The balance is the city’s portion for public property and street and alley sections which is charged to the general city fund. The city used 275,498,112 gallons of water, costing $28,416.65 including $8,800 for hydrant rental. The average rate of assessment per foot front is about .017¢. In some cities where water is unavailable outside of city limits, or available only for a short time, oil has been used to meet the demands for dust prevention. What seems to be the best is some non-volatile oil that will quickly penetrate the wearing surface of the road incorporating itself with the fine particles so that it forms a dense, smooth, waterproof coating, or else renders the surface dressing so heavy that wind will not hold it in suspension in the air. In addition to this its non-volatile character gives it lasting qualities.
The Milwaukee Bureau of Municipal Research believes that “The service at its best is of no value as it does not clean but only allays dust on the street where in its wet condition it requires a further process of cleaning by the squeegee or flusher and White Wings. If the city had a sufficient amount of modern equipment to clean streets more frequently, the valueless method of sprinkling could be eliminated and an enormous expense saved.”
In some cities street railway companies are required to sprinkle between their tracks and for certain distances on either side of the track. The legal question has several times arisen, whether a Municipal corporation has authority to enact an ordinance to compel railway companies to sprinkle in this way and also whether the particular ordinance in question is reasonable, or so unreasonable as to be void. Generally speaking it has been decided that such an ordinance must be specific, not burdensome, and confined to the company’s tracks, though in one case in Massachusetts, under the statutory powers conferred upon municipal authority, an ordinance requiring sprinkling from curb to curb was sustained. Courts have held that an ordinance providing that “each and every Company or Corporation operating street car lines within the limits of the city of ——— shall water their tracks so as to effectually keep the dust on the same laid,” and provides a penalty for its violation, is neither indefinite nor wanting in uniformity.
The question of sprinkling streets before sweeping has been discussed repeatedly. Following are the methods used in some cities:
New York.—Sprinkling before machines. No sprinkling before hand sweeping.
Chicago.—Sprinkling before sweeping. The Chicago Code of 1911 requires that street car companies shall keep well sprinkled with water in a manner satisfactory to the Commissioner of Public Works, all streets on which they maintain and operate their tracks. They are required to sprinkle such streets twice each day. By another section such street car companies shall clean such portions of streets as lie between the two outermost rails of such tracks and also every additional service as may be prescribed in any railway ordinance relating to or affecting any street.
Philadelphia.—The proposals and specifications for the cleaning of streets, roads, alleys, inlets and markets for 1915, contained the following provision: In addition to the cleaning by blockmen required under these specifications, all streets must be periodically cleaned by machines, the number of weekly cleanings being given in the classification of streets, the remaining machine work shall be done with machine brooms immediately preceded by sprinklers.
St. Louis.—Sprinkling before sweeping is very rarely done, except in the case of certain large sweeping machines used by the city.
Baltimore.—Sprinkles before sweeping.
Pittsburgh.—Principal thoroughfares including all streets in business district cleaned by machine sweepers. Water cart precedes sweeping machine. The cart must never be more than one block ahead of the sweeper.