UBF1ARY 
 
 of; the 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 ATEMENT OF GEORGE G. EARL 
 
 Before the Legislative Committee Investigating 
 the New Orleans Water Works Company 
 
 June, 1898. 
 
 To the Honorable Committee of the Legislature of the 
 
 State of Louisiana Investigating the New Orleans Water 
 Company. 
 
 Gentlemen: 
 
 Works 
 
 A few days since Mr. R. E. Craig, President of the New Orleans Water 
 Works Company, requested me to make an investigation and report as to 
 certain matters, charges and statements regarding said Company for the 
 consideration of your Honorable Committee. 
 
 In compliance with this request, I have the honor to submit the follow¬ 
 ing somewhat hasty review of the questions involved: 
 
 A tabulated statement, showing some of the essential facts as to the 
 twenty principal cities of the country, in relation to the extent, cost, patron¬ 
 age, consumption, revenue and operating expenses of their respective water 
 works is submitted herewith, and to it reference will frequently be made. 
 
 Of these principal twenty cities San Francisco and New Orleans are 
 operated by private companies, as is also a certain part of the Pittsburg 
 Water Works. The others are owned and operated by the cities themselves. 
 
 It should be noted, however, that out of a total of 3.196 water works 
 systems in the United States in 1897, 1,489 were owned and operated by 
 private companies, so that private ownerships is by no means unusual. In¬ 
 deed, with a fair conception of mutual obligations it possesses many undeni¬ 
 able advantages, and has greatly aided in the development of many cities 
 that must haye waited long, otherwise, for a public water supply. 
 
 The general charge is made against the New Orleans Water Works Com¬ 
 pany that extensions and improvements have not kept pace with the growth 
 of the city since 1877 when the then existing plant was purchased from the 
 city by the present company. 
 
 The obligation of the Company, in the matter of extensions, seems to be 
 clearly defined in its charter, which requires it to extend its mains into any 
 territory that will guarantee a 10 per cent revenue upon the cost of such ex¬ 
 tension, and to improve its service so as to give an “adequate” fire protec¬ 
 tion. In compliance with this obligation the mileage of mains has been 
 nearly doubled, and there- seems to be no claim that there has been any re¬ 
 fusal to extend the mains where the requisite guarantee has been offered. 
 These new mains have been of sizs adequate to the real needs of the territory 
 which they served, instead of 3 and 4-inch lines, of which too many were 
 inherited in the original purchase. Besides extensions re-enforcing mains 
 of ample size were laid into and through the original system from time to 
 time as development and need required. 
 
 The old head of i5 feet, due to reservoir pressure, was superseded by 
 direct pumping, with a stand pipe pressure of 80 feet. And, in order to per¬ 
 form economical work against this pressure, fwo high-duty engines, of 
 10,000.,000 gallons daily capacity each, were purchased, and other improve¬ 
 ments made at the pumping station. Thus an 80-foot pressure at the 
 pumps and a 20,000,000 gallon discharge at this pressure is instantly and 
 always available. As a consequence of these improvements any given hy¬ 
 drant, or number of hydrants can discharge many times the amount of wa¬ 
 ter they could, before the improvements were made. Indeed, the difference 
 is that between, a really good service, and practically none at all, so far as 
 the Company’s mains extend. 
 
 I am not an habitual attendant at fires, but have seen enough of them 
 and the conditions at them to form the belief that often manv times more 
 
water runs of! unused than is actually thrown 
 fire. If several fire wells are in use, and a^^B 
 
 and wasting- large quantities of water, or if some 
 taking their suction from a flowing stream in the street gutte^fc|M^J 
 sufficient hydrants are not existing, the necessary result is that the 
 ing capacity of any hydrant in the neighborhood, to which an engine^B 
 attached, is greatly decreased. It would be ‘possible, with any water works 
 system, and any practicable initial pressure at pumps (with this method of 
 use), to reduce the pressure and discharge of any particular hydrant to al¬ 
 most nothing, while the pumps, several miles away, are maintaining stead¬ 
 ily thp stated initial pressure, and delivering constantly at their rated ca¬ 
 pacity. 
 
