Tacoma’s Million-Dollar Water Scandal
Citizens are fighting to repudiate a massive bond issue for a municipal water plant they claim is worth only a fraction of the cost.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Residents of the southern part of Tacoma who use water furnished by the city's plant, for which the city has been bonded for over $1,750,000, have notified the board of public works that the flume in the vicinity of Bailey street has been flooded with seepage from the adjoining hillside. They say the flume needs repairing and in its present condition allows the drainage from a district traversed by cows and goats to mingle with the city's water. In reflecting on the purchase of the plant, many citizens are joining in a discussion of some means of repudiating the transaction. There is talk of contesting the payment of interest on the bonds to carry the question of the validity of the bond issue to the United States Supreme Court, on the ground that the state supreme court erred in approving the balance of the bonds. While the plant may be made to pay interest on $1,750,000 in bonds, it is estimated by a competent engineer to be worth no more than $500,000.
“The city is forced to face the music and take up with what it purchased, viz: a water plant, which may be made to pay interest on $1,750,000 bonds, but intrinsically is not worth one penny above $500,000.”
This 1894 report on the 'Tacoma water steal' reflects an enduring skepticism regarding public infrastructure projects in Washington, where cost overruns and questions of civic valuation frequently dominate political discourse. The frustration of citizens over paying for an inflated asset that delivers substandard quality echoes modern battles over utility rates and public service accountability.
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