WATER RATES

WATER RATES

For the first time in the history of the water department of Madison, Wis., water rents are, reports state, being collected for the actual amount of water used in the past six months. Formerly the rents were paid in advance and were based on the amount of water consumed during the previous six months. The total amount of water rent due for the past six months aggregates $40,067.08. It is classified as follows: Commercial purposes, $34,369.63; industrial, $2,814.10; municipal, $2,883.35.

Because water department officials of Harrisburg, Pa., found the minimum water rate charged to the larger manufacturers far below the actual cost of pumping the water, City Commissioner William H. Lynch introduced an ordinance at a commissioners’ meeting which generally re-enacts the provisions of the old water rate ordinance, the change being in the manufacturers’ rates. Hereafter, where the daily consumption is 200,000 or more gallons, the charge will be three and a quarter cents per thousand gallons. Under the old ordinance, the rate varied according to the consumption of water in excess of 200,000 gallons. For a million gallons and over the rate was two and one-half cents per thousand, between 750,000 and 1,000,000 gallons the rate was two and three-quarter cents and from 500,000 to 750,000 it was three cents. The water department officials estimate that the cost of pumping water now is .035 cents per thousand gallons, as against an average of .027 cents in previous years.