72 2 18-tO 04.1 1845 61 4 1850 00.3 1855 54 7 1860 5S.1 1865 68.0 1870 62.3 1876 40 2 1S80 51.0 1885 ... 55 9 1890 57.1 1896 . 46.8 Include 12 of joint and 5 of unknown ownership. The water-works of the cities of Western Asia, Greece, Carthage, Rome, and the European countries under Roman dominion all depended upon gravity for the delivery of the water, and were notable chiefly for their aqueducts. Jlost of the latter were of masonry. (See Aqueducts.) The water within the cities was conveyed by means of lead, wood, and more rarely bored stone or baked clay conduits. (See Pipe.) Some of the earliest pumping works for city supplies, notably those erected at the London Bridge in 1502 by Peter Maurice, are described in the article on Pumps and Pumping Maciiin- EKY. In 1013 water was brought into London from a distance by Sir Hugh ilyddleton, who with others secured a charter for the New River Company in 1019. The most notable feature consisted of a water-supply canal about 40 miles long, which brought in water from springs distant, in an air line, about 20 miles. The canal was about 18 feet wide, 5 feet deep, and had an average fall of some 4 inches per mile. Valleys were crossed, for the most part, by means of timber flumes, lined with lead. Sub- sequently the Humes were replaced liy earth em- bankments. A sale of some of the stock of the New River Company, which for many yeara sliared with seven other companies the profits orf supplying the Metropolitan water area, brought a fabulous sum. a few years ago, as compared with the original par value. The first public water supply in America was introduced in Boston in i(i.')2 by the Water- Works Company. It consisted of a reservoir about 12 feet square, to which water was con- veyed through wooden pijies from neighliorin^ springs and drawn upon for both domestic and.