Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1912-08-06
CITY OWNERSHIP
PROVES PROFITABLE |
Council Bluffs has had One Years
Experience and is Pleased
With Results.

Council Bluffs a year ago purchas-
ed the waterworks from company,
paying therefor 100000, and is
well pleased with results of the first
years experience. Just as Webster
City has demonstrated her inability
to make the municipal heating plant
a success, Council Bluffs comes for
ward with remarkable showing for
her waterworks, as the following
dispatch from that city discloses:
Council Bluffs has owned its wat
erworks plant just one year and is
now able to strike balance and as
certain the answer. 1t has been a
paying investment and municipal
ownership of this greatest of all
public utilities has whetted the peo-
pies appetites for more of the same
kind of investment.
In the one year under municipal
ownership the water plant has been
made to earn 100000, in addition to
paying for improvements and extern
sions that have cost approximately
$40, 900, all of which has been paid
out of the revenues of the plant and
none of which have been ordered
until the money was in the hands of
the city treasurer with which to pay
for same. These things have been
accomplished without any extra cost
to the taxpayers or water consum-
ers, and represent net profit of
about 100000 from the plant in
the one year. AS the city only paid
about 100000 for the plant, any
body can see wherein the people
have made gain and can at the
same time understand why the priv
ate owners of the plant, eastern cap
italists, for more than five years,
with money and personal effort des-
perately fought the acquisition Of
the plant by the city.
The water plant, when the city
took it over, was in bad condition
and had been grossly mismanaged.
Not the slightest effort had been
made in the thirty years of it's exis-
tence to keep pace with the city and
not an improvement was made to it
in that time. It was sadly out of
date and in bad repair, and scores
of additions to the city were clamor-
ing for water which the old owners
would not give them. The city has
extended the mains to these dis
tricts, has bought new pumps, has
built settling basins, which the old
plant did not have, erected new
pumping house and engine room,
built a sidetrack to the pumping
station (the old company hauled all
it's coaD, and is now not only pre-
pared to give the city proper SER
vice, but better water.
The water plant is managed by a
board of three trustees, business men
who give it much of their time and
attention. In addition, civil en-
gineer acts as manager of the plant
and gives all of his time to the
work.
The plant now is capable of provid-
ing a city of three times the size of
Council Bluffs with water for fire
and domestic use, and during the
present summer has pumped as
much as 100000 gallons Of water q
day. A meter service has been es-
tablished and everybody put upon an
equal basis In adopting the meter
system Of measuring the water the
city eithdr put in the meter at Its
expense or sold the meter to the
consumer. Some preferred to own
their meters, in which case mini
mum of SO cents is charged for their
use each month, and where the city
owns the meters the minimum Is rs
cents per month.