Tapping the Source
Tacoma prepares to test new municipal wells to bypass private water monopoly pricing.
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.
The three wells put down near South 56th Street to increase the city's water supply are ready for testing as soon as the electric power wires are strung. Contractor L.V. McConihe stated the wells will yield between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 gallons every 24 hours. Water will be raised by two duplex electrically driven air compressors. The total cost to the city will be about $16,000. It is certain that the people of this city will insist on the putting in of municipal water at the earliest possible moment, but they will never again consent to be 'held up' by any private corporation and made to pay exorbitant water rates.
“They will never again consent to be 'held up' by any private corporation and made to pay exorbitant water rates.”
The push for municipal control over essential utilities like water to combat predatory corporate pricing is a central theme in Tacoma’s long history of civic activism and infrastructure ownership.
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