The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-07 00:00:00

THE WATER SUPPLY.

It is related of a certain physician that, wishing to
place some restrictions upon the appetite of a patient
who was not conformable to orders, he requested the
servant to place carefully aside En equal portion of
every article of food, whether solid or fluid, which the
invalid consumed for his dinner. The servant obeyed,
and the doctor, then converting the whole by a little
manipulation into a hodgepodge something analogous
to the celebrated Douglas larder, presented himself
before the unconscious valetudinarian, bowl in hand,
and displayed to his astonished eyes the formidable
compound, "This, sir," said he, " this is the stuff
which you expect your digestive organs to assimilate."
Now, we propose to do fur all those who are in the
habit of thoughtlessly imbibing London water
what the physician did for his patient, and show
them what it is which they gulp down. If they
are not converted on the spot we at all events
have discharged our conscience. In performing this
duty we are much assisted by the report of which we
have already published a summary, lately drawn up
by the metropolitan officer of health, Mr. Simon. It
can no longer be said that a hasty or an imperfect
view is taken of a question vital to this great popula-
tion, when we can point to such testimony, both as
regards the nature of our present water system, and
the character of that which is proposed to supersede
it. Let us consider the fluid which we now from
habit dignify with the name of water, as it exists at
its sources, as it is modified by its journey, as it is
operated on by the machinery of distribution. It
will not be difficult to prove that he who teems it
water when arrived at its ultimate destination, is
guilty, to say'the least, of a suppressio veri ; it is no
longer water as a specific compound of oxygen and
hydrogen : it is water + a+ b+c+d + &c.
In the first place, it holds in solution certain earthy
salts which impart to it a general character of
hardness. What the effects of this item of its com-
position are in a commercial view may be gathered
from the experiments of Mr. Taylor, who estimates
" that the pipe-water of the city of London, used
without boiling, consumes from 13 to 19 times as
much soap as distilled water would consume." What
the effects are in the medical point of view, Mr.
Simon, quoting the authority direct and indirect of
three well known physicians, considers to be almost
incalculable. In the absence of actual proofs, or of
proofs which might not be contested, we will not
accuse the water of the London companies of having
other than such admixture at the source. If they
tend originally to dyspepsia on the one hand,
and to a despairing answer to the popular
query about soap on the other, this is sufficient
charge to begin with. We will pass to the
mode of conveyance. " These waters," says Mr.
Simon, " are conducted to the metropolis in open
channels; they receive in large measure the sur
face washing, the drainage, and even the sewage
of the country through which they pass; they derive
various casual impurities ; and then, on their arrival
in the metropolis, are distributed without filtration to
the public." These contracted impurities are, he adds,
in quality identical with those which render Thames
water, taken at London-bridge, unfit for domestic
uses. And more, these waters are distributed only at
intervals through metallic mains and street pipes.
They are exposed to whatever new contamination
metallic pipes are liable to impart, or which storage in
private receptacles supplies. By the time, therefore,
that we avail ourselves of them the abstract formula
may he thus filled up :
a. Impurities in the way of earthly salts, and pos-
sibly of a great variety, incidental to the geological
formation in which the waters rise.

b. Impurities from fresh absorption of inorganic
matters furnished by the soil through which the
aqueduct is carried, or of organic matters which are
liable to accumulate in open streams.
c. Impurities from storage in open reservoirs by
absorption from a foul atmosphere, or from decompo-
sitions going on in the fluid itself.
d. Impurities contracted in the metallic channels
through which they are distributed, or in the cisterns
in which they are retained for private use.
Now this, we beg to say, is no exaggerated cata-
logue, but a simple statement of undeniable facts.
With these facts before us, we should be naturally
inclined to say, as Hood says of the Thames water,
reflecting on the purposes which it subserves, "Think
of it: drink of it then, if you can." But we have,
further, the highest chymical and the most un-
questionable medical authority for saying, that
such fluid is unsuited for all general uses and detri-
mental to the health of man. We have, again, the
uncompromising assertion of Mr. Simon that, on
the ground solely of its being intermittent, the pre-
sent water system is to be condemned as an engine of
general purification. "Itis my duty," he says, "to
tell you that the present condition of the water trade
contributes to neutralize the advantages which the en-
forcement and execution of house drainage have con-
ferred." Again, " There can be no doubt of the ex-
treme degree in which it is desirable for the poor that
water should be supplied to their houses on the prin-
ciple of constant supply." It would be impossible to
have stronger official intimations that, whether as re-
gards the ordinary uses of life, the operations of trade,
the functions of the human organism, or the sanitary
condition of all classes, our present water system is
totally and irremediably bad.
We have before now attempted to show that the
water service of this metropolis is not so entirely
a commercial question as that it can safely be
emancipated from legislative control. The experi-
ence of Mr. Simon confirms this proposition. "In
every practical sense," be says, " the sale of water is
a monopoly. The individual customer, dwelling in
Cripplegate or Farringdon, who is dissatisfied with
his water, can go to no other market, however legiti-
mate his claim, to be supplied with this prime neces-
sary of life at its cheapest rate, in the most efficient
manner, and of the best possible quality." Legisla-
tive control, we repeat, is demanded by the state of
the case, and what the value of the change is there
are not wanting precedents to show. The people of
Glasgow substituted soft water for hard, and in two
years their physicians could speak with confidence of
the abatement of dyspepsia and calculous disorders.
At Wolverhampton, in 1849, the system of supply,
which had previously been intermittent, was made
continuous; the immediate effect of this change was
a reduction of twenty-two per cent. on the quantity
consumed, and within ten months the number of
customers rose from 600 to 1,400. We have now in
our power a reform from which as much might be
hoped for the substantial good of the com-
munity, and probably more realised to satisfy
the requisitions of trade. It is only the
practical development of resources now in our grasp
which is required to place us in the same enviable
rsition. To each of the separate evils which we
have described there is an appropriate remedy--on.
class of impurities may be got rid of by finding water
originally pure ; another, by conducting it through
channels which preserve that purity ; a third, by
making the supply constant instead of intermittent ;
a fourth, by substituting earthern for metallic pipes
as the apparatus of distribution. We had thought
that the proposition of Mr. Napier had every ap-
pearance of securing the foremost of these desiderata.
Mr. Simon, conceiving it his duty to inform himself
as to the real merits of this scheme, has visited, in
conjunction with one of our most celebrated chemists,
the site of the proposed supply. By experiment and
observation, he has placed himself in a position to
say, "That the water in question is of a quality ad-
mirably suited to domestic purposes ; that its distri-
bution through the city of London would conduce to
the health and comfort of the population ; and that
the principles proposed by the Board of Health for
its collection and conveyance appear to him such as
sanitary science in its
present condition should suggest
for the water service of the metropolis."—Times.