 A compai ison of figures in the column headed “operating expenses per 
 each 365,000,000 gallons pumped,” and a consideration of surrounding facts 
 as to fuel, qost, etc., shows that the charge of extravagant management Is 
 not well founded. Of course, works operated wholly or partly by gravity 
 have no fuel cost, or very little, and, consequently, smaller operating ex¬ 
 penses. 
 
 That an increase of pressure from 15 feet to 80 or 90 feet, and a change 
 Irom a reservoir supply at night to continuous, direct pumping all the time 
 would, necessarily, increase the cost per given unit pumped, anyone ought 
 to know, the work per thousand gallons pumped being increased fourfold. 
 
 This increased cost would have been much greater but for the addition 
 of high-duty pumps and improved boilers which do over double the quantity 
 of work with a given amount of coal. 
 
 Another large item of increased cost would naturally be in a better in-^ 
 speelion and repair service, all of which add greatly to the efficiency of the 
 service. 
 
 The question whether “if even half, of the openings existing here were 
 allowed to run, the pumps could maintain a sufficient pressure?” deserves 
 some attention. Its answer, always and anywhere, would be the same— 
 “No.” 
 
 Any single nozzle hydrant opening, 2 1-2 inches in diameter, with 30 
 pounds’pressure, discharges at a rate of over 1,000,000 gallons in twenty-four 
 hours (sufficient for three good fire streams). To maintain this pressure of 
 30 pounds with one nozzle each open, on 800 hydrants (there are over 1,700 
 such hydrants, many of which have two such nozzles each, in New Orleans), 
 would require at the rate of over 800,000,000 gallons of water in twenty-four 
 hours. More than the combined average consumption of New York, Phila¬ 
 delphia, Chicago, Brooklyn and Boston. More than double the total pumping 
 capacity of Chicago. 
 
 A capacity to pump 30,000,000 gallons against a 90-foot head, in New Or¬ 
 leans, means that they could maintain pressure with a 10,000,000 gallon do¬ 
 mestic consumption, and with twenty such hydrant openings properly dis¬ 
 tributed over the system. This number would discharge water sufficient for 
 sixty good fire streams. I think it will be difficult to find a single instance, 
 however, outside of New Orleans, where any large city has asked its water 
 works to give a maximum rate of discharge of anywhere nearly double its 
 average rate. The Algiers system decided in this case. It would tax its 
 pumping capacity to the utmost to maintain a thirty-pound pressure with 
 six single hydrant nozzles open. 
 
 About the matter of stand pipes: Their original purpose is to cushion 
 the pump and distribution system against water hammer and to equalize 
 the flow and pressure during each single stroke of the pumps—for this pur¬ 
 pose a stand pipe 4 to 6 feet in diameter is just as good as one 30 feet in 
 diameter, and is so recognized. 
 
 Large cities, that pump direct into their mains, use such stand pipes fre¬ 
 quently. I have seen such, for instance, in Philadelphia. The larger stand 
 pipe, which is used now so much in smaller towns, is intended to act both 
 as a stand pipe and as a reservoir, allowing the pumps to remain idle a large 
 portion of the time, and thus to be more economically operated. 
 
 Such a reservoir capacity as would be afforded by the top 20 feet of the 
 stand pipe, for instance, 100 feet high and 20 feet in diameter, would amount 
 to absolutely nothing in New Orleans, since even the average consumption 
 of 11,000,000 gallons in twenty-four hours would exhaust it in less than ten 
 minutes. 
 
 “Pure” water and “adequate” fire supply are relative terms. No com¬ 
 munity has either absolutely nor can have. Each must be governed by what 
 is within practical limits as to the cost and construction and operation. 
 Upon which interests served can afford to pay revenue for the service ren¬ 
 dered. 
 
3 
 
 No private company will long render a service at a loss, and for the 
 community to attempt it is plainly to pay in taxes what they refuse (or are 
 not required) to pay in rates. 
 
 That the water now furnished leaves much to be desired in the way of 
 freedom from sediment there is no possible doubt. It seems, however, to 
 be free from any dangers, contaminations, so that a very simple form of 
 local Alteration by consumers, of that small portion which requires it for do¬ 
 mestic use, renders it, in every respect, a desirable water. While for Are 
 extinguishing, street washing, gutter Aushing, sprinkling, and the uses of 
 many large consumers, at low rates, is entirely unobjectionable. 
 
