The record-union., 1894-02-28
OAKLAND And SACRAMENTO.
They Both Need Cleaner and Better
Drinking Water.
The Former Cannot Readily Better
Her Condition. But the Lat
ter Can Do So.

Sacramento is not the only place in the
State that is suffering because of bad
water Oakland is in similar fix just
now, and the people there are demanding
not only better but cheaper water. Last
evenings Post contained two columns of
interviews with Oakland citizens on the
subject, from which few extracts are
given below. They ought TO be In
structive to some of the leading citizens Of
this city:
Nathan Rosenberg, capitalist-Water
costs me for my family more than bread
does. / pay for bread 50 a month, and L
pay for water s. %. The cost OF water
ought to be decreased. In Chicago you
can get water for 10 cents per l 900 gallons.
Here it is from 90 to 20 cents Tor that
quantity of water"
"a. Steffanoni, jeweler-The high rates
of the water company interfere great
deal with the selling of real estate in this
city. They ought to be at least 20 per
cent. lower. L pay 81 80 for the store a
month. l do not see why 1 should pay
more than 81 30. We use the water just
TO wash our hands"
''F. 4. Girard, piano dealer-The rates
are entirely too high, and especially for
such bad water as we receive. | pay
81 20 a month for my small family. l
honestly believe that the water which the
Contra Costa Company supplies is the
cause OF the sickness, the typhoid and
the malaria which frequently infect this
city. More than that, have found many
kinds of reptilian life in the water coming
to my house. One day l found little
snake in the dipper, and my son was just
about TO drink the water containing 1t
when | saw the reptile. l want to get
Dingee's water pipe on my street.
-. Z. Whitehead-The water we re-
ceive is not only eXorbitantly high, but
it is also dirty. / have found lizards and
other reptiles in it, and they came
through the pipes, too"
From these expressions Sacramentans
can readily understand what black eye
Oakland is getting because of her water.
But Oakland has not q subterranean
stream of absolutely pure water running
past her doors, as has Sacramento. If
she had, and could not tap it herself. she
would speedily let someone do it for her.
Referring to the water subject recalls
an incident that occurred in San Fran
cisco a few days since. A Sacramentan
was sitting in the reading-room of the
Palace Hotel, when group of gentlemen
near by turned their conversation to the
subject of city water supplies. OF course
such a subject could not long be dis
cussed without Sacramento being dragged
into it.
There's no. use talking, gentlemen" :"
said one whom the listener recognized as
a San Franciscan, sacramento has the
dirtiest water l ever saw, except, per-
haps, that which the Oakland people are
now getting. If a person were to wash
himself clean and then bathe In the Sac
ramento River water, he would have to
wash himself again before he could get
rid of the slickens."
eyes," spoke up another, "but the
worst feature of Sacramento River water
is not it's mud. but the drainage filth that
flows into it for hundreds of miles. l
remember the Sacramento River as it
was in early days before it had been
filled with slickens, and before big towns
were built along its banks, where their
sewers and graveyards and cowyards
might drain into it.
Then the Sacramento was a clear and
beautiful stream OF pure water, but now
it isn't tit for use, and l can't understand
why the people stick to it, knowing that
it is keeping their city back"
The next speaker was an Eastern man
who has been several months in the State
and had endeavored to keep himself
posted on such matters.
Why" said he, you gentlemen must
know that Sacramento has, or is about to
have, new water supply. In the East
often heard the river water spoken of by
persons who had visited the coast, and
by commercial travellers, and they spoke
of it just as you do; but before | left for
California a neighbor of mine received a
Sacramento paper in which it was stated
that the city had an abundant supply of
the purest artesian water just outside her
boundary line, and that she had con-
tracted with responsible parties for big
plant and plenty of that water at less than
four cents per LOCO gallons.
''I know we talked about it at the time,
as my neighbor had been out here, and
we agreed that Sacramento ought 10 be
a most desirable place in which to reside,
If she could get pure water and plenty
of it at four cents per thousand gallons.
Il never was in Sacramento, but in-
tend to go there soon and examine that
water supply. Why, it ought to cause
a boom there, and I've no doubt the peo-
pie are elated over their good fortune, for
there's no one thing that will nelp city
like having good and cheap water, and
nothing will keep a community down so
effectually as poor water"
The Sacramentan was about to Jump up
and thank the stranger who had so gall
lantly spoken for Sacramento, but the
thought struck him that the city hadn't
yet got that water, and moreover some of
her officials were themselves endeav oring
to prevent her from getting it, and that
the least said about ii just then the better.
The Chinese built suspension bridges
over 1000 years ago.