The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-11-24 00:00:00

WATT R SUPPLY.

We have abstained hitherto from expressing a decided
opinion in favour of any of the schemes, which have been
proposed for the better supply of the town with water,
although none have advocated more earnestly than our-
selves the importance of such a supply being procured.
Before taking; or even pledging ourselves to approval of,
any step in a matter of so grave a nature, involving, in
whatever direction it may be made, a large outlay of the
public money, we have felt it our duty to pause—to weigh
evidence—and, above all, to allow to those authorities
upon whom will devolve the onus of failure, and who will
undoubtedly reap the full credit of success, time and op-
portunity to examine well the materials within their reach-,
and the best mode of using them. We have, moreover,
not hesitated in cautioning them against precipitancy of
action, and pointing out to them grounds for withholding,

for a while, their confidence in some of the authorities we
saw them consulting. We must now, however, lay aside
our reserve, and give to the public our opinions upon this
important subject.
Our readers will be aware that two schemes have been
most prominently, and it appears to us with rather unwise

urgency, placed before the consideration of the Sanatory
Committee, viz.,—Mr. Rawlinson's Bala Lake scheme,
and Mr. Hawksley's proposal to bring water from Riving-
ton Pike. The latter the committee have decided upon,
at least so far as making the necessary preparations for
going to parliament during the next session. It will per-
haps have been gathered from recent remarks, which the
subject has called from us. that our sympathies are in
favour of the rejected scheme. Its opponent, the Ri-
vington Pike project, we regard as inadequate to afford
us the supply of water required, and as most unsafe to be
relied upon for such a purpose. The attempt to collect
such a supply amongst the swamps and ditChes of Riving-
ton Pike would, moreover, to a very expensive one, on
account of the various compensation claims which would
require to be satisfied ; and, besides this, the objectiona-
ble feature of the liability of such supply to be cut off by
occasional severe and lengthened drought, places it, in
our estimation,' bore de combat.

On the other hand, when we look at the more certainly
efficacious project of bringing the supply from Bala Lake,
we are startled with the immense cost which its adoption
must entail upon the ratepayers. We want, it must be
borne in mind, cteap water as well as abundance ; and
here is an instance, in which it is not, as in ordinary cases,
the fact that abundance is the parent of cheapness. The
Bala Lake scheme could not be carried out, we agree with
Mr. Ambrose Lace, for less than a million and a half
sterling; and, judging from our experience of engineering
estimates, we are more inclined to set it down at two
millions. For the mere interest upon this outlay, with-
-.,,a-v.tcutoting-tne cost- or working at all, we snoutd-have
to pay six and eightpence per head upon our population of
three hundred thousand for a supply of water. Such a
consideration is well calculated to impel us to reject, for
the present at least, the idea of entertaining the project,
and induce us to look round, and endeavour at least to
ascertain whether there are not other and less expensive
means within our reach. The natural course then, as we
intimated last week, is. o examine first the extent of our
present resources, and the possibility which exists of in-
creasing them, so as to serve the purposes which we have
.1 I in view.

The public—a'd we do not claim any exemption for
ourselves—have been in the habit of concluding that the
capability of supply by the present companies was much
less than, in reality, we find it to be. The mistake has
originated in the fact that they have confined themselves
to doing only that required from them by their acts of
parliament—viz.: affording water, at stated intervals, to
all who choose to provide receptacles for it. The yield of
the Liverpool and Harrington works averages now 21
millions of gallons daily ; and the springs from which this
is drawn have never been known to fail or to lessen in
their productiveness. We are rather surprised to find,