WATER SUPPLY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 766, 15 March 1910, Page 6

WATER SUPPLY.

(. LONDON'S GREAT SCHEME. TO COST .£6,200,000. v it Telegraph—Press Association—Gopjrrlgbt. London, March 13. ■The"London 'Waterßoard proposes to a Boheme, costing .'£5,200,000, V;; to supply London with water until 194-1, s-hen a scheme- for. the supply, of 420 million' galloiis may. be required.-,-Tho latter ' 'would> give thirtj--fivo gallons, daily for eachof twelve million people.

' THE WATER BOARD.

The, Metropolis 'Water Act, 1902, constituted a - Water- Board, called th< • . "Metropolitan .Water Board," . for, • purpose of purchasing ,and carrying oi the nnderbkiiigs of' the-. eight ~Metropolitan water companies. -,in .1904. the: undertakings of the' companies'passed to and vested in the Water BoardJ'who also took- over ■ aIV the debts and liabilities of the companies," inclnd- . v -ing their, debenture, stock.-. The net cost - of the: acquisition of - the several undertakings was .£31,149,005 cash, exclusive of the .debenture stocks and ..mortgage loans .transferred from the comnanies to, the Board* under Section 2 of tlie Act, which amounted - in ■ all to ,£11,624,948 stocks. • The '-.statutory area of supply covers - over 5.3,709 miles, andfeomprises the whole -,v of the'administrative County of London, and parts of Essex, Hertford, Kent, .; Middlesex, and.Surrey. The total.quan- • tity of. .water - "supplied,' in-. . 1907-8 , was )0,170,'867,952- ; gallons';: in .1900-7' "it' was ■: 82,125,249,347 / gallons, and in ' 3905-6 79,572,570,244 gallons.': The. average:.daily supply was in 1907-8 219,046,087 gallons, in ; ; 1906-7 225,000,683' gallons,and', -in £15,007,041 gallons. The :average estimated population supplied in 1907-8 was 6,943,412, - *nd the supply per head per day was 31.55 gallons. - • .'V ■ The Board's works include' 62 subsiding - Mid storage reservoirs" for ,'unfiltered . water, area 1497 acres, capacify.B,9l3,6oo,ooo - gallons, equal'tio' the .'supply required for ; 40.69' days; 161 filters, area', 161.91','acres, firing a capacity., of ! .87, acre per 1,000,000 gallons'daily supply. of -fiUered water; 78 ■ service reservoirs, area : 56.74- acres, capacity," 243",142,000 ' 'gallons;-■ or -1:11 " day's lupply; 53 wells and'springs;; 37 pumping •••''- stations .other "than' wells;.'2s7.'.engines, with ,34,645 h.p.; ' 6115 7 miles" :of wateruipes, and 66,809 public; fire''hydrants and ire-plugs. -. • • .-- • :