The Water Inspector Who Shut Off Seattle’s Lawn Sprinklers
Seattle’s water superintendent cracks down on out-of-hours sprinkling on Renton Hill, turning off service until offenders pay—and finally restoring pressure.
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 rigorous measures taken by Superintendent Jackson of the water department to stop the sprinkling of lawns out of hours have so effectually checked the waste of water that there is now abundant pressure on Renton Hill, with much less work done by the Broadway pump. After the passage of the ordinance by the city council last Tuesday, Mr. Jackson appointed an additional inspector and sent all three of them into the residence districts with instructions to shut off the water from all residences where sprinkling has been carried on out of hours unless the residents paid for the extra water used.
It was found that many prominent citizens were among the guilty parties, and some of them not only sprinkled their lawns out of the legal hours, which are between 6 and 8 o'clock morning and evening, but were squandering the water on the sidewalks and streets, which is strictly forbidden. In every case, without fear or favor, the water was shut off from the offenders, although they kicked vigorously. They were ordered to go down to the water office and pay the additional tax before it would be turned on again.
The result was that there was such a great decrease in the consumption of water in the affected district that not only was there an abundance of water on Renton Hill yesterday, but the Broadway pump on Thursday only had to pump 1,400,000 gallons, while four days previous it was pumping 1,600,000 gallons a day and still Renton Hill was kicking.
Superintendent Jackson has accomplished this result without taking advantage of the ordinance passed by the council the other evening authorizing the board of public works, if necessary, to shut off the water entirely in certain districts in certain hours of the day.
“In every case, without fear or favor, the water was shut off from the offenders, although they kicked vigorously.”
Seattle still argues over water: who gets it, when, and whether the rules apply to prominent households. In 1894 the answer was an inspector at the curb and a shutoff valve; today it is drought restrictions and rate tiers.
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