The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-22 00:00:00

T r Ufa A OF 'lA:a'

(From the Morning Poet.)

The difficulties attending the complete purification of
the Thames and the drainage of ths metropolis are
cioubtlos very great. As it now seems determined that
it shall be done—that it shall be Cone by the present
authorities, and at the expen.e of the cay, it may be
well to make a short rd-un.4 of the subject, and the
theories and errors that have been promulgated thereon.
Toe principal difficulties are these :—The only outlet
for the sewage is a tidal river ; that is one which runs
westward for thirteen hours, and back again eastward
for eleven hours, out of every twenty-fur. The couctli
through which it runs is a dead fiat fir many miles,
and there are numerous large and important towns on
its banks wboi.e welfare natr4 be cmaidered. Besides
this, an extensive district which is to be drained is
F carcely above high-water mark. It is only when the
tide is down the sewa,:e from this can escape, and these
sewers are scarcely emptied when the tide rises again,
and carries the filth up the river to descend again by the
next ebb, and oscillate backwards and forwards through
the very centre of the most densely-populated city in
the world,

Several remedies have been proposed. One, the for-
mation of gigantic brick tunnels and erections of enor-
mous steam engines, by the combined means of which
the sewage may be party enticed and partly compelled
to make its way to a point below Barking-creek ; othir
the cutting of two open rivers rf au on each
side of the T:ian:ee :wits convey the matter down to
Reach. These black Tartaresque floods will not
be offensive, say their prof-ctors, fur we can always ad-
mit enough water fr m the Thames to dilute their con-
tents, forgetting that, when diluted, as now, by the
whole volume, or rather when the whole Thames is pcl-
lilted by them, the smell is intolerable. Others propose
.he narrowing the stream by enormous embankments
nn each side, utl,,r which the sewer 4 are to flow. The
objections to thie last scheme are—first, the tremendous
expense, the diiilulties of constructs in, particularly
below bridge,_ and the fact that if by means of c..;ntrac'.-
, ing the channel the river runs down quicker, it will run
back again at a corresponding rate, and, worse than all,
will bring back the filth with it again and again, as it
does now. It is true it may get rid of what are called
"the foreshores," cr shallows, whereon the mud is de-
posited ; but experiment has proved the original sin to be
in the • pollution of the flowing, 'roving, tidal
volume of the Thames itself. The remedy proposed
is merely wiping the fouled margin of the foun•
tain, net diverting the puieoned stream into other
and I.,wer channels. The objections to ihe first
scheme are the magnitude of the undertaking," the
enormous cost, stated to be five millions of money ; the
pouring all the filth at once into one part of the river,
under the very nose of severs] important tcwes ; and
last, not least, the length of time that must elapse be.
fore the works could be finished. The city may be de-
ppulated by fever or cholera befota, one ounce of
sewage can be diverted from its present channel, if no
scheme but the most full, the most entire be at once
adopted.

Bat though a great length of time must necessarily
elapse, and much money be spent, before a complete job
may be made, can nothing be dente at once to lessen the
evil—is there no ready way at once to get rid of
a large portion cf it ? It appears to us there is
if we seek it. If a man meets with a severe
accident in the etreer, we do not let him lie
there untouched till we can get the very first surgeon
in London, and the very best bandages. We try to
stanch the wounds with the first thing that conies to
hand, and send for the nearest assistance, lest he should
bleed to death before Brodie or Holt could arrive,
If we walk to the tops of Greenwich or Highgate-
hills, if we glance at any map of London with the leve's
or contours marked, we shall find, though there are
considerable traces but little above high-water mark,
that by far tho larger portion of North and South Lon-
den is actually on a hid. Let us treat of the former
Ceeapside and Piccadilly are more than 40 feet
above high-water mark—Trinity datum. Whited:lapel
and Bethnal-green are 30 feet ab ire the same, and the
whole cf Lou ion then rises raptoly northward towards
Highgate and Hamp,tead. Tne top of the Regent'e-pat k
and the heart of Islington are each one hundred and
twenty feet above high-water mark. Surely there cught
to be but little trouble in draining these high and poru-
lons districts. Be in and drain the eat once, and take
time for the difficult and low levels. Du that which is
easy at once, and be leisurely with that which craves
care and precision.
The rising grounds or hills on which the north of
London stands are intersected by two valleys—one,
commencing from the river at Blackfriars, passes in a
r.ortherly direction, and is the channel of the ancient
river Fleet ; the other ariees from the marshes to
the east of L :ndon, and has two branches, one pass-
ing westward through Hackney to Kingsland and
Islington ; the other, starting from the same point,
goes northward to Stoke-Newingt in, aed then makes
a sweep eastward to Holloway and the foot of High
gate-hilt. Through these branches of the latter
valley it has been proposed to construct sewers to
"intercept," as it is called, the present sewers—that is,
they are to be so deep that the latter may discearge
themselves into the now sewers, and so convey the filth
away to soiee peiet down the river where tLe volume of
water is ao great that it shall be so diluted as to be corn-
pat atively harmless—at any rate, so far that the ttde will
not carry it back to London. This course appears so
obvious and so feasible tbat it seems marvellous it was
not set about and finisee i long ago. But, like most
thiegs in England, we are not content with what is good,
but must strive after something better; arid then we get
into heavy difficulties aad expenses, and the end is, no-
thing is done at all, but the old evils and nuisances re-
main. No I we must have one gigantic seherne ; high
arid low, difficult and easy must be joined together, and
the result bas been that neither the skid of our engineers
nor the depth of cur pockets can carry out the whole
withott inordinate taxation and a delay of five long
year?. "Le mieux est I'ennemi du bien," is a good
French proverb; it would be well if it eJuld be natura-
lised here.

