Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1915-08-27

Cost Per rhousand Gallons of Bsrs-
ling Water Must FSrst Ne peseru,-
ined. Then . PrOft-Psying Rate
Can BE Established.

I Dursnt's water department has
been a white elephant for 50 ions
that il has come 10 Dc taken as sach
and the people have generally come
to consider il as q joke. The present
administration. however. = putting
forth an effort @ make The depart
ment az least self-sustaininE. s1d it
csn - done 10 sound business pr.nci-
PIES are Invoked. The great iro i',fc
has always been that The dspartuen.
has been operated in the darf th-t
is 20 say. no one has ever known thg
cost per sallon OF thousand salons
of handiins the water. withou, which
knowledge 80 is impossible 10 arrive
az fair rate for the sale % the va,er
o. the city.
The following letter. we be'ievs.
offers a solution Of the problem. sr1
will b OF iuteres, 10 all who r,aily
want to see the city's water depart
meut pay its way ALIENS:
"Dursut OKLA. Aug. 20. 1918.
Editor. Saturday Morning AGser-
tiser.
City.
As a business man. have fe-
several. years been closely wat . ns
the operation OF the city's watc, d.
rartmsut. with growing alarm. for
the lack Of any semblanes Of bust
ness management in the Department
has been apparent on the face Of
il. the rates which the cozsGweys o.
city water ar paving should msintaia
the department. and earn a profit FOR
;he city as weh.
We cannot tell. from c snpsr:isisl
examination. whether the rate Is high
I enough. just enough. Or 'Sics too
mueh-snd that is Just the trouble
No one. venture. on the eitF sou "a
or in the employ OF the water derart-
uent. has even the remotest ideS Of
the cost per unit OF production. OF
supplying water 70 the patron. Heaee.
how is il possible 10 arrive AZ a sat
ssfaetory rate for the service:
Before anything else can BE- dose.
it will be necessary 10 arrive IT the
Icost Of production. First Of all. if
there is not already such a pros s'on.
4 meter should be installed which
will record every gallon Of water
pumped and filtered. and a c4-eful
record kept Of this. Another provi5-
ion should be made for keeping tracS
Of the number OF gallons Of water
consumed in spriEkling the streets.
flushing the sewers and ulantoles.
and in fighting fires. and thvs, .hree
\ items should be kept Of reso-l sep
arately from the number Q: gallons
actually pumped and filtered and sup
piled to patrons.
During tie same period Of time
I Clet IL BE- a year. for the sake Of *
smple) a careful tabular rsrorl o.
all costs Of operating and maintain
ing the department should Be teP-.
which shall include labor. salaries
fuel. lubricants. maintenance. re-
pairs. miscellaneous expenses. ins1r-
snee. interest on bonded debt. and f--
probation. At the end OF any stated
period OF time. which shall be long
enough to furnish data on a repre-
sentative period OF operation. the city
will know all costs incident 10 sTCh
/ operation. and the number OF gallons
Of water pumped and filtered. Disii-
Ing the costs by the number Of gal
Ions handled. viii quickly give the
costs OF handling the water Know
ing the cost per thousand gallons of
handling the water. II will Be a srry
simple matter to arrive al a fair ard
reasonable selling price per thousaui
gallons Of city water.
Every successful factory OF ever
description employs cost system,
suited to its particular needs. but IN
the end determining the same thinc
as the above plan viii determine Ter
I the water department. viz: COS
or PRODUCTION PER UNIT o.
what is to Be produced.
"Of course. an allowance must also
be made for uneollectible accounts,
such as the County and State makes
in arriving AZ a tax levy. but that al
so Is a very simple matter. as the rec
ords will also show during this same
test period what per cent OF the wat
er sold IS never collected for
'Tf some such plan as have sug-
gested Is put into force. Whi.h Il
might be necessary 10 modify in re-