METERS CHECK WASTE 3 



The experience of Pittsburgh is not different from that of other American 

 cities which have supplied water at fixed rates and without limiting in any 

 way the amount of water used and wasted by consumers. Under these 

 conditions the volume of water pumped always increases faster than the 

 population, and is only limited by the fact that after a time the cost of secur- 

 ing and distributing the water becomes so great as to make rational measures 

 imperative. 



Natural gas was formerly sold in Pittsburgh at a fixture rate, the 

 amount charged -for heating a house depending upon its size. The prac- 

 tice has, however, been given up, and all gas is now sold by meter. The 

 temptations to abuse the privilege of using water supplied at a fixture rate 

 are quite as great as they are in the case of gas. In fact the opportunities 

 are better, because gas cannot be discharged unburned into a house with- 

 out making it uninhabitable, and if an excessive quantity of gas is burned, 

 the house becomes too warm for comfort. There is thus a certain physical 

 limit upon the amount of gas which can be used in a house. With water, 

 however, this is not so. Faucets can be left open and leaks allowed to 

 remain unrepaired, and the water allowed to flow to the sewers in abso- 

 lutely unlimited quantities without benefiting anyone. 



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There is often a prejudice against the use of meters, which arises from 

 the thought that people will be limited, in the use of water, and cannot use 

 as much as they desire without making excessive payments for it. There 

 is also the feeling that if the consumption of water in the city should be 

 reduced to one-half or one-fourth of the present consumption, each person 

 would have to get along with one-half or one-fourth as much water as 

 is now used. As a matter of fact, this idea does not present even remotely 

 the truth. A majority of people are reasonably careful in the use of water 

 and do not waste excessive amounts. * * * * It is the minority of 

 people who, by carelessness or wilful waste, discharge water into the sewers 

 in large quantities, and increase enormously the amount of water which 

 must be provided, and consequently the cost of water to all the people. 



At the present time the loss inflicted by the careless or wasteful people 

 is borne by the whole city. If a meter is put on every service, the people 

 who waste water will have to pay for it, and others will be relieved from the 

 burden and the cost of water to them will be materially reduced. The cost 

 to the people who are now wasting water will also be reduced, if they are 

 willing to learn by experience, as nearly all of them will, that they cannot 

 waste water without paying for it. Report of Filtration Commission, 

 Pittsburgh, 1899, pp. 74-75- 



The introduction of meters has been an unqualified success 

 in checking waste. When water is measured, and all the water 



