The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1897-08-13
METERS RECOMMENDED.
Report of the Board of Trade Com
mittee on the Water Supply.
The Repair of the City Artesian
Wells Urged.

The following is the text of the re-
port of the committee of the board of
trade on the citywater supply. 1t is
we'll considered and valuable docu-
ment:
MANKATO, Mimi, August 9, 1897.
TO the President and Members of the
Board of Trade:
Your special committee to investi-
gate as to whether or not it is now
necessary for the city of Mankato to
sink another we'll for the purpose of
affording greater water supply for
aid city, begs leave to report that we
have taken some pains to ascertain
the present water supply, and the de-
mand made upon it, and find:
1st. That the daily capacity of the
two wells now in use as nearly as can
be ascertained, is 1850, 900 gal.
3D. That the total amount of
water used in 1895 was 349, 100000
gal. which you observe was less than
100000 gal. daily. Estimating the
population of Mankato at 10000 in
1895, the daily consumption per capita
was IS gal, or about three barrels.
In the same year there were 6S5
takers Of water, making daily aver
age consumption per taker of 1894
gall, or about Al barrels.
3D.. That the total amount Of
water consumed in the year 1896 was
1928, Ito, 900 gal, which again you will
observe is less than 100000 gal.
daily. During this year the average
daily consumption per capita was SO
gal. The same year there were 744
takers of water. making daily aver
age per taker Of 1,20S GAL, or little
more than SO barrels.
4th. The largest amount of water
ever consumed by the city of Manka-
to was during the dry months of July
and August, 1895. During these
months about all the water was used
that the wells afforded. In round
numbers we may say 100000 gal.
daily, or $50 gal. per capita.
5th. That the two wells now in use
by the city have at all times been suf-
fcient to supply the water consumers,
and at no time has their capacity
been taxed beyond their ability to
supply. H.
9Th. We are informed by Mr.. Koke,
water works engineer, that the wells
are now increasing in their capacity
to furnish water. =
Before completing this report, or
making any recommendations, we de-
sire to call your attention briefly to
the water supply iH four cities, having
a population equal to, or little
greater than our own city.
These are Battle Creek, Mich,
Danville, Wir. Boone, Iowa, and
| Madison, Wis.
Battle Creek has a population of
10000 with a daily capacity per
capita consumption~-of IS gal of water.
Danville has population Of $4,000,
with daily per capita consumption
of AZ gal. Of water
Boone has a population of 10000,
with daily per capita consumption
of IS gal. of water. no..
Madison has population of 1884,
with daily per capita water con-
sumption this includes city water
furnished free) of 56gal,
OF these four cities taken for com.
parison with our own, it will be
observed that the lowest daily pei
capita consumption is 35 gal, and the
highest 80 gal. Compare these figures
with those of our own city, which as
lquoted above, the daily average pei
capita, in 1895 was 95, and in 1896 90
al.
There exists just one reason fol
this. In the cities Of Battle Creek,
Boone, Danville and Madison s,the
water is sold by meter. In Mankatc
it is not. 1t is therefore reasonable
to conclude that about one-half OF
the water pumped from our city
| wells is recklessly wasted, and if with
this waste the wells now in use have
been adequate to the demands put up
on them, they will be more than ade-
uuate, should the board Of public
works adopt and put into operation
the meter system.
/ Your committee therefore sees h1
to recommend to this board of trade
) the wisdom of the adoption of the
meter system, for the city of Manka
to, instead Of the sinking of another
we'll. On this latter we report ad
yersely.
So far as we are able to learn where
ever the meter system has beer
adopted, it has been most satisfac
tory, and we close this report with al
extract from letter written by the
superintendent of the water works O.
the city of Madison, which rea( al
follows:
"The results obtained by the adop
tion of the water meter system by tn,
} city of Madison, Wis, in the year 1885,