Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-03-11
THE WATER SERVICE
Extension of Meter System May Be
 Only Way to Even Things.

Some city water consumers are not satisfied with how they fared the past half year With reference to ser vice and will ask the board of public works to make rebates on their bills which if granted, will reduce the revenue considerably. It is claimed that owing to lack of pressure and freezing up of pipes many have not been able to get water regularly and naturally they feel that they ought not be charged for something they nave not received. There is also demand for revision of the water rates which is likely to result in a move toward an extension of the me- ter system in all large buildings so
 that there may no fault finding on account of some paying more than others for the same service. Some
 thing will have to be done, too, with
 regard to the method of rendering
 pills for water used through meters.
 There is a general demand for the
 adding together of all the water regis
 tered on meters belonging to the same
 person or corporation, whether in the same building or in different blocks.
 This will also reduce the receipts un-
 less the prices go up. The reading of
 private meters by employees of the
 water department, a custom that
 came down to the city from the old
 water board, it not likely to be car ried on much longer. All the city
 wants to know is how much water
 goes into certain building and if
 the proprietor has special arrange
 ments with his tenants, and there are
 such cases, he will, in the near fu-
 ture, be obliged to read his own meter
 nrs rrIrn at ,al. 1t. During the past few years the water department has grown in leaps and obunds, so that it is not, unreason- able to believe that the rules which. suf1ced when it was a modest institu- tion would need revision at this tirne In general way, the present system is not bad, but new things are con- stantly cropping up ana the depart
 ment is handicapped for rules to go by. In many cases they have to be
 governed by precedent and sometimes even that is not available. Several committees have tried to make chang es which would meet the requirements
 of the department, but none of them
 succeeded and as a result the rules
 adopted when it might be said that
 the water department was in swad- ding clothes are still in vogue, and while they fit the grown body pretty well, still they cannot hold together
 much longer and Waterbury rate pay
 CTS will be lucky if the remodeled garment does not reveal more kinks than there have thus far been dis
 covered in the old one. The rates are
 about as low here as they are in any other town in Connecticut and the
 quality of the article is the best in the market.
 The demand for water is on the fn-
 crease and whether the rates are changed or not 1t is certain that the present supply will soon be inadequate to the needs of the city unless 1t should be decided that the municial- 1 ity found 1t unprofitable to sell water for other than domestic use. and this l is something which is not likely to happen. This and sewage disposal are two big questions involving large outlays which have to be met wheen- CT people want them or not.