The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-22
TO DISCUSS THE WATER SUPPLY.
Mayor MeIdrim to Call "a Conference
To-day.

=
To-day.
Mayor Meldrlm and the water commit
tee of council will hold a conference this
afternoon with the water commission, at
which the subject of the water supply
and the measures which are necessary,
either to Increase the supply or to de-
crease the waste. will be discussed.
Mayor Meldrim will bring to the atten-
ton Of the conference the question of In
Wiling Mr.. T, T. johnson Of Chicago, the
engineer who selected the site and fur
nished the plans for the new water works,
TO visit Savannah for the purpose of con-
| terring with the authorities on the sub
| Ject OF the water supply. and the several
| questions arising therefrom, which now
| confront the city.
Mayor Meldrim is DESTROYS of securing
information from Mr.. Johnson on several
! points, as to what is the difference be-
| tween the estimated flow of the wells at
| the time the works were planned and the
| present How, and how he accounts for the
| dlHefence, II any; how can the flow from
the present wells be increased and is 1t
| advisable TO dig more wells as a part
| OF the same system; should not the old
water works be put in condition for OPP
| Grafton in case of an emergency, and
| what would be the cost of doing so; and
| Is Al advisable for the city to connect the
| new water works with the wells at the
| ola works and the river by a conduit, and
what is the cost Of doing such work.
Mayor Meldrim is satisfied that infor-
nation on these points is very necessary
to council before that body proceeds 70
| incur any extraordinary expense on ac-
count Of the water supply Mayor Mel
| arm attention was called to the article
! IN the Morning News, giving the views
OF Col George E. Waring, Jr., of New
York, on the subject of the waste of water
In Brooklyn and cities generally.
He replied that he had read the ar
| ticle with interest, but had not yet had
| time to consider the application of Col.
| warnings ideas to the situation in Sa-
| Vannah.
THE daily water consumption per cap
| tia Is only matter of theory and con-
| lecture" said Mayor Meldrim. IF I'M
| der per capita consumption we include all
the water that is used for flushing sew
ers, manufacturing and other purposes,
| the per capita becomes a very variable
thing and depends largely upon the
amount of water used in these various
channels. So far as actual personal use
and consumption is concerned, while a
| portion OF our population may use
very largely other portions no
doubt use very lightly. In our
climate and under our conditions here it
is desirable that water should be liberal
ly and freely used by all classes of our
population, and any measures that
| might tend to decrease this
use would be serious err
ror. We require a large supply of water.
We have had great deal of talk about
| house drainage. We cannot have house
| drainage without a plentiful supply of wa
| ter with which to keep the drainage pipes
| clean and flush the sewers If the pres
] M ic c11f
| our present needs and with the prospect
of an increasing population a house
| drainage system would be without effect
until we have larger supply of water,
and IL these are the conditions the only
thing to do is to increase the supply and
thus prepare the way for house drainage.
1 have no doubt that there is a very great
waste of water and that measures should
| be taken to decrease this waste. l have
had evidence come under my own eyes of
the waste by leaking fixtures and old clos
cts which were kept running night and
| day 1t would appear that the only rem
| edy for this state of affairs is the meter
| system"
When a man finds he is paying for the
water wasted from his premises as well
as the water actually used, said the
mayor" It will not be long before the
leaks are stopped. There are two sides to
this question, however, the commercial
side and the sanitary side. 1t 1t is agreed
| that water is an article of commerce to
be paid for as used then it is right that a
man should pay according to the amount
| he uses, and neither more nor less. Be
cause my house costs twice as much or
five times as much as my neighbours, this
is no reason why 1 should pay twice or
five times as much for water, when he
may be using or wasting more water than
| is used on my premises. If he uses more
water than / do he should pay more. On
the other hand we have large sections of
| the city where 1t is desirable that the peo-
| pie should be encouraged to use as much
water as possible, not to waste it, how
ever A family of five occupying q small
| house and paying a small rental, might
use as much water as family of the same
size living in much better house in some
other portion of the city and paying a
much higher rent. The water rent might
be only a small item to the second fam
| lily, while to the first it would work a
| hardship. Under the present system the
| water rent for house valued at less than
| 81 900 Is only S. per year, and many small
| houses where no water fixtures have been
provided pay no water rent. This is what
complicates the water question. If We
could place 1t on a commercial basis en-
tirely it would be a comparatively simple
matter to deal with. One thing is certain,
however. A plentiful supply of water is
required, and if the present supply is not
Sufficient steps must be taken to increase
| it,"