 Unless universal and exclusive use is guaranteed, as is practically the 
 case in other cities, it is an open* question, as a business proposition, whether 
 it would pay to greatly extend the system and to Alter 1,000 gallons in order 
 that the 100 that really need it, may be Altered. For it seems certain that 
 average rates to large consumers would have to be raised, and it is more 
 than probable that a loss of large consumers, due to this necessarily higher 
 coilrse, might greatly outweigh any voluntary increase of domestic con¬ 
 sumption, due to a Altered supply. 
 
 That the waters of the Mississippi River can be settled and clariAed 
 there is very little doubt, and that this is the cheapest and best solution of 
 the question of the clear water supply for New Orleans, I believe a careful 
 investigation will fully prove. In this instance, however, cheapest is by 
 no means cheap; as a consideration of the facts of the case will show very 
 clearly. 
 
 We have to deal with a stream always carrying sediment, and a sedi¬ 
 ment that does not yield to half metals of treatment at that. 
 
 St. Louis has settling basins to hold over four days’ supply. She had 
 only 462 miles of mains in a system that had cost in 1889 over $13,000,000. 
 Yet, I have heard her water supply characterized as liquid gumbo by the 
 people of Missouri, among whom the word “gumbo” is used to designate 
 the stiff, black bottom lands of the Missouri River, and not, as in Louisiana, 
 a table delicacy of rare merit. Since 1899 much further work has been done 
 and in 1894 Mr. Robt. Moore, of the St. Louis Water Department, estimated 
 $2,000,000 as the amount necessary to build a sand Alteration system for fur¬ 
 ther purifying the 50,000,000 gallons ofwater,which was then the average 
 daily consumption of St. Louis. 
 
 Cincinnani, with 330 miles of mains, had spent, up to 1897, over $9,000,000 
 for her system, but in 1897 she sought and obtained authority to issue 
 86,500,000 more of bonds for the building of settling basins and Alters, and 
 for the removal of her point of supply. It is, therefore, evident that with 
 public management, liberal expenditure and ample patronage, neither of 
 these cities have obtained a fully satisfactorily water supply, nor wholly 
 overcome the lesser diAiculties to be met in rendering the waters which 
 pass them in transit to New Orleans completely satisfactory. 
 
 For New Orleans, a very large area of land, at an available location for 
 settling reservoirs, Alter beds and clear water reservoirs would be required. 
 
 Double pumping is necessary and the use of two entirely distinct types 
 of pumps. 
 
 Sand is necessary in large quantities, and is costly here. 
 
 The area that is to be covered by the distribution system is very great, 
 and the length and size of pipes to reach remote parts of the system and 
 maintain pressure against frictional loss is vastly greater than in any other 
 city of the country, population considered. All these facts combine to in¬ 
 crease cost, both of construction and operation. 
 
 Let us assume as true the following estimate of cost required to settle, 
 Alter and furnish such a supply as would be fairly requisite to the present 
 needs of New Orleans, with a universal and economical use of water, assum¬ 
 ing 30,000,000 gallons average and 40,000,000 gallons maximum daily supply. 
 
 These Agures are based upon the European method of slow intermittent 
 Alteration through sand. Cost of land is not included. Estimate is as 
 
 follows: 
 
 Settling reservoirs to hold three days’ supply .. $600,000.00 
 
 Sand Alters, $22,000 per million gallons capacity. 880,000.00 
 
 Clear water reservoir . 100,000.00 
 
 Pumps, boilers, buildings, etc. 250,000.00 
 
 Main distribution pipe system .. 680,000.00 
 
 Remodeling and extending distribution system to cover 
 
 fairly well 500 miles of streets . 2,000,000.00 
 
 Value present plant, say. 2,700,000.00 
 
 Total cost .$7,210,000.00 
 
 9 * 732*78 
 
 r 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 _- II 1 
 
Beiore leaving this estimate, let me say that it is based upon the lowest, 
 not the highest, or even the average of figures obtainable. It is what 1 
 should hope to reach, should reach after, in cost, were I commissioned to 
 design a plant to meet the stated requirements. It is a matter of weeks 
 ana months to properly design such a plant, and only after detailed designs 
 can an accurate estimate be made. Should it prove, after experiment, that 
 the latest improvements in mechanical Alteration make it availble for the 
 Mississippi River’s waters here, the first two items of above estimate could 
 possibly be cut in half. But even granting this, it would be rash to assume 
 that a less cost than $i4,420.00 per mile of distribution system could be 
 reached, after studying costs per mile of existing water works systems in 
 larger cities, and considering the conditions in each, as compared with New 
 Orleans, and the needs of each in the way of improvement to meet, not pop¬ 
 ular clamor, but only reasonable requirements as to character of supply. 
 
