The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-28
WATER AND WATER RATES.

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 l unlimited supply of pure spring or | we'll water, can have no conception or. | Plenty oi pure and wholesome water | for drinking, cooking and bathing. as | we'll as plenty for sprinkling and san | itary purposes, is an absolute necessity | in all large cities, and to secure these
 is the cause of as much anxiety as is anything connected with city life. l In addition to the actual procurement [ of water. and the certainty that it is l good, and that there will always be | plenty, the manner in which it shall be supplied to consumers and the amount which they shall pay for 1t become in- teresting questions. Obviously. all should be treated fairly, but how is | this to be done? is the important ques- tion. How is a man to pay for just what he gets and to get just what he pays for? In Montgomery, and in many other cities, a consumer who | has a meter pays fixed price per an- mum and is allowed to use. certain
 number of gallons of water. Here we
 
 allowed to use S0,0OO gallons if we wish,
 but this system is not satisfactory, either here or elsewhere. In Birming- | ham a proposition has been submitted to charge a minimum rate of S12 per annum, which will allow the consumer to use 10000 gallons of water a year, and all over that to be paid for at the rate of 30 cents per 1000 gallons.
 Naturally, this will not give satisfac- tion. 1t is too high. twice as high as the charges in this city, and is open to the same objection that all other systems are subject to where there is a fixed charge for water. As remedy for this defect We note that a Birm- lngham Alderman proposes to make an effort to conduct the water business just as any other business is managed, and charge consumers for what they use. We do not know that he will succeed, but he is on the right track, and his plan ought to be adopted.
 Some days ago the Mayor of Grand Rapids, Mich, published long state ment dealing with every phase of the water supply of cities. He publishes tabulated report from twenty-six cities. embracing all sections of the Union, showing the daily consumption per capita. The amount runs from b gal Ions in Irvington. N. Y., to 152 gallons in Grand Rapids. the average for all the towns being 58 gallons a day for each individual We do not care to follow his reasonings, but there are some remarks in his letter that strike us as especially deserving attention.
 Speaking of the great waste of water, he gives two ways of preventing it, his preference being for "the more sensible plan or asking each consumer to pay fo: the water hu uses or wastes. Again, he argues that you would hard ly expect any person who dealt in any other liquid aside from water to sup ply you with all you wanted, and allow you to help yourself at fixed rate for the year." and then uses this illustra- tion:
 It costs a certain number of cents to pump a thousand gallons of water and each gallon costs US snare of this eX- pense, DO u tonows that each and every gallon should seil at price as close to this cost as 1t Is puSSlDIe to uO. No one should De laVored, and all should pay tor what they get, the clty as well as lhe ln- olvldual. AS the matter now stanus Tn many public water plants the persons who use water pay prlCe Tor It that enables the city not only to maintain the pant ana interest on the investment, but to furnish nre protection and make eXten- slons of the service. This IS a state or analrs that should not exist, and the sooner we correct the evil the better.
 These facts show that the Mayor. after a thorough study of the question, tavors the sensible business plan of making each consumer pay for what he uses and no more. Any one must see the unfairness of the present system in use in Montgomery. For example, each customer who has a meter, IS charged for 10000 gallos for each quarter. 1T one person uses only 5000 gallons he pays just as much as does the one who uses exactly 10000. Not only is this palpably unjust at all seasons, but there are times when 1t is especially so. Many houses are closed during part Of the summer, but that makes no difference with the water bill, which goes without ceasing No man of ordinary intelligence would purchase anything else in such a hap-hazard manner. He would not pay a stated sum to his grocer, his butcher or his nlilknan, when he could have no means of knowing how much of their products he would use. The gas companies charge consumers for what they use, and do not expect one
 to pay for what another gets In fact.
 we know of no other business which is conducted so unfairly to the citizens as the water supply is.
 There certainly ought to be an easy way of making each consumer pay for tha water he uses and no more. The water company should be, and doubt less is, able to tell just what it will cost them per 1000 gallons to supply water to consumers and with a reas- onabe profit on that cost they should | be able to fix a rate which would be | just and equable, and which would do away with the plainly unjust method of making A pay as much for 10000 gallons of water as pays for S0.O0O. Certainly that would be a fair. just and sound business method, all of