88 THE SERVICE CHARGE 



Service Charges Deduced from These Rates. In the pre- 

 liminary report of this Committee of September 9, 1914, it 

 was suggested that the service charge for a f -inch meter would 

 be made up of three parts, namely: 



First, 10 per cent of the average investment of the works in 

 the service pipe and meter. 



Second, $i per annum for reading meters, billing and col- 

 lecting. 



Third, $2 per annum for the probable value of unregistered 

 water. 



The item in this calculation for a large meter corresponding 

 to the $2 per annum in the above schedule " for the probable 

 value of unregistered water " must also cover any cost to the 

 system that there may be in the extension of mains and other 

 facilities that will be necessary in connection with the use of 

 large service connections, and any value that there may be to 

 the taker in having large quantities of water available instantly 

 for any purpose. 



With reference to the amount of water under-registered by 

 large meters it is interesting to note that in the experiments 

 made by F. C. Kimball, at Knoxville, presented to this Asso- 

 ciation on September 10, 1903, that of nine 6-inch meters 

 furnished by their makers for test, only three were able to regis- 

 ter a flow of 4500 gallons per day. In other words, in a majority 

 of new 6-inch meters, 4500 gallons per day would pass entirely 

 without registration. At 10 cents per thousand gallons, such 

 an amount of leakage continuously for a year amounts to 

 $164; and if on an average of 6-inch meters the leakage 

 amounts to one-half this quantity, it amounts to $82 per 

 annum. 



The possibility of loss of this quantity of water, and in 

 some cases of a much greater quantity, is not to be taken as the 

 sole ground for the service charge. Nevertheless the facts that 

 such losses are possible; that such losses do exist in many or 

 most services; that the works have to furnish the water that is; 

 so lost; that the water costs money, and that the value of the: 

 water lost must be made up in some way, are among the sub- 