 Chicago, for instance, shows about this first cost per mile. Her water 
 works, however, is really & number of small systems supplied by local pumps 
 from the lake in front of her. In this way long lines of very large mains 
 are avoided, and costs per mile are reduced. Hake Michigan herself in her 
 settling and clear water reservoir. It was worth of noH:e, however, that in 
 order to continue this use of the lake Chicago is expending in a drainage 
 canal a larger amount than the entire cost of her water works system. A 
 similar analysis of any other large city, showing nearly so low a cost per 
 mile of main, will show favorable local conditions that do not exist in New 
 Orleans, and will inevitably lead to the conclusion that, despite cheaper ma¬ 
 terial now available, the increased and increasing demand as to the quality 
 and service of the water supply will not permit, certainly, a lower cost of 
 plant than here estimated. 
 
 A plant with above first cost would have to'cover in revenue about the 
 following amounts: 
 
 Interest at 5 per cent on $7,210,000 . $300,500.00 
 
 Operating expenses based as at Providence.243,000.00 
 
 Taxes at same rate as now paid by Water Works Com¬ 
 pany ... 117,000.00 
 
 A repair and sinking fund to pay, bonds at maturity 
 
 and keep up the work estimates at. 379,500.00 
 
 Total necessary reserve .$1,100,000.00 
 
 Whether works, costing this amount ($7,210,000), be owned by the city 
 or by a private company, they must be yielding at feast this stated revenue 
 annually to be in a satisfactory or prosperous condition. Such a plant will 
 need continuous enlargement, extension and improvements, and must, in 
 the nature of the case, have an increasing revenue. 
 
 Please note that this required revenue amounts to about 10 cents per 
 1,000 gallons of water pumped; and for 60,000 connections to $18.00 per aver¬ 
 age connection. 
 
 Let us turn now, for a few moments, to other sources of supply and see 
 whether they are worthy of consideration. Artesian wells near the city 
 have been suggested. There is not a possible chance that anywhere near the 
 quantity of water necessary could be gotten from an artesian supply. There¬ 
 fore the question of quality needs little discussion. 
 
 That the artesian waters of this locality are condensed by Prof. Metz and 
 by authorities generally who have analyzed them is a fact. 
 
 Regarding the supply obtainable from the rivers that flow into Lake 
 Pontchartrain, as the Tchefuncta, the Tangipahoa, etc. 
 
 These rivers receive directly the drainage and washings of the country 
 and villages along their banks, and a supply taken from any of them would 
 be subject to muddiness from storms and to an increasing local pollution, 
 as their watershed become more thickly settled. The purification effected in 
 the Mississippi by a great length of flow through a level country, where 
 local contamination is impossible, because the natural drainage is the way 
 from and not into the river, does not apply to these streams. 
 
 Consequently, jt would seem that these smaller local streams would re¬ 
 quire greater precautions as to settling reservoirs and tillering appliances 
 than the source now used. 
 
 Of all these streams the Tangipahoa alone would be worth investigating 
 as to whether its dry weather flow would be large enough to depend upon 
 for a water supply for New Orleans. 
 
 Its drainage area, as shown upon a map of the State, indicated that it 
 would afford a sufficient supply, without impounding. works and storage, 
 
o 
 
 which would seem to be necessary with the Tchefuncta. .Let us assume that 
 the Tangipahoa has asufflcient flow, and see something of the cost and prac¬ 
 ticability of bringing its water to New Orleans. The distance in an air line 
 from the nearest available point is at least thirty-live miles, of which twen¬ 
 ty-two miles would be under Lake Pontchartrain. An alternate land route, 
 around the lake, would require forty-eight miles; thirty-three miles is the 
 length of New York’s Croton aqueduct. 
 
