106 AS TO SERVICES AND METERS 



the readings ol all the meters should be added up and the rate 

 applied to the total quantity of water. 



Second, where any taker requires two or more services 

 because water is used in different buildings, or in different parts 

 of the same building, or because he wishes to have a separate 

 record of water used in different parts of his establishment, and 

 in general wherever separate services are required because 

 the taker needs water in different places or in separate services, 

 then each meter should be classed as one service and billed 

 separately and without regard to any other services that the 

 same owner may have. 



Ownership of Services and Meters. There is a difference 

 in practice among the water-works systems of the United 

 States with reference to the ownership of the service pipe to 

 the street line and the meter. The pipe on the land of the 

 taker is paid for by the taker in all cases; in other words, the 

 taker provides the pipe beyond the street line- and takes care 

 of it. 



The cost of the service pipe and meter is a substantial one 

 and it makes some difference with meter rates whether the cost 

 of it is paid by the works or by the taker. 



From information relating to 150 systems collected by the 

 New England Water Works Association Committee on Meter 

 Rates in 1914, about half the systems in New England and 

 the other half scattered over the United States, it appears that 

 in 46 per cent of the systems the service pipe is furnished and 

 paid for by the works; in the remaining 54 per cent of the 

 systems it is paid for by the taker upon installation. Of these 

 same systems, 77 per cent furnished the meter, while 23 per cent 

 required the taker to furnish it. 



The tendency in recent years had been for the works to fur- 

 nish more service pipes and more meters than formerly. With 

 respect to the meter there is no question but what it is the best 

 policy for the works to furnish it and to own it. This is the only 

 method that gives the works the full control of the meter, with 

 power to take it out and test it and replace it with a new meter, 

 or repair it whenever the conditions of service make it desirable. 



