The Secretary of War's Concern Over Water Waste at Chicago

On March 3, 1925, the Secretary of War issued a permit for the operation of the Chicago Drainage Canal, which contains a provision illustrating a new way in which federal control may be exercised over the administration of municipal water departments. The nation-wide control exercised indirectly by the United StatesPublic Health Service through its determination of the quality of water for passengers on interstate carriers is familiar to all water works men. The federal control now assumed by the Secretary of War is strictly local, applicable only to the City of Chicago, and is exercised to curtail the long notorious waste of water there. The Secretary does not even leave the methods of reducing waste to be determined by the City, but makes his permit for the continued operation of the Drainage Canal contingent upon the adoption by the City within six months of a project for metering 90 per cent of the water services, to be executed at the rate of 10 per cent a year. This summary order, for it amounts to such, is so unusual in the history of water works affairs that an outline of the complicated conditions leading to it may be of interest, particularly as the water and sewerage problems of Chicago are now being considered by two Congressional committees and an international engineering board, and they seem likely to attract attention for some years to come. The subject has two quite different aspects, which will be explained separately. The first is the development of the methods of protecting the city's water supply against pollution by sewage, and the second is the growth of serious controversies with public and private interests arising out of the operation of the Drainage Canal. The historical feature must be kept in mind because it has had a deep and justifiable influence on the actions of the authorities of Chicago, the Sanitary District and the State of Illinois in dealing with the problems arising in connection with the City's water supply. Knowledge of this history will show the inaccuracy and unfairness of the assertion occasionally made that the Sanitary