 To deliver a maximum daily supply of 40,000,000 gallons into New Or¬ 
 leans, assuming a head of 185 feet, would require three 36-inch pipe lines, 
 while said lines were new, and four 36-inch cast-iron pipes after the fric¬ 
 tional resistance in them had been increased through a use of ten or twelve 
 years, and through the roughing of their interior surfaces due to such use. 
 It is practically certain that the required 185 feet head could only be ob¬ 
 tained by pumping, within the distance stated from New Orleans. It is eas¬ 
 ily possible that a full investigation would change the most economical 
 combination of lift of pump and size and number of conduits, from that 
 which I have just’ stated; but the assumption already made is sufficiently 
 near the best obtainable to serve for present considerations. 
 
 Taking the air line of thirty-five miles, there would be for each single 
 line, a length of 116,000 feet of submerged pipe laying and 69,000 feet of 
 ordinary pipe laying. 
 
 The 69,000 feet of 36-inch cast-iron pipe could be furnished and laid for, 
 say, $7.00 per foot. 
 
 The 116,000 feet I will take at $13.00 per foot; though I find nothing to 
 support and much to discourage so low an estimate. 
 
 This would bring the cost of a single 36-inch pipe line into New Orleans 
 up to $1,991,000. 
 
 Submerged pipe laying is a difficult and risky undertaking, and bids for 
 its execution vary between extremely wide limits. 
 
 Successful bidders in 1895 on 2,000 feet of 28-inch pipe (submerged) for 
 Portland, Oregon, obtained $39 per lineal foot. 
 
 A 20-inch line (which should cost much less than half as much as a 
 36-inch) was lately let at $11 per lineal foot. This 20-inch line was across 
 the Charles River at Boston. 
 
 A 24-inch line (again at Portland, Ore.,) 2,100 feet long, was let this 
 spring at $21 per lineal foot. 
 
 These figures lend very small encouragement to a belief that a 36-inch 
 submerged pipe across Lake Pontchartrain could be laid at the figures I 
 have estimated, and the amount of the estimate, even using this low basis, is 
 alarming, and really indicated that a submerged line for a water supply 
 for New Orleans is prohibited by its expense, as the four 36-inch lines re¬ 
 quired with the pumping station necessary to deliver through them, at a 
 rate of 40,000,000 gallons per day, into a reservoir in New Orleans, would 
 certainly cost over $8,000,000. 
 
 By taking the longer land route a greater total area of conduit or a 
 higher pumping pressure would have to be resorted to on account of in¬ 
 creased frictional resistance due to the greater distance. Despite this fact, 
 however, it might be possible by laying one large pressure conduit to bring 
 4 0,000,000 gallons per day into New Orleans by this longer route, for about 
 one-half of the above estimate, or $4,000,000. 
 
 Having delivered this water into a reservoir within the city limits it 
 would again require to be pumped into the city distribution system, and un¬ 
 less it was settled and filtered it is doubtful whether it would be as safe 
 or satisfactory a supply as the present water from the Mississippi River in 
 its natural condition. 
 
 It seems quite certain, therefore, that, everything considered, New 
 Orleans would better look to and deal with the Mississippi River as her 
 source of supply, despite the difficulties which are undoubtedly presented 
 in its use. 
 
 The question of the Alteration of the public water supply is only just 
 coming to the test of practical use in this country. There is no doubt but 
 that we can do it,, but it is costly both of installment and operation. Our 
 largest cities that confessedly need this treatment for the supply which 
 they furnish to their people have thus far rather considered than inaugu¬ 
 rated the reform. The New Orleans effort of 1892 was really ahead of its 
 time and failed because the filter company held ideas of the efficiency of 
 their device that experience has shown to be impossible. 
 
 The Manual of American Water Works for 1897 says a Alteration: “Fil¬ 
 ter beds for St. Louis were recommended thirty years ago by Jos. Kirkwood 
 in an elaborate report, which, for a quarter of a century, was about the only 
 
the addition 
 
 available treatise in English on the subject of Alteration. 
 
 of. filters (in St. Louis) is now under consideration.” 
 
