. The mastery of water. ,that at one time the water needed for drinking andhousehold purposes had to be fetched from a spring orwell, and they are often aware that the water supply ofa town adds very considerably to the rates. But theyare generally quite ignorant of the source of the townssupply, of the trouble to which men went to establishit, and of the debt they owe to the foresight, skill, andperseverance of the pioneers. One of the most surprising things about water supplyis the amount which is now required, compared with theamount used before the big schemes of the last hundredyears were
. The mastery of water. ,that at one time the water needed for drinking andhousehold purposes had to be fetched from a spring orwell, and they are often aware that the water supply ofa town adds very considerably to the rates. But theyare generally quite ignorant of the source of the townssupply, of the trouble to which men went to establishit, and of the debt they owe to the foresight, skill, andperseverance of the pioneers. One of the most surprising things about water supplyis the amount which is now required, compared with theamount used before the big schemes of the last hundredyears were established. When Manchester people werebeginning to feel the need of more water early in thenineteenth century, they spoke of ten gallons per head perday. Soon afterwards the estimate rose to twenty-fivegallons. Towns vary very much in their requirements,because in some cases the workshops and factories takea great deal, but from seventy to one hundred gallons perhead per day is now usually considered to be AN EASTERN WELL. 8 THE MASTERY OF WATER. This amount, however, is very often exceeded. An inquirywhich was conducted recently into the quantities used inthe nine largest cities of the United States gave thefollowing* results—? St. Louis, 100 gallons per head, per day. Baltimore, 119 New York, 120 Cleveland, 123 Boston, 130 Cincinnati, 141 Chicago, 204 Philadelphia 218 Buffalo, 322 Is it not surprising that, while the people in sometowns can manage with, say, sixty gallons a day each,those in other towns require five times as much ? Thedifference is accounted for partly by manufactures,partly by extravagance, and partly by leakage in themains. Extravagance is being checked by the use ofwater meters. It is found that when people have topay for just what they use they are much more careful toavoid waste. The loss by leakage is being stopped insome towns by a regular system of testing, which enablesthe leak to be detected at once and measures to be takento stop i
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