116 HALIFAX WATER WORKS. JOHNSTON. 



metered, and the consumption for the other 4 per cent, is 

 estimated; and in seven cities having over 86 per cent, of the 

 services metered the amount of water unaccounted for varies 

 from 3,500 to 23,000 gallons per mile per day (these amounts 

 are in United States gallons). Waste from pipes and fittings 

 on the premises of water takers is due to defective plumbing or 

 to negligent or wilful waste in allowing the water to run from 

 the taps. In a house with modern plumbing the chief cause of 

 waste is from a leaky ball-cock in the tank supplying fixtures. 

 In one instance a meter was put on a pipe supplying a closet 

 where the valve in the flushing cistern was worn and did not 

 fit its seat properly. The waste was but a trickling stream, but 

 the consumption was 1,073 gallons a day, while after the valve 

 was repaired it was reduced to 43 gallons. In other houses 

 closets supplied with hopper-cocks are the chief cause of waste. 

 There are at present about 450 of these in use in the city. In 

 1891 a test was made on nine of these closets, and applying the 

 results then obtained there would be a waste from this source 

 alone of three-quarters of a million gallons per day. During 

 the cold weather an enormous amount of water in the aggregate 

 is allowed to run to prevent pipes freezing. As up to the 

 present there has been no means of accurately measuring the 

 water supplied to the city, this amount cannot be stated in 

 gallons; but the pressure at night at the various permanent 

 gauges throughout the city drops from five to ten pounds below 

 that of the day time. The modern method of controlling waste 

 is to supply each taker through a meter, so that each consumer 

 pays only for the water used. There were on May 1st, 1905, 

 6,939 service pipes, of which 5 per cent, were metered. In 

 October, 1905, when owing to the small rainfall there was 

 danger of the supply becoming exhausted a house to house 

 inspection by the police was ordered, and wherever a'ny leaky 

 fixtures were found the water was turned off and only turned 

 on again when repairs had been made and on payment of a fine. 

 The immediate result of this was a gain of eleven pounds 



