Financing Water Main Extensions

Abstract

The function of a public water works is to furnish various services to the inhabitants of the community in which it operates. The total cost of furnishing these services must be paid by those who receive them. This applies to municipally as well as to privately owned plants. In order to make equitable charges for the different classes of service furnished, such as water for domestic, industrial, fire protection and other public uses, the costs are analyzed into their various elements, and one of the large elements is an overhead, or fixed, expense due to the large investment in the distributing system or pipe lines for bringing the water from the source of supply to the consumer, who may be many miles away. There are some fundamental differences in the methods that may be used in dealings involving financial matters by municipally and privately owned utilities. This paper will deal with the problem of financing water main extensions by municipally owned plants. The pipe system may be divided into two main classes, the distributors and the feeder mains. The distributors are the gridiron arrangement of small mains, usually six or eight inch pipes serving the individual fire hydrants and blocks of consumers located along its various lines. The feeder mains are the large pipe lines which conduct water from its source to the various sections of the city to supply the distributors. The distributors are of value only to the abutting property owners whom they serve with water and to whom they furnish fire protection. In general, an extension of distributors does not add to the usefulness of the water system, except as a means of serving the particular owners who may make connections with them. In other words, they are set apart for the use of a certain group of individuals, and can not be used by any other group. In this respect, they are different from all other parts of a water system. The source of supply,