 ‘•‘Beside Providence, Louisville and St. Louis, at each of which places 
 filters will doubtless be installed in a few years, Cincinnati and Minneapolis 
 afp practically committed to Alteration, and Philadelphia and Pittsburg and 
 Albany may soon follow, other cities grekt and small, are also coming 
 
 So that in ten years we may expect to see pure water 
 death rate in many places where the contrary now pre- 
 
 rapidly into line, 
 and a low typhoid 
 vails.” 
 
 Incidentally, I would 
 as 
 
 say that a news item this week cites Philadelphia 
 “appropriating n'ow $2,700,000 to try Alteration-.” 
 
 The typhoid death rate is what has impelled Philadelphia and Chicago 
 and many other cities to take, or consider, radical improvements of their wa¬ 
 ter supply, and in that respect New Orleans i§ particularly fortunate in hav¬ 
 ing a remarkable good record in the matter of freedom from typhoid fever. 
 
 Indeed, there seems to be no claim that any form of sickness is caused 
 by the use of unAltered river water here. The demand for clear water is 
 based, rather, upon principles of usefulness and of aestheticism, both de¬ 
 sirable and legitimate grounds, but not so serious as when human life or 
 health are involved. » 
 
 We are told that if the rates were lower and clear water were furnished 
 everybody would take water from the Company. Who will give bond to the 
 amount of a tenth part of the sum necessary to make the improvements 
 that this will be the case? With even free water compulsion alone would 
 procure a universal use. 
 
 Can average rates be lowered with a universal supply of clear water, 
 even granting 60,000 taps, or one to every Ave of population? 
 
 Since the total average revenue to New Orleans Water Works Company 
 per 1,000 gallons for all water pumped in 1897 amounted to less than 6 cents, 
 and, according to figures above stated, it would have to equal or exceed 10 
 cents per 1,000 gallons pumped to “pay the cost.” Upon an improved supply 
 and anywhere near a universal distribution, it is evident that average rates 
 could not be lowered. If small consumers are now paying very much in 
 excess of 6 cents per 1,000 gallons, it must be because larger ones are get¬ 
 ting it at materially lower rates. The largest consumer of water, by far, is 
 thp city itself, and it is therefore certain that any excess in rates to small 
 users is, in effect, a tax levied upon them to equalize matters and allow the 
 •Water Works Company, which has only one consumer whose use of water 
 it cannot control, or collect for, if such use is excessive, to collect a living 
 average revenue. The fact is that 6 cents per 1,000 gallons is an exceedingly 
 low rate for supplying water under any conditions, and a monstrously low 
 one under the conditions of a small patronage over a great area exising 
 here. 
 
 It is true that Cleveland and Buffalo, with coal at $1,50 per ton, or less, 
 and with over 100 taps per mile of distribution system, i. e.‘, a universal and 
 liberal patronage, And it practicable to draw from inexhaustible supplies of 
 comparatively clear water at their doors and furnish it at 5 and 6 cents 
 respectively per 1,000 gallons to small consumers. 
 
 It is also true that the citizens of. Washington have la telv i»een given a 
 Aat meter rate of 3 cents par thousand gallons, or $6.40 per average tap; 
 though until recently the revenue per average tap was $22.60. Ninety per 
 cent ol the consumption of Washington is by gravity. It is Potomac River 
 water unfiltered, and as it came from the distribution reservoir in 1893 and 
 1894 was slightly turbid 34 days, and turbid 63 days, and very turbid 55 days, 
 according to the report of Colonel Geo. H. Elliott, of the United States En¬ 
 gineers in charge. 
 
 This same report advises against Alteration, because of the waste of 
 water which would require that about 200 gallons be Altered, where only 
 aie legitimately used; because, also, of the high first cost and operating 
 expenses of filters, and the stated belief that the color of the water can only 
 be Partially removed by Alteration, unless quantities of alum be used which 
 would be prejudicial to health. The Washington system was originally 
 built by the Government, and the supply is still owned by it the citv onlv 
 paying one-half the cost of and extension of the supply. 
 
 Another city on the tabulated list that furnished water to its neonle 
 \oiv cheaply is Detroit A large use of meters, preventing waste, so that 
 
 cannot use water wastefully without paying for just what 
 , tl u . se ’ the use of crude oil for fuel, which, according to an estimate ren- 
 dered m 1894, would bring the fuel cost to an equivalent of about $1.50 per 
 ton of soft coal; a universal consumption (table shows a tan to every 4 2 
 
 2i ! ° n) ’ and finally an annual appropriation from the tax fund of 
 Do,000,000 per annum towards water works extension and improvements so 
 
that a large bond issue and interest charges on same are unnecessary—these 
 are the factors which combine to make a 7 cent meter rate at Detroit. 
 
