44— WATER RATING. 

 By G. W. Herdman, M.Inst.C.E. 



There is much difference of opinion as to the proper method of 

 charging consumers for water. All must have water, and must 

 pay for it, either directly or indirectly, and, consequently, it is of 

 some importance that the public should know for what the payment 

 is made and how it is exacted. 



It is assumed in this paper that the water is not supplied by a 

 private money-making company. The number of these is gradually 

 being reduced, and Waterworks for the supply of large communities 

 are being taken over by Municipalities or Water Boards. Many of 

 the old Companies have been compelled by Act of Parliament to 

 limit the amount of their dividends, and if the profit is more than 

 sufficient to pay that dividend, the consumers have to get the benefit, 

 and the price of the water is reduced. Municipalities generally 

 consider that the water supply is one of the first undertakings which 

 it is their duty to control for the public benefit, and the Municipal 

 Corporations which have recently come into being in the Transvaal 

 have not been slow to accept their responsibilities. Many of them 

 are now either proposing or carrying out works, and as all citizens 

 have the double interest in the system of rating that comes to them 

 as consumers or purchasers, on the one hand, and as voters or sellers 

 on the other, this is a subject which Councillors must carefully look 

 into before drawing up a new tariff. 



In some towns the revenue from water not only pays all the 

 expenses chargeable to that account, but supplies a balance for other 

 Municipal purposes. Pretoria is an example of this. In the pub- 

 lished accounts for the year 1904 the balance is ^^10,687 i8s. 6d. 

 At the same time the public health of the community is so dependent 

 upon the water service that in some cases a Municipality would be 

 justified in carrying out a water works project, even though the 

 purely water revenue did not equal the expenditure. The deficiency 

 would be made up by indirect returns, due to increased prosperity. 



On account of this universal necessity for water, the charges 

 for it are frequently drawn up on entirely different lines from the 

 charges for some other public services, such as electric light, or 

 tramways. These latter are taken as luxuries, which individuals may 

 indulge in or not as they please. The water service is more fre- 

 quently classed with drainage works, street paving, street lighting, 

 and such like, which are necessities to all, and for which the 

 revenue should be obtained from the citizens in as equitable a manner 

 as possible. On that account it is sometimes considered good policy 

 so to regulate the charges that the burden falls less heavily on the 

 poor than on the rich. In the poorer parts of London this is so. 

 The East London Water Works Company supplied house property 

 bv assessment, and large manufactories, taking millions of gallons 

 of water per diem, by meter. In the latter case the rate charged was 

 almost double that in the former. Nearly 20 per cent, of the 

 houses supplied paid less than to/- per annum, while the average 



