The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1911-03-24
CITY MUST
OWN PLANT
Municipal Water System
Is A Public Necessity
And Nothing Can Be
Gained By PrOcrastina-
tion-Altogether Move
ment Necessary

| Of all the arguments that might be
adduced in favor of municipality
owned water system, these two stand
out pre-eminent. 1st, public necessity
| should never be owned or controlled by
private corporation and operated
solely for profit; End, the experience of
the great majority of cities that own
their own water systems has been that
the revenue produced has paid for the
plant, reduced rates to the consumers
and materially assisted in paying the
running expenses of the city. Seattle
has been under enormous expense in
extending its system owing to the un-
precedented growth of the city. Two
| pipe lines to Cedar river have been laid
and a third is contemplated. Yet rates
have been put down to the consumer
| extremely reasonable and handsome
profits realized. If one will follow the
reports of that system he will note at
frequent intervals the transfer of
money from the water fund to other
municipal funds. Spokane turns about
half of its annual water earnings into
the general fund. Bad management is
responsible in few instances for fail
ure of city owned plants to make good
but the majority will be found to be
paying propositions both as regards ser
vice and revenue.
Everett long ago should have gone
about the work of securing its own wa
ter system. That we did not do so is
no excuse for further delay. 1t is not
too late to secure a permanent source
Of supply-it may be if we delay much
longer. Not for lack of abundance of
water, but because private companies
will gobbe up available sources of sup
ply.
Several water sources are under dis
cussion at the present time but the
most feasible and satisfactory one ap-
pears to be Sultan river. While New
ton Jones was mayor of the city con
siderable attention was paid to the wa
ter question and after much investiga-
tion the Sultan river project was pro-
nounced the best in sight Two ques-
tions enter into the matter; that of Sc
curing supply that shall be ample for
the needs of large city and free from
all contamination, and the matter of
cost. Sultan river seemed to answer
both of these questions satisfactorily
Mr.. Jones took the matter up with the
government and was finally visited by
a government official. This official as
sured him that the government would
willingly cooperate with the city in any
steps that might be taken to secure a
permanent water supply. The govern
ment would guarantee that the water
sheds would be protected from contain
nation and the city protected ia its
rights as far as the government could
go. Sultan river is fed by the noun
tain SHOWS and the water is absolutely
pure. The topography of the country
makes it unlikely that the country ad
jacenteto the rivers source will ever be
utilized for factory purposes or taken
up by settlers. The same cannot be said
of numerous lakes under discussion.
! Riparian rights to the stream would, of
course, have to be secured from the
state. State officials assured the city
administration at the time the water
question was being looked into that if a
lease were given to any power plant or
other concern along the river, 1t should
contain a clause that the waters should
not be contaminated in any way. 1t is
believed that the federal government
and the state government are still will
ing to give the city the same rights and
aid in securing permanent water sup
ply that they were during the period of
the city administration referred to.
| AS to the matter of cost. The ap-
proximate cost of installing an adequate
system cannot, of course, be deter
mined without a thorough preliminary
survey. The distance from the city to
the proposed source of supply is a lit
tie over thirty miles. If a right-ofway
had to be purchased outright or con
demnation suits instituted, it would be
an expensive proposition in all likeli-
hood. Property owners produce some
weird valuation figures when corpor-
alton or municipality enters the market
as buyer Juries in condemnation
suits generally make awards clear out
of proportion to the actual value of the
land The suggestion has been made,
however, that the pipe line could be
laid alongside the county road. This
proposition would be up to the county
commissioners. There is no apparent
reason why permission to follow the
county road should not be granted as II
would not damage the highway in the
slightest degree, If that could be done
the cost Of construction Of pipeline