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Show :i ; 10 Til COSf OFWlBi MAI EMMKSASS CKI Residents, Who Have Been ! Paying a Much Higher Rate, Will Probably Demand De-mand Return, of Money. As a result of the disclosure brought out in the water discussion discus-sion arising out of the Liberty park wells project, which the citizens want, but the administration does not want, a number of suits are likely to be filed against the city for serious overcharges for supplying supply-ing the fluid to former owners of water rights before the city took over the work of supplying water. Hundreds of rights are involved and water users are now trying to ascertain why the city, after making ma-king an ironclad covenant to sell them water at cost, has been charging them more. The act of the city authorities In charging the outBide figure for water has cost one user over $400 a year for many years. ' He is preparing to force the city to sell to him at cost hereafter. Others are following his lead. . . burst In Lamb's canyon let such a deluge del-uge of filth into the water mains. E. T. Love of 963 South Eighth East ' 'street is another to complain of th city water. He thinks it should ' be analysed and the analysis made public so the people can see for themselves what they are getting in ' the shape of potability. Since the water became so scarce, he complains. It has become more or less impure, and of late his wife has been .unable to drink it. -As a consequence he has been compelled to secure water from a flowing well on Eighth South between . Seventh and Eighth East streets. These waters are pure and palatable and since they began be-gan using them his wife has not been iU. . - - ... . Well Is PatronlMd. An employee of The Telerram, who lives at Second East and Fifth South, has had the same trouble and has been compelled to obtain a supply of water from the flowing well at Fifth East and Eighth South. This water has a" sweet taste and is wholesome and almost al-most as cold as ice. He says that during dur-ing the last ten days people have been coming to these wells from various directions di-rections and all say that they have done so simply to get a pure supply of water which cannot be had from the water mains. It is a great - incon- -venience to have to go a mile for drinking drink-ing water, but he says it is either that or the illness of himself and his wife. JThe disclosures brought about as to the cost of water to the city by the administration ad-ministration in Its efforts to give the Liberty park wells pumping plant a black eye,- is likely to recoil in an unpleasant un-pleasant way on the city's head. Some one has discovered that there is a coy-nanUbetween coy-nanUbetween th city, and . a large number of properties, in fact all properties prop-erties north and east and north And west of the Temple, as well as many others by the terms of which the city is bounden to deliver water to the owners own-ers of the aforesaid properties "at cost," I One of these property owners was surprised to read that the city claims that it only costs 1.8 cents per thousand gallons to deliver water to his place of business. He straightway began to figure fig-ure on how much the city had escheated escheat-ed htm by charging him 8 cents per thousand gallons for water which it was bound by covenant to sell him at cost. As a result of the figuring he finds that the city has been overcharging overcharg-ing him for many years at the rate of something like 8400 per -year. He is now tackling the proposition with his lawyer to see if he: has retroactive rights in the matter, and if he finds that he has he will sooft file suit for the refund of the overcharge as well as for compelling the city to furnish him water wa-ter at cost In future. . , Tells of Agreement. i"I do not care to make my name pub-c pub-c at present.", said the gentleman, I but If you care to publish the matter s it is go ahead. The history of. the matter is this: Away back in frontier days Brlgham Young and others ap-portioned ap-portioned the city lands. The apportionment appor-tionment carried water rights, of Course. Later the city absorbed these Water rights agreeing with me and many others in fact with all who surrendered sur-rendered their rights that we should tecelve our water at Just what (t cost the city to deliver It to us. I have been paying 8 cents per thousand feet of $80 per-unit. I supposed all the time that the city was delivering the water to me at exact cost as per terms of the covenant, cove-nant, which is on file In the office of the City Recorder. Now, in the discussion-going on as to the cost of water and the expediency or non-expediency of installing a water pumping plant at JJberty park the city gives Itself away as to cost, and it develops that I have been paying an average of 8400 a year iovercharge for water lo these many years. But I am not going to do it any Jonger If there is any way of getting what I am entitled to and I think there .There Are Others. I "Nor am I the only one to whom this news comes as a revelation. There are hundreds of cltlsens who have the same kind of binding covenant with the city and several of them have begun to look the matter up with a view of getting their rights. If it costs the city 1.8 cents per thousand gallons it should cost me that and no more, and I am now making it my business to find out why I have been charged the excess." ; Much Interest has been created in the city waterworks and all kinds of persons per-sons are searching the authorities on the subject. One interested gentleman has discovered that for years, as far back as his memory harketh. the Board of Health has laid It.xelf liable to the imposition of a term in prison as well as a fine of $100 for failure to perform its duty. What Law Provides. Chapter 68, paragraph 820 of the municipal mu-nicipal laws,- makes it Incumbent on the City. Board of Health to make and publish pub-lish an analysis of the city water at least once in every three months." For a failure to do this the board shall be Imprisoned or fined not less than $100 or both. In this connection the gentleman gentle-man said he would be pleased to read the analyses of the city water from the fact that he has been compelled to buy pure water from a spring orarteslan well at Eighth South and Fifth East streets for over a week, the city water .having" made- him 111 sinoe - the cloud- |