 It was urged by Mayor Pingree of Detroit that water rates, meters and 
 inspectors be abolished altogether, and a whole service be paid for its gen¬ 
 eral taxation. This experiment was not tried, however, since it was a 
 matter of too recent experience that the prevention of waste, through meters 
 and inspectors had held on the total consumption to nearly a constant 
 amount for a number of years, while connections ot taps increased from 
 32,000 to 48,000. 
 
 Line 10 of table shows existing condition in New Orleans. I give the 
 average revenue per tap, and per each 365,000,000 gallons \mit pump, as de¬ 
 rived from total revenue, and as derived from private consumers, exclusive 
 of payment from the city. 
 
 Taking the twenty largest cities, with an exception of San Francisco 
 and New Orleans, the whole revenue is derived from private consumers, and 
 the works are free from taxation; therefore, it would be seen that the 
 $13,200.00 from consumers rather than. the $22,400.00 total revenue, is the 
 proper figure for comparison with other figures in this column. This com¬ 
 parison shows that five such cities collect a lower and fourteen a higher 
 revenue from consumers for each 365,000,000 gallons unit pumped. 
 
 If we attempt to compare, upon a basis of total revenue, we must de¬ 
 duct from the $22,400.00 total receipts for this unit, the $4,000.00 of taxes paid 
 annually upon it, leaving $18,400*00, in which case nine of the twenty largest 
 cities, make a showing under New Orleans and ten above it. 
 
 Lines 25 and 26 of the table are devoted to North and South Carolina, 
 being averages of all water works in those States. They show something 
 of the same condition as exists in New Orleans, i. e., a higher population 
 per tap, which means higher rates for water to those who do take it than 
 would prevail under better patronages; because the systems could as welt 
 furnish all as part of the population on their lines, with very little expense 
 except coal, and because most of the few consumers are, necessarily, the 
 larger consumers, who, anywhere else, would be paying much above the 
 average rate of the community in which they live. 
 
 Line 21 gives statisics for Galveston, which city has lately introduced 
 a new supply from artesian wells some distance away. 
 
 Line 22 in Atlanta, where a fair success has attended a filter plant 
 erected a few years ago. Despite the fact that very large quantities of wa¬ 
 ter are used by the city in flushing the combined system of sewers there 
 used, the total consumption has been held down to within fairly reasonable 
 limits by the universal metering of private consumers, who thus pay at 13 
 cents per 1,000 gallons for the water they actually use. 
 
 In line 23 I have embodied a summary of what may possibly be accom¬ 
 plished in New Orleans. 
 
 I assume that the mosquito and disease breeding cistern is abolished, 
 and it should be, and that the whole population is supplied with a fair quan¬ 
 tity of water, and is compelled to use it, and I arrive at a flat meter rate for 
 all water pumped at 10 cents per 1,000 gallons as the lowest within the limit 
 of possibility. Since leakage, always existing, is absolute loss, and .since the 
 city would never pay at this rate for the water she uses, the actual rate 
 to consumers would be somewhat greater. 
 
 I do not claim correctness for the limit of cost, but rather for the prin¬ 
 ciple upon which it is obtained. If my figures prove high, after careful in- > 
 vestigation*, so much the better. If they prove low, as 1 believe they likely 
 will, then let extension and improvement go only to that extent upon which 
 g fair return can be had for the money invested. 
 
 Until the assumption of universal use at fair rates is guaranteed it is 
 impossible for any company, or for the city, to carry the financial load that 
 this or any material extension and improvement required. 
 
 The criminal waste of water in the American cities has been the greatest 
 obstacle in the way of the introduction of better supplies. If it is really 
 necessary for New Orleans to use, as she did in 189 7, 2,310 gallons per tap 
 per day, we shall have to revise the estimate of 3b,000,000 gallons as required 
 for 60,000 connections, and assume an average of over 138,000,000 gallons in- 
 stead;and a revision of the rest of the estimate to meet this requirement 
 would put the cost of filtered water beyond the reach even of consideration. 
 In other words, use of water by the city must have some definite and fixed 
 limit. 
 
