Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-10-15
IO INSTALL METERS
City Council Girapples With the
Problem oiPreventins Waste
OF Water.
Larger Consumers in Business
District TO Be Metered-..0th-
ers to Follow.
City May Buy Pumps for Sewage
~
City May Buy Pumps for Sewage
Disposal Plant..Lively Coun-
Gil Session.

/ The city council has grappled with the
1 question of preserving Marshalltown's
water supply and preventing whole
sale waste, and from a tumble OF opin-
lions, notions, amendments and peculiar
Views something was accomplished
land a start was made towards the in
Inauguration of the only equitable and
business-lil5e system of disposing of
lwater It was voted at the meeting
Monday night to purchase as soon
as possible $500 worth Of meters.
and judging from the views of the
councilmen this purchase will be fol-
lowed by others, with the ultimate OBJ
ject of metering The entire business,
manufacturing and residence districts
of the city On the meter proposition
| all of the eight councilmen are agreed.
but as to the best means of meeting
| the question at the present time and
Iforestalling an emergency similar to
that Of last week, when some river
water had to be pumped. there were
varying opinions. Mr.. Benson had
Iplan. Mr.. Fisher favored another plan,
while DR.. Harris was the first to spring
the subject of meters He said he had
been looking over the reports of cities
where the meter system had been
adopted, and was convinced that the
consumption of water would be reduced
almost by one-halt in Marshalltown
were meters in general use. Mr.. Nc
CURE agreed with this position, as did
| also Mr.. Benson, and the latter said
there is no question but that the meter
system will be adopted later on. But
II he maintained that more of the driven
wells at present would be the quickest
and cheapest means of increasing the
supply to a quantity that would meet
all contingencies. The work. he said.
should be done this fall, as when the
connections are being made the liver
Twill have to be drawn upon. and the
river water is purer in cold weather.
Mr.. Benson made u motion that ten
wells be added and the necessary Cook
strainers be purchased. He said the
lcost would be about $3.50. Mr..
Kreutzer supported the motion. Mr..
Fisher objected to tile addition OF more
stratners and favored the construe ton
| OF a large open we'll, similar to the
Experimental well first constructed on
1.-The present water extension. MIR. Me-
CURE offered as an amendment to Mr..
Benson's motion that $500 worth of
meters be purchased and placed on the
services of the larger consumers. Mr..
Fisher tackled on an open well amend
ment, and this was the first PROPOSE
ton voted on, resulting in tie-Fishen
Harris, Kirby and WATSON supporting
lit and Benson, Henry, kreutxer and
Mcclure opposing. Mayor Jones voted
against the open-well amendment and
declared it lost. A parliamentary an
lyle then ensued and 1t was finally voted
to reconsider the Whole question and
separate the original motion and the
amendments. The purchase of tho
meters was then ordered, but the mo
| ton for ten additional wells was lost
by the same vote that Mr.. Fisher'a
open well scheme was defeated. Some
of the councilmen later regretted their
action in voting against the additional
wells and It Is probable that they will
be ordered later, as their cost Is nomi-
nal and their construction is simply
carrying out the plans for the pre.'ent
water system. A new plan is to be
adopted in blowing the iron and vege-
table accumulation from the strstin-
lers, and the abandoned pumping station
on the water extension will be used for
this purpose.