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conditions obtaining upon the work. First: The total average
daily consumption of water dropped to 8 905 085 gallons and the
per capita supply to 56.93 which was still fully up to the require-
ments for use. Second: The rate of increase in the revenue shot
up in a marked way. The full effect of the effort to check waste
was not, however, shown until 1897 when the total average daily

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capita supply of water. This seems to be accounted for by the effect of electrolysis which has a destructive action in several places in the city. On one street several street mains have been taken out in two successive years, being badly decomposed and one of which had been completely eaten through. The iron bolts of meters have been eaten off and replaced by composition bolts. Lead service pipes have also been badly eaten. The conditions favoring the destructive action of electrolysis are being changed steadily for the better and it is hoped that the waste of water from this cause may be kept within reasonable limits.

It is believed there is a considerable waste in connection with the direct service to elevators from the pressure in the mains. One hundred and sixty-nine elevators are supplied in this way and the condition of their supply is now being examined.

The working force in the Meter Department in Providence consists of three men, who do all the setting and repairing of the meters on the system. The total expense of the department is more than returned to the city by the charges against the takers, they being at a fixed rate per meter for the usual operations. The average annual cost per meter for repairs is about eleven and one-half cents, the total cost for the last full year reported being $2 278.89.

Fourth. - Eternal vigilance is as necessary in a water department as in other matters, to secure a perfect result. It is found in Providence that there are men so lost to the dictates of a good conscience that they will tap in a supply back of the meter so as to draw water without having it measured.

Water is supplied to manufacturing establishments for fire purposes without cost when contained in pipes laid at the expense of the establishment and not connected with any other means of supply. It is a condition of such supply that no water whatever shall be drawn from these pipes except to extinguish fires. It was found at one time that about a million gallons per day extra was being drawn in a manufacturing section of the city and an inspector was sent out to locate the waste. It was found that two establishments near each other had opened their are service pipes and were using the water for washing and other purposes. The fact that the combined use of the two was so great, facilitated the discovery.

Other surreptitious use of water has been discovered from time to time, like its use for broad irrigation, etc.

Nearly all the evils of waste can be cured by placing a meter on every service. It would hardly be expected in any community that illuminating gas would be furnished to takers except through a meter, notwithstanding the fact that gas is cheaper than water. In Providence gas is sold at $1.10 per thousand cubic feet while for water $1.50 per thousand cubic feet is paid.

DISCUSSION.

PRESIDENT WALKER. Well, gentlemen, that paper is a whole water works in itself. Does anybody want to make any remarks or ask any question? If so, please do so. Don't be afraid to ask the gentleman questions, he is able to answer them. I have been very much interested to notice that he seems to think that folks are not altogether honest in Providence, any more than they are in Manchester.

MR. H. G. HOLDEN. Mr. President, I would like to inquire of Mr. Shedd the amount and kind of lead used in a 2-inch bell.

MR. SHEDD. It is the ordinary soft lead that is used in laying water pipes, suitable, of course, for calking. It is laid a little more than three-quarters of an inch in depth, and the gasket makes up an inch or an inch and a quarter of the depth of the bell, and that is driven home until it will receive pretty good blows of a hammer without a depression in the gasket. I have found by a number of observations that it is almost impossible, in the ordinary lead used for making joints in water pipes, to have any apparent effect on the lead by any calking hammer more than three-quarters of an inch below the surface, as the lead seems to remain just as it is run, and it is not compacted in any degree below that depth, so far as I can discover, by the calking.

MR. HOLDEN. What amount of lead would be ordinarily used?

MR. SHEDD. Well, I do not carry that in my mind - it is less than the lead ordinarily used - but it is known. We have kept a very accurate account of the amount used in that way, and I have the figures, but I do not remember them. The amount of lead is carefully watched, of course, when the work is done by contract, and the inspector does not allow any less lead than the

specifications call for to go into the joints, but what the amount is, I do not remember.*

MR. GEORGE E. WINSLOW. Mr. President, I should like to ask Mr. Shedd in regard to the meters: Are they owned by the city or are they owned by the consumer?

MR. SHEDD. They are owned by the consumer, by the water taker, but they are not allowed to be placed except by the city. The city approves of the meters, and sets them, and makes a charge for setting them to those who apply for them. The meter must be one which is approved by the city. There are three or four kinds of meters which are set by the city, and a person is allowed to make his choice from those kinds, but the meters are owned and maintained by the takers, so far as paying the money is concerned. They are managed by the city, put in by the city, repaired by the city, and the cost charged to takers for expenses. MR. WINSLOW. What is the life of a meter, and under what conditions are they replaced?

MR. SHEDD. They are replaced at the expense of the taker, but the life of a meter well, we have had some of them in there over thirty years, and apparently they are just as good as ever. There are meters there which were set at the beginning, and very few have failed; and this eleven cents I spoke of covers the maintenance.

MR. V. C. HASTINGS. How often, Mr. Shedd, do you test a

meter?

MR. SHEDD. As often as there appears to be any reason for it. From the amount of water that is passed through, which is always observed when the inspector reads the meter at intervals of six months, it is discovered whether the meter runs freely

or not.

The calculated maximum width of lead joint and the weight, for each diameter of pipe, is as follows:

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MR. HASTINGS. I suppose if a man gets a big bill he would naturally want his meter tested?

MR. SHEDD. He naturally would. I got a notice yesterday of a big supply of water upon my house.

MR. EDWIN C. BROOKS. I would say, bearing upon the depth of bells, that we recently took out some water pipes in Cambridge which were laid in 1857, and the depth of bells in the Scotch pipe, cast in 9-foot lengths, was 7 inches (see Fig. 3). Quite a difference between that and 2 inches.

MR. JOHN C. CHASE. Mr. President, I should like to ask Mr. Shedd, if in estimating population between census years he

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FIG. 3. SECTION OF BELL OF OLD WATER PIPE IN CAMBRIDGE. added a certain per cent. for the growth of the population each year. If he can answer it, I should like to know what the additional per cent. was per year, and how it checked at the census periods?

MR. SHEDD. It came very close. We kept the population in a profile, going back as far as we had any population figures; and we have five-year periods of census taking; and every year the population is taken for the school census. When we have projected the line for five years, our projected line comes very close to the return actually found by the official census. The population given in my table runs from 102 900 in 1877 to 199 400 in 1902. That is not the population within the municipal limits, because we supply outside territory, and there are certain figures that we take from our own records.

MR. GEORGE F. CHACE. Mr. President: I should like to ask Mr. Shedd if he does not find it difficult with the shallow bells to get around curves.

MR. SHEDD. No. The possible turn of the pipe is greater,

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