 Dr. Metz spoke of a European city with an unfiltered supply as a curi¬ 
 osity, and it is true that Europe is ahead of us in this matter a greater 
 curiosity, however, would be a European City with 2,310 gallons consumption 
 per tap per diem, or even 500 gallons. One hundred and fifty to two hundred 
 and fifty gallons being about the rate per tap, which has rendered practi- 
 
8 
 
 cable, at an allowable cost, the methods of water fllterating in vogue in 
 Europe. 
 
 It should also be rememberd that nothing short of distilled water is ab¬ 
 solutely pure, and that the cry against reasonably good water is just as 
 strong as it is, for instance, against a concentrated solution of sewerage 
 furnished by the city of Philadelphia, to its people. The cry will continue 
 always, and more, and a more and a more perfect result, as a lower and 
 lower cost will come, and is gradually coming, as wastes are reduced and 
 works are profitably operated, reducing their debts and improving, as they 
 can then only afford to improve, their supplies and service. 
 
 The 11,000,000 gallon average daily consumption for 1897, which was re¬ 
 quired here for city uses, and for 1,800 private taps, would have sufficed at 
 Providence, R. I., to meet the demands of that city for all purposes and to 
 supply 23,400 private taps. In the most extravagant European city it would 
 meet the city needs and supply 40,000 taps. 
 
 During one month in 1897 the average daily consumption was 16,000,000 
 gallons. That in Europe would supply over 64,000 taps—more, probably, 
 than the total number of premises in New Orleans. It is impossible, in a 
 tabulation and hasty report, such as I have submitted, to fully cover all the 
 surrounding conditions. It may be truly said that no two cities have con¬ 
 ditions sufficiently similar to be wholly comparable. 
 
 There is no effort more futile than to attempt to regulate the charges 
 for water of one city by another’s charges, or the expedient and wise course 
 as to the methods of supply of management of works. 
 
 New Orleans, as a part owner and partner in the management of a water 
 works company, whose maximum profit limit is fixed by her charter, and 
 with extension obligatory whenever a certain definite income is guaranteed 
 from any given extension, is in a position that would seem to be safe and 
 strong. A wise and conservative management of the situation can result 
 only in equal advantage to the people, to the city, both as a city arid a 
 stockholder to the water works company and to the company itself. 
 
 When the essential facts are admitted and faced squarely there should 
 be no trouble in harmonious action. Until they are all parties at interest 
 are so restricted in possible action as to make broad improvements impos¬ 
 sible. 
 
 In conclusion, let me say that I have submitted my own personal views, 
 based upon a residence of some six years in New Orleans, and always inter¬ 
 ested study of matters pertaining to her sanitary condition. 
 
 I recognize very fully her sanitary needs including the abolition of cis¬ 
 terns, only possible with a universally used public water supply—sewerage, 
 drainage, paving and garbage disposal being equally essential. 
 
 I recognize also her other needs, as free wharfage, police protection, 
 flood protection, public buildings, park improvements, etc., and as well I 
 v recognize something of the cost of these. I am a strong believer in a healthy 
 
 municipal growth and absorption of all quasi-public functions, even of gas, 
 
 , electric lights and street cars. 
 
 / But the community that is handicapped by Inexperience, and has done 
 
 ; > without any of these improvements that the otTier cities have acquired, 
 
 through the thrift and debt-paying ability of generations past, will assume 
 a heavy load if she attempts too rapidly to possess herself of all of them. 
 
 The supplying of water and the disposal of sewerage or household ser¬ 
 vices, which can be rendered by private enterprise, which from their nature 
 permit of equitable charges upon those difectly benefited. If by ridding her¬ 
 self of these duties through their assumption by such private enterprise 
 in carefully guarded and just franchises, the city can more fully assume her 
 J . other urgent duties and gradually discharge the obligations incurred in her 
 
 assumption, she will do well tot the present. 
 
 With the growth and prosperity which confidence in the sanitary security 
 of New Orleans alone will bring, her power of absorbing all of the functions 
 incumbent upon her would rapidly increase. 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 GEO. G. EARL, 
 
 M. Am. Soc. C. E.