The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-12-08
TO SAVE THE WATER
Street and Water Commits
sioners Busy With a
Problem of Economy.
NEYERING EVERY HOUSE SUGGESTED
First Cost Would Be Large But the
Ultimate Gain Would Mean
Thousands of Dollars.

| That there is a waste of water in Jersey
| City no one will pretend to deny and the
Street and Water Commissioners are
cudgelIing their brains what measures TO
adopt to prevent this. AS it stands today
the city uses about 2 7.Ooo,o 900 gallons OF
water daily. and the Commissioners think
that the daily consumption, if properly
taken care of, would only amount TO
about 90, 1000, 600 gallons. To offset this they
believe that the city should put in meters,
first on the East Jersey Water Company's
| supply pipe, and next, if it could be done,
on each house. OF course that means a
| very great outlay, but they believe hat
the ultimate saving would far exceed the
money at first spent.
The system of permitting the East Jer-
sey Water Company to meter the water
| which they sell to Jersey City is an ex-
ceedingly bad one, the Commissioners
think. Few people are aware, perhaps,
that the East Jersey Water Company has
one general supply pipe at Belleville which
supplies Jersey City, Harrison, Kearny
and Bayonne. The two townships and
Bayonne each have their own meters and
they deduct from the general reading at
the main meter of the East Jersey Water
Company their supply; the balance the
East Jersey Water Company determines
as the amount sold to Jersey City. De-
fects of the meter, mistakes In the read
ing, which ought to be equally distributed
fall on Jersey City. For this reason the
Commissioners think it is high time Jer-
not ALLOW the company to say what the
amount Is.
The cost of putting in first class meters
on the Jersey City junction of the East
Jersey water pipe would be about $1,000,
and those who are acquainted with the
working of these meters say confidently
that Jersey City could save in less than
six months more than the cost of the me-
tiers. This matter is now under consid-
GRAFTON, and it is expected that the Street
and Water Commissioners will at once
take some action.
Coming to the question of putting me-
tiers into every house in the city, n city
official said this morning that if every
house was so measured the daily supply
would be only about II, 100000 to 1870 900
instead of 2l,000, eco, as at present, and
that would mean a big saving of about
$500 per day. If this were done the first
cost would be heavy. The meters required
in the average house-they would differ
in size according to the class of building
would cost about S12, and about S12 to put
them in, making q total cost per meter,
in round figures, Of SIS. Now, the approx
innate number of houses in Jersey City
is estimated by an exceedingly clever fg-
urer to be 24.500, and If meters were put
in the first cost would mean $1,000 in
round numbers. But with the saving of
at least $500 per day, not to mention the
increase when buildings are going up
daily, the total amount would be paid off
in a very few years. and the city would
be infinitely richer. This is the sugges-
ton of one official, which, although inter-
esting and sure to come in the future. is
without the bounds of practice at present.