The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-29 00:00:00

Forty years ago an alarm arose thicthe4WiterS'
then drawn from the tidal dm' trict of the Thames
was unwholesome and dangerouti.to health. A Royal
Commission which was then appointed to determine
its quality reported that the water of the Thames,
When free from extraneous substances, was not unfit
for domestic use, but that as it approached the
metropolis it became loaded with a quantity of filth
which rendered it improper to be employed in the
preparation of food. This report was referred to a
Committee of the House of Commons, which in July,
1828, made a report recommending that Mr. Tel-
ford be instructed to be make the surveys necessary
to enable him to recommen d a practicable and eflicaY-
cious plan of supplying !he whole of the metropolis
with pure and wholesome water. In 1834 Mr. Tel-
ford made his report, advising that the northern
partof the metropolis then supplied from the Tham,,%
should be supplied from the river Verulam, and the
southern part from the Wandle. In the same year
this report was refer' ed to a Select Committee, which
carried on a long investigation, but, owing to i'ds
being late in the session, merely reported the
4 e v
dence to the house. In 1840 the House of Lords
appointed a committee upon the subject; this
also, after examining many witnesses, owy
o
eluded with reporting the evidence to the house.
The outbreak of cholera in 1849 again drew The
Batotaern.
d
subject, and
ot ifo teoa tthh
nqnudaelri
tt
oyookf
ttoh e
investigateav atersup ptlhye.
in the following year proposed a plan for drawing a
better supply from gathering grounds in the Bagshot
Sands and in the district known as the Hind head,
to the south of Guildford. In the same year, in..a_ .
-Parliametttitry Cordfnittee in a bill renlitig
its to
f t
the
Board opal:
d y fromuofndweartNevrenta
severe
rriver
scrutiny,
etai
ny
, the earnedpor :
con-
clusions were somewhat discredited. In consequence
of this the Government appointed a scientific Com-
mission on the chemical quality of the water supplied
1850 by the severale
me
to
theco m
conclusionpani
esthat it exhibited no
in ;
and the committee
unwholesome qualities, but they recommended that
it should be protected from town sewage, and be
filtered. In 1851 the Government proposed a bill
to amalgamate all the metropolitan water companies,
and compel the new company to obtain water from
such sources as the Secretary of State might direct.
This bill was referred to a committee, which ascer-
tained that a sufficient supply of water of good
quality might be obtained from the valley of the
Thames and the other sources upon which the com-
-;e
pa u ies drew. While these discussions were going
on the tidal waters of the Thames were being gra-
dually affected by modifications in the drainage of
London. It had long been penal to allow any solid
matter to pass into the drains, but with a better sup-
ply of water to wash it away it was made compul-
sory to pass it there, and at the same time with the
extension of the population the quantity of house
drainage was largely increased. It was in these
circumstances that the Act of 1852 was passed, pro-
hibiting the companies from taking water from the
Thames below Teddington Lock, or from any tribu-
tary stream below the tidal point. In 1856, the
first year after that Act came into full operation,
the five companies obtaining their supply from the
Thames obtained an average of nearly 33,000,000
gallons a day ; in 1866 they drew nearly 47,000,000
gallons daily. The estimated number of persons
now supplied by these companies is 1,369,090.
Supposing the population should double itself within
the next 60 years the supply required would not.
exceed 100,000,000 gallons a day. But the smallest
quantity of water known to flow down the Thames
at the source of supply, in the driest time on record,
exceeds 350,000,000 gallons a day, and in a time of
flood more than 25,000,000,000 gallons have flowed
down, so that if it were thought necessary to pro-
vide a store in reservoirs the Thames will sometimes
yield in a day a sufficient supply for a whole year.
The quality of the water supplied to London has
very greatly improved since the passing of the Act
of 1852, and may be advantageously compared with
the water generally supplied to towns in England.
Still the only mode of securing water against pos-
sible causes of danger is by preventing it being
mixed with sewage or other known sources of conta-
~amcs provt es or.l3ltst -Sag.sianTelatine. to the
practicable;- and the committee from whose report.
these statements are taken—the Commons' commit-
tee on the East London Water Bills=are convinced
that the quantity and quality of the water supply •
from the Thames are so far satisfactory that there is
no ground for disturbing the arrangements made -
under the Act of 1852. The New River Company
and the East London Company, drawing their sup-
sppliresingsfroamt former
Athmewrniairie,raffLnerad(ittlhgesbnut
4,
ohoaovi,
daily), supplied nearly 38,000,000 gallons a day in
Onogo alsogallons the
1856, and 41,670,000 gallons in 1866. The popula-
tTiohne
as
vueprpalgi eeddbayi
yt 111
leomwiisnntohwe
Lestimatedo
nett
919, 4,
00080, 5,
07000.
gallon T
s; in
The the
es
ar e weatherbo nearlynd to 16e30 ,voeoos,noffio 0
gallons. ..
cient water for thepurposes of navigation. Any great
addition to the present supply would make reservoirs
for storing water requisite, but there does not seem
to be any -difficulty in constructing such works. A
bill passing through Parliament enables' the East
London Company to increase their Tottenham reser-
voir so as to store 500,000,000 gallons of water ; and
as the water at their intake is liable at certain times
to become so much contaminated as to be unfit fur
storing, the committeeon the bill introduced a clause
requiring them to make such channels of communi-
cation between the river and the reservoir as will
allow the flow of water to be regulated or cut off.
Another bill gives this company power to obtain a
supply of 10,000,000 gallons a day from the Thames,
and the committee are satisfied that there will thus
be an abundant provision of water for the eastern
part of London for many years to come. The coin-
mitteeare also satisfied that, as far as science affords the
ineansof judging, the watersupplied by the New River
and East Loudon companies is not only wholesome,
but compares favourably with that supplied by other
places. But they concur in the recommendation made
by the Rivers Pollution Committee that after the
lapse of a certain period no sewage (unless passed over
land so as to become purified) and no injurious re-
fuse should be allowed to be cast into the Lea or
tributaries. The works at Old Ford are also, un-
der these bills, to be improved. The committee
state that with these remedial measures carried into
effect, the Lea will be as free from risk of contami-
nation as the Thames, and will afford a supply of
wholesome water of unquestionable character to the
East Loudon Company at the lower source of sup-
ply, as it now does to the New River Company from
its intake near Hertford. The other company, the
North Kent, draws its water from deep wells, and
no question has ever arisen as to the quality of the
supply. The quantity, averaging 2,340,000 gallons
a day in 1856 is now more than 6,000,000 gallons.
The populition supplied numbers 237,068. The
quantity might easily be doubled. The result of
the inquiry is, in the opinion of the committee,
that London is found to have an ample supply of
good water at its doors, and all that is needed is to
stop the systematic contamination of it, and to pass
a constant supply into every house, both of which
objects are attainable and ought now to be at-
tained.

SPORTING PROSPECTS.—As from the moors of
Derbyshire. Cheshire, Yorkshire, and the lands farther
south, the most dismal accounts come in from the West-
moreland moors, blighting the hopes of local sportsmen.
The fatal disease, which seems to have fastened upon the,
grtmse to the destruction of so many thousands, has
manifested itself in our county, dechnating the birds to a
very serious extent, and rendering the chances of a good
shooting season slender enough. Dead birds, o
those ur corre-
spondents say, aro found in all directions, whil on
the wing are small anti poor. On the other hand, how-
ever, partridges and pheasants show well, being a ppon
a-
rently in excellent health as well as in good conditi
The coveys, too, are -numerous and large, affording
every promise of abundance and gatne.--Kenda/ Mercury.
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