Now, let us inquire whence comes this obstructiveness,
One of the first dogmas laid down was to provide for
the increase cf population. This in many instances is
proper, but not when time and circumstances press
heavily The wisest course with regard to the future,
perhaps, is to do as a new railway often does—to buy
land enough for two lines, but to lay down only one till
the increase of traffic justifies it. Of course, as a first
step, this provision for posterity, the planning sewers
not only for the present but the future, very touch in
creased the amounts of the wimetes. The sec nd great
cause of expanse was, that it was determined the new
sewers should take off all the ra:n water as well as the
sewage,acdc ,nst quently it wa necessary that they should
be large enough to carry away the greatest quantity of
water that had ever been known t r fall in the shortest
space of time. This was sub equently much modi-
fied, but at the estimated rates of a fall of a quarter
of an inch of rain in twenty-four hours, and of the pas-
sage of thirty gallons of sewase water for each individual
of the population, in the same time, the size of sewer
required for the former was double that of the latter.
The sewers, therefore, as planned, were three times as
large, and three times as costly as they would have been
if intended to carry efr sewage only. The method of
calinlating the fall of rain seein, a'so to have been very
artiirary. In the City, where every acre is covered
with either roofs or paving, all the water tat fa is from
the heavens (sxcept that which may be evaporated) must
go down the sewers; but in districts where every h .use
has a garden the larEest portion of the raiu is absorbed
by the tlirsty earth, and the surplus soaks slowly down
till it meets with some stratum not permeable, where
it forms what are technically called "land springs,"
which never get into sewers at all, and yet no such dis-
tinction seems to have been made in the calculation. 8.. t
though it is clearly desired to prevent filth fhwing into
the river, what hurt can rain do! Can there be any
ohjectioN to this flowing into the Thames ! The mud
from the streets is removal by flop carts, and cf the
little that finds its way down the gull-ye the chief coal-
ponent part is the abraision from the tranite. By all
me, ne let this be prevented from going ultimately into
the riv.r if it be found injurious, but let us immediate/y
divert the filth and disregard the mud. One is inuxt-
ou., the other poisonous ; one affects the eye, the other
touches life. It appears to us that nothing is more.
easy than to do this. Let the ordinary sewageP"igont
t
the new channel, the new iuterceptirg sewer; hn
lot
the flushes of rain, let the storm-waters, when hischan-
nel is fall, rise and pass off by the old existing Sewers
t;11 the low level intercepting sewer is completed.
But there was another oircuuotance often moaned
e t
e threeria.p- laorukr, hf
from
som of
over as a cause of great difficulty and expense. It
would be easy to draw the ew
North London to the verge of the
v oif
whence there is the ample fall of 30 feet, or five feet per
mile, to Barking Creek. But, oh ! the difficulty, the
ground fells so rapidly at this first named point, that 20
sluggish course is nearly level to Berkiog,
feet are lost at once in the first half-quarter of a mile, and
ahnednatn uhentuasrudaylly large sewer must be made to convey
away its lazy contents. A. Roman engineer would at
once have solved the difficulty, by making his "conduc-
tus" an acqueduct, or placing it on an embankment.
Now, this would peculiarly suit the condition cf
ihe land, for the works would then pass over the nnriL-
sble River Lea, and save the ea t es:l,ec-e of sending
"'vests ntoler its u. d, and would give a real y and Key
tuft to whatever outlet might eventually be decided upon.
Common sense tells us high lands may, with the same
current, be drained to a much greater distance than
lower levels. Why, then, should al the sewers discharge
at (me point ! Let the sewage of the high lever be sent
out further to sea than that of the low district, The
difficulties of engineering would be much diminished ;
and Erith and Giaveeend would no longer complain of
the vast masse f filth proposed to be poured out before
their windows in ene dense volume. The same ason•
tug apilies to the south of Loot on as to the north.
The main difficulty has been cleared away by Parlia-
ment. The sources are now defined, and the funds can
now be legally raised. Want of money is now no ob
stacle. But rumour states there is still to be Edo i.-
ing, theorising, temporising, speechifying, and squab-
bling among the board, from whom so long we have
expected o much and have got nothing but alk. If
this be so, representative institutions are rot only or,
t'reir trial, but on the broad, precipitous road 'o 'iatred
and contempt. Let no hour be lost. All plant any;
lay.:ls have been taken months—years ago. Let pm pa
rations be made and contracts entered into dire: tly tot
relieving the Thames of three-fourths of its but,anee
and let this be carried out, within a few months. L'
eto er and 'wire difficult f llow in due course. If

not, let us acknowledge the imbicility f all cone, reed.
4,hd, as Tatquin bent to the EtruecaLs to construct the
vast Cloaca maxima t 3 drain Rome, let us send t(
France, or let us erg le the Russian ergiceer who
eleveu.days falified bebastopd, and save our lives by
acknowledging the ignorance of our agents.