The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-12-01
THE BALTIMORE COUNTY WATER
COMPANY.
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The charter OF the company which is supply
ing towns in Baltimore county with water should
be carefully investigated by the General Assem-
bly, at the next session. If IL confers the powers
which are claimed by the company, Of digging
up the public highways Of three counties with
out the knowledge and consent of the County
Commissioners If those counties, then the COM
pany's wings should be clipped. 1t has been
limited by gentlemen in interviews published in
the San that the political influence of this COM
pany was sufficiently powerful in the Baltimore
county delegation to the last Legislature to
block the effort Of the county and city to agree
upon the Water Loan bill at that session. If
this is true 1t will probably be the policy Of the
voters of the county to send representatives to
Annapolis who will look carefully after the pub
lie interests and have regard for the rights Of
the water consumers as well as for the water
company. If there had been some kind of a
spirit of compromise and Cancellation toward
the city in its effort to get an abundant supply
of good water, the people of the county would
not be dependent upon private monopoly for
their water supply.
This company was chartered to furnish pure,
water to residents of three counties. Whether
there was an implied contract that they were to
get artesian water or whether there was no such
contract, it is certain that many people took the
water with that expectation and have paid lib
eral rates for it. The general impression among
the customers of the company now seems to be
that artesian water Is to be abandoned and Pa
tapsco river water is to be substituted, because
the company can make more money by so doing.
ALI along the Patapsco and short distance above
the intake Of the company there are mills and
factories and several manufacturing villages
which drain into the river. All this drainage
may be as clear as crystal and as pure as the
photographic ice around the North Pole. Never
theless, some of the people may doubt it and all
of them may prefer artesian water. Many Of
them became customers of the water company
because there was typhoid fever from the wells
they had used. and the typhoid germs which
made the shallow wells dangerous are entirely
liable to flow into the river. and drinking water,
in order to be popular and enjoyable, should be
entirely above suspicion. The purity Of the
proposed supply should be conclusively estab-
lished before the company is permitted to use it.
The statement by an official of the water COM
pany that a sufficient supply of water cannot be
obtained from artesian wells is not convincing.
officials of corporations have an amiable way of
saying things and making excuses which they do
not even expect to be accepted at their face
value. Neither will anyone be entirely per-
suaded by the statement of the anonymous
geoIogist that there can be only two artesian
wells in this large and well watered county.
Fortunately the constitution prohibits the
grant of any irrepealable charter, and If this
company cannot find artesian water, the Legis-
lature might incorporate company which can
do SO.
Certainly, it should not be permitted to force
impure water on its customers, nor to take pos
session of three counties against the protests of
citizens and without the authority of county
officials. If it has that extraordinary power
under it's present charter, that charter should
be amended at the next session of the Legisla-
frrn-