St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-03-01
THE WATER QUESTION.
EDITOR CALEDONIAN:

EDITOR CALEDONIAN:
Will you kindly permit me to pre-
sent to the voters of this village, |
through your valuable paper, some
thoughts, which to me seem peril
nent, upon the question of water
supply for our municipality on which
our action is soon to be demanded. |
From the report of the village
trustees now before me, and the facts
| that we must be more or less con-
Village water works" is entirely
inadequate for our necessities and
is not susceptible of that increase
| that will make the same efficient and
unobjectionable for domestic uses
Hence we are confronted with the
problem of what shall we do about
it?"
l think under these circumstances
our trustees have acted wisely in
Investigating other sources of
supply" the result of which must be
unquestioned, that only three items
in their 'recapitulat ton can serious
ly be discussed: to wit; the I'd, Sd
and 4th. On the Sd, Ito bring water
from Goss Hollow brook" l will
not comment further than appears in
the report of the trustees, as by that
report it will not seem to awaken
the voters to its serious considera-
tion, although from my standpoint
other serious objections might be
raised that would forbid its adop-
ton.
The 4th item in the trustees report
or summary is to sell to the Aqueduct
Company the present plant of the viii
lage and entail upon the tax payers
OF the village perpetual tax for fire
service and domestic purposes and
in addition a town, county, state
and school tax of an unknown
amount, and furthermore reduce the
amount Of the grand list of the E. &
7. Fairbanks Co. the amount of the
appraised value of the ST. Johnsbury
Aqueduct Co.
The 5th item not in the trustees
report capitulation, to bring the
St. Johnsbury Aqueduct Company
plant and increase the efficiency of
our water supply from Stiles pond
or such other sources a might seem
proper IN the premises and thereby
control for all time free from taxa
ton, other than the interest on the
investment of its cost and the ex-
pense of repairs, cannot be intelligent
" discussed in the absence of anv
: figures.
The I'd item in the trustees recap
itulation. Ito bring water from
Joe's Pond" at a cost of $1S9, ,273,
aside from the question of damage
( to water power, at or below the
: pond (which seems to me would be
I a proper question to consider, and
} could be investigated with nominal
expense, a. | understand the riparia n
rights OF New England are pretty
we'll defined.)
| This latter scheme presents the
: advantage of adequacy of supply for
all time and for all practical pur-
poses of municipal water supply
and is free from any objection IN
t a sanitary point of view, forever
settling these two questions that
t have so seriously menaced our com
] munity for the recent past. AsSum-
ing the estimate by Mr.. Ellsworth b
to be approximately correct, to car
e rv out this enterprise will require
e an outlay of possibly 100000, the
e interest of which at per cent would
: be $4,000 per annum. The necessary
Il changes made to provide for the
i Summerville addition, and in the
: present system, will involve a yearly
rental under the terms offered by the
e Aqueduct Company of not less than
n $4,000, besides the taxes. the munci
r palItv will have to assume with the
d addition of loss to our grand list o.
: the appraised value of the Aqueduct
Company present plant, thus prac
:, tically involving the village in an
increased interest of not more than
d from $4,000 to $4,000 per annum
;, which will be still further reduced by
5 rentals for domestic supply, which
q must inevitably be large from the
): popular feeling of its sanitary quail
II ty and the public sentiment of sup
Y porting ones own industry.
q In adopting the above plan, at the
l. expiration of thirty years the village
n will own plant of permanent eff
cheney and self-supportiug for al
time of the value Ofits cost and fol
ever settling those prejudices thai
: have so seriously harassed the com
r munitv for a few wears past, anC