Tacoma’s Costly Water Scandal
City officials discover that the expensive gravity-fed water system sold to the public is a fiction, sparking a search for accountability.
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.
Inasmuch as the Tacoma Light and Water Company's guaranteed 7,500,000 gallons of daily flow at Patterson's springs has turned out to be millions of gallons short, the board of public works is looking for other sources of supply. The total loss per diem is 12,500,000 gallons. Mr. Demorest, of the board of public works, suggests that the public was misled by 'boomers' and speculators. 'The water company advertised to sell a gravity system,' he noted. 'Without the Patterson springs flow, it is not a gravity system. There was misrepresentation.' It is suspected that many votes for the city's purchase of the plant were bought, and the city may now be forced into a long legal struggle to hold the company responsible while scrambling to find water elsewhere.
“We recommended to the city council that such an investigation be made, but were informed plainly enough that we were too fresh.”
The 'Tacoma Water Swindle' reflects the recurring struggle between public infrastructure needs and private profit motives. Much like modern debates over utility franchises and municipal bonds, 1890s voters were left holding the bag for promises that never materialized.
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