The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1891-11-04
LONDON WATER PIPES.
THEY ARE NEAR THE SURFACE AND
THE WATER FREEZES.

Inc icopIe OF the City and Suburbs
Have Been Troubled with Frozen Water
Pipes for Generations, but the Pipes
VIII Never BE Placed Deeper.
II it were not for the Inconvenience
and discomfort Of the thing the plight
III which London finds itself with its
water supply frozen would be comical
to a practical Yankee. The water pipes
are frozen simply because the Briton has
never pro6ted by his experience of his
native winters. Year after year they
have freezing weather in London, and
year after year London's water pipes
freeze, burst, and there coneth d water
famine.
The LOndOnerS' water pipes freeze not
because the weather is intensely cold, but
because the pipes are insuffciently pro-
tected. Too often they are left exposed
to all the winds that blow.
Entire districts in London, square
miles, districts as large as many good
sized American cities, had their water
supply entirely stopped one winter. I'm
agine the Inconvenience, eve the dis
ttess and danger, attending such a con-
dition of things! But the fault has been
with the Londoncr, and not with the
weather. | passed through a district
thus afflicted one dismal day; and saw
the workmen digging up the road to get
at the pipes.
In the street where Use operations
were going on the supply pipes for all
the houses the pipes running in from
the water mains) were all laid within a
foot of the surface Of the ground. The
water was frozen in all the pipes. Eight
cen inches below the surface the frost
had not penetrated. But the English
man deliberately puts his supply pipes
within reach Of the frost.
a PRIMITIVE SYSTEM.
The pipes would never freeze if they
were put a few feet under ground, for
the frost in London rarely penetrates the
earth more than Il foot or two. But the
Londoner does worsethan this-he often
runs the water pipe up the outside wall
Of his dwelling, without protection of
| any sort. He has another cheerful habit,
which is fast becoming the fashion, and
which is now put in practice in all the
better class houses.
The drain pipes, at any rate those from
the sinks and bathtubs, are carried down
the outside walls, with a break at every
story, where another inlet or outlet is
made into a small open trough, from
which another pipe leads down another
story, and SO on to the bottom, where
the water flows into a gutter and thence
into the sewer. The system fully &C
complishes it's object-sewer ventilation,
but this could be equally we'll secured by
a less primitive arrangement, and with
| one that would not freeze in the winter
| and cover the side of your houses with
dirty ice.
When | said that the Londoner is not
prepared for the annual freezing Of his
water pipes | did not adhere strictly to
the truth. For the good gentleman is
| prepared in a certain way, or perhaps |
should say that the water companies are
prepared. And the preparation is pecu-
liarly British, as you will see. When
your street freezes up-that is to say,
| when it freezes down a dozen inches be-
low the surface and blocks all the supply
pipes, an official from the water COM
pany puts in an appearance, after a day
or two, and has an apparatus fixed into
a little hydrant close by the curbstone.
The apparatus consists either of a
wooden or an iron pipe, as the case may
be, which stands upright above the
ground, and which has an inch faucet
affixed to it. To this fount the entire
neighborhood must come, with pals and
pans and cans and jugs and mugs, and
| carry away the precious fluid.
WHY THE BRITON al 1T.
The water companies keep these prim-
tive plugs in stock, some thousands of
them, but it never occurs to anybody to
place the supply pipes deeper in the
ground and thus prevent freezing. This,
then, is the way the Londoner, or his