The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-07-28
THEUsE OF WATER METERS.
WHEELING, July 9th.
Editors OF the Register.

Editors OF the Register.
As cities increase in population, II
manufactures, and in all the essentials
that produce growth, the consumption ol
water and the difficulty Of providing it,
increase in a sort of an inverse ratio, Sc
that the problem of sufficient supply OF
good, pure water, is becoming yearly
more serious and intricate one. In
the larger cities there is con-
slant complaint, through the summer
months BY the consumer OF the insutii
cheney of the water supply, and quite
frequently, of its quality; while, on the
other hand, the officers in charge OF the
water works, reservoirs and other appll-
ances for furnishing this great essential
TO our beings, are entering protests
against the extravagsnce ofthe consumer
m the use of water, the great waste that
is necessarily transpiring, and hnally, II
there is not some effort on the part OF
the community te economize, that the
machinery will be inadequate to the
demands upon it, and stringent measures
must be resorted to in order to enforce
frurality IN the use of this king Of ne
cesslt,es. Even in our own city Super
intendcnt Cummins has raised his voice
on several occasions, and vowed dire
vengeance on the thonghtless and i'm
provident water consumers. he has
gone even further and declared that our
growing city needs better and greater
facilities for the water supply. When
the river is low the water works seem to
always overtasked and it is with much
difficulty that the water in the reservoir
can be kept at the proper elevation for
effective pressure, and when repairs are
being made on either pump, rs
was recently the case the sup
plying power is below the wants
Of the consumers. At such times it is no
unusual occurrence to see our indefatig-
able superintendent on his fiery steed,
galloping from the centre to the extreme
limits of the corporation, in search OF the
street hose man or the wastetul consumer,
whom he knows, from the rapid decline
of water in the basin, is abroad in the
land
The members of the committee on
Water Works, and number OF
our most reliable citizens have
referred to the existing trouble with some
apprehension, and they are beginning to
recognize the fact that our present water
works are unable TO supply the city in
all emergencies as they should, and that
some outlay of no small magnitude will
shortly have to be appropriated from the
municipal eachecquer to supply the much
needed deficiency.
This brings us back again TO the start
ing point, which Is nothing more nor
less than the sdvisability of the
use of water meters for the
purpose of not only preventing the
waste of this precious necessity, but of
compelling everyone 10 pay exactly and
equally for the amount he uses. No man
in the ordinary transactions OF life, in
the dealings between man and man, ex-
poets to pay penny's worth more than
what is right, no matter how cheap the
article. Just 80 should it be in our busi-
ness relations with the city, and as it is
between the gas consumer and the city,
and if the establishment of system Of
measurement of the water consumed can
bs had, which will be impartial and tho
rough, such, for instance, as the use of
water meters, what an excellent and
equitable thing it would be. OF course
the charge would necessarily be almost
nominal, so that IN the total yearly con.
sumption, by family or man
utactory, the cost to the citi-
zen would be no greater than now,
and probably it might be considerably
less. In some of the great cities, we be-
lieve, the system is in vogue. and in New
Y ork tho authorities found 1t absolutely
necessary to resort to some such means
in order to prevent "water famine"
The system there is not yet perfected,
because there is some litigation conceru-
ing the patents on the meters, which has
prevented their general introduction.
But the limited number introduced with
in several months, before the legal diff
culties between the rival patentees had
commenced, receipts amounting to ST.
coo had been received from sources where
little or nothing had before been realized.
The introduction here OF the
meter might decide the mooted
question whether or no our water works
were OF sufficient capacity for several
years to come, and if so, the big e1pen-
diture OF several hundred thousand dol
lars for the construction Of new ones,
until after new era of prosperity had
set in, and the greater pant of our preseut
municipal debt had been cancelled, might
be averted. There are two changes for the
better the use of the water meter would
certainly bring about viz: The great
waste Of water that is now going on
wound cease, and no man would have to
pay tor the improvident proclivities Of
his se,ghbor. ECONOMY.