Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1895 — About Water Works. [ARTICLE]

About Water Works.

The Town Council of the town of Rensselaer, Indiana, ordered an election to be held on the 3rd day of September, 1895, for the purpose of voting for or against Water Works for the said town of Rensselaer, Indiana. Up to this time there has been very little said for or against the enterprise, and to many the inquiry has been, “What will be the probable cost of installing a plant for Water Works, and about what capacity will it be, and to what points in the town will it be distributed?” These, of course, are the three principal questions of interest in this matter, and we shall try in this article to state to the voters of the town of Rensselaer the facts concerning these three important questions; the cost, of course, will depend largely upon the system that is decided upon to be installed in the town, that is whether it shall tie direct pn ssure or a stand pipe and m ihe supplies which will be furnished (he capacity, and it will du re be ishown to the voters that the iirob dil« cost will not be more than *22,000 direct pressure, and say %25,000 with elevated tank, and of course this may i.e varied more or less in accordance with the plans and specifications that may afterwards be made. Now in regard to the capacity of the plant, we want to say that the town is desirous of installing a plant that will be of sufficient capacity to supply the town with water, say any where from one and a half to two million gallons per day. This of course will require two large steam pumps of seven hundred and fifty thousand or one million gallons each, per day, fmd these will be installed so as to run in alternation in the ordinajy supply of water, but in time of a fire they may both be put to work and will be connected to the same main.

The boilers will of course be of sufficient size to admit of additional machinery, if required in the future. As to the question of distribution, we would say that it is the purpose to have these mains extend out to the various limits of the town that are at present occupied and improved, and it will be left in such shape that when the improvements extend further out into the new additions that these mains can be extended so as to accommodate the entire town, When required. The erroneous idea that some have understood that these Water Works would be simply located in the business part of town should be dismissed from your mmds at once. There has never been any intention of that bind, bat if Water Works are installed in this town they wifi be put in with a view of benefittieg every property holder, and of 1 affording protection from fire to every resident property and every business property in the town of Rensselaer. It does not seem practicable for us to allow this opportunity to go by without casting our vote fob water .works, for the reason that

we are daily exposed to fire, and in o.iße we should have an extensive one we sh< uld be entirely at the mercy of the flames. The fact that we need the water works for individual supply is not the question of so much importance as a lire protection. Nevertheless, if we had had water this year t<# use our gardens and lawns would have been in muoh better condition and more profitable than they have been to us, and when we consider the benefits to be derived from this system of water works and then oompare that with the nominal cost it will b* to caon individual we oan but deoide that it is impoitant, ana ot mutual benefit to each and every citizen of the town of Rensselaer, and that we will vote to have water works established in our town. l’he question as to our ability is of course a matter to be considered, but when we take into consideration that there are people who will take our bonds and them for five, ten, fifteen and twenty years, and when this plant is once established the rentals from the water will doubtless pay more than the interest and the expense of running the plant, and at the rapid rate of increase iu our town both in valuation of property and population, the taxes necessarily assessed to meet these expenses will be but a trifle, and during all thiß time we will be enjoying the advautages of water works.

The rental for water from the water works will, in a very short time pay for the entire pla*.t. This fact has been demonstrated time and again in other towns, and some of these towns which have|[ aid for their water works are not as large as this Fowler, Monticello and Kentland ha . e all vuted on water works and it has carried there, and there is no reason why Rensselaer sho’d not keep pace with hersister to.vns and we are fully as able to have thaie necessari.s as any toun in tile State. The item of taxation should not be considered as a reason for voting against water works, as the exj enence has been in all places that they are solf-sus+ainiug, and there is no question but what this one will be before the expiration of five years. Again, our town is now rated for insurance in the fourth class, and as soon as we have a good system of water works operating in the town the insurance companies will give us a new rating and place us in the sec jnd class, which will make a material difference in the coßt of insurance, not only to business people but to the resident owners as well. I find that it will require about five miles, or 28,000 feet of mains, ranging in size from 4 to 10 inches, to supply the town, about 30 fire plugs and a pumping station.

B. F. FERGUSON.