THE WATER SUPPLY OF LONDON.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5197, 17 November 1877, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE WATER SUPPLY OF LONDON.

‘ (From tho Medical Examiner.) At length a really practical scheme has boon drawn up for providing tho inhabitants of tho Metropolis with a satisfactory water supply. The proposals of Sir Joseph Bazaigotto and his coadjutors, Messrs. Bramwoll and Easton, are briefly as follows. They suggest that borings should lio made in the watur-boariiig strata to tlio north and south of tho Metropolis ; that tho water thus obtained, estimated at 16,000,000 gallons a day, should bo pumped into reservoirs nt elevations of not less than from 300 to 400 foot above tho Thames ; that a new system of mains should bo constructed under tho footways on both sides of the street, aud that these mains should bo kept constantly charged ; that each house should be supplied from them with water for drinking aud cooking purposes by moans of air-tight pressure receivers, holding from two to ten gallons ; and that hydrant jets should be placed in connection with tho mains at short distances apart. The two chief objects of tho scheme are to supply the Metropolis with pure water, in the proportion of two gallons daily to each person, aud to provide a constant water service at high-pressure for tho extinction of fires without the intervention of fire-engines. Its chief advantages, as compared with previous schemes, are, that it would entail no very excessive expenditure, aud it would interfere as little as possible witli the existing arrangements of the water companies. The minor advantages are that the drinking water of each house would be free from all liability to contamination. It would no longer be allowed to stagnate iu filthy cisterns ; or to be charged with sewer gas from untrapped overflow-pipes. It would,. in fact, be supplied t» each house as pure, as sparkling, aud as cold as at its source. The boon conferred on the dwellers in the Metropolis would bo inestimable, and unless medical science is a myth, typhoid fever would soon become a rarity amongst them, and cholera an impossibility.

As far as the scheme relates to the distribution of the water, it appears to us to be beyond criticism; but in reference to the source of the water, various questions must be satisfactorily answered before it can be unhesitatingly adopted. In the first place, it is certain that the water obtained from the chalk strata around London would be above suspicion on the score of purity ? According to some eminent engineers this is by no means certain. It might, aud probably would, be free from human contaminations, but would it be equally free from manorial pollution ? The collecting area, it must be remembered, is more highly farmed than almost any other part of the kingdom. This question, therefore, deserves the earnest attention of the Metropolitan Board of Works. Should it be answered satisfactorily, another question arises, viz,, is it fair to the populations which may in future years settle upon the area of collection to rob them of their natural water supply ? London is already pushing out advanced posts as far as twenty miles from Oharing-cross, and no one can estimate how wide an area the overgrown city may cover in course of years. In making such permanent arrangements as Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s scheme proposes, every possible future contingency should be taken into account. And unless it can be stated with certainty that the supplies which it is intended to draw upon will never be required by those who have a better claim upon them, it would appear more advisable to go further afield for our present and future wants. On the other hand, it may be suggested that the proposed supply need only be a temporary one. The Metropolis must look to the 'Thames for its eventual supply of water for all purposes. This natural source is now only prevented from being to us all that we need by our own carelessness and disregard of sanitary precautions. Rigidly exclude all human filth from our main waterway, and we may draw upon it without fear. So long, however, as it is foul and poluted we must seek for pure water in other directions, and the present scheme will supply us until we are compelled to surrender it to those who have a better claim. The elevated reservoirs would still remain to give us water at the requisite pressure ; the only difference would be that they would be filled from a new source.