The sun., 1892-02-09


ways be had. as now. to the courts. Farm
ers and miners may both be happy yet.
London's Water Supply.
Sir GEORGE TREvELYAN. speaking the
other day at Gladstonian meeting in Lon
don. said it was his party's intention. when
| 1t regained possession OF the Government.
| to give tho London County Council much
larger powers than it now exercises. in
cludlng the complete control Of the water
supplied to the nearly six millions Of peo-
pie living in the British metropolis. That
| is to say, the Gladstonians. from q wish to
recover tho ground which they lost in Lon
| don six years ago. have determined to
carry out the views expressed last year by
the County Council. although they violent
| ly opposed a proposal to buy out the water
| companies when it was made in 1880 by
member OF Lord BEAcoNsF1ELD's Cabinet.
Now that an attempt is certain to be made
| to solve the problem Of the London water
! supply. it may be worth while to consider
some Of It's conditions.
Tho latest statistics available for ouc pur-
| pose are those of 1890. In that year the
population Of the metropolitan district was
estimated at 5661. $40, and the average daily
| supply of water was 175.149,1SS gallons. OF
which nearly 90. .OOO. 900 were drawn from the
Thames. and little over $4,000. 900 from the
river Leo and various artesian wells. At
| that time only 62 per cent. OF the houses in
the district were kept under constant sup
| ply. It follows from these figures that the
average daily supply per head Of the popu-
| lation was 80 93-lOO gallons. To what ex-
tent the delivery Of water can be expanded
is manifestly question Of capital impor-
tance. .inasmuch as the population Of London
increases at an average rate Of about 100.-
600 year. and as the County Council de-
sires to signally augment the percentage Of
houses kept continually supplied. On this
point we have the following data: First the
quantity OF water which the companies are
now empowered by law to draw from tho
Thames basin is 13OOO0, 900 gallons a day.
but competent engineers have averred that
by the construction Of storage reservoirs
in the upper part of the basin the amount
drawn off might be raised to 100000 600
gallons per diem without detriment to the
river. Assuming. what seems to be gen.
orally admitted. that the intake derivable
from the Lee and the artesian wells will
not at all events fall short OF sO.OOOO 600 gal
Ions. we shall have to compute the whole
don. after the completion OF the reser-
voirs suggested. at sOO.oOO.O0O gallons
| day. This would be equivalent to daily
consumption Of 25 gallons per head for
! twelve millions Of people. Such q daily al
| lowance would be somewhat less than that
now furnished. which. as we have seen. is
no. -
| favorably with that with which cities and
| towns in the English provinces content
| themselves. Thus in Birmingham the av-
| erage daily consumption per head is Is
gallons. in Liverpool it is IA 4-1O. in Man
chester it is only 10 gallons. In twenty
provincial cities and towns the mean
daily quantity OF water consumed per head
| is 10 $40 gallons. It is clear that London is
even now much more lavishly supplied than
other centres of population in England.
What would it cost to buy out the London
water companies? When the purchase was
contemplated by the BEAcoNsFIELD Minis
| try, Mr.. W. H. SMITH estimated the value OF
| the works and franchises at SlGO.OOO. 900.
| There was q great outcry at the magnitude
| OF these figures. and the Ministry for that
reason. and partly because it was on the eve
OF dissolving Parliament, determined to
withdraw its proposition. AS to what the
companies would now ask for their property.
no authoritative statement has yet been
made. but it Is certain that they have laid
| out great deal OF money since 1880 in i'm
proving both their storage works and their
| apparatus for purifying river water. On
this last-named subject. by the way. some
interesting data are forthcoming from DR..
| FARMLAND. the Government chemist,
who has made series OF reports to
the Local Government Board. Thus in 1888
he showed that in the preceding twelve
years the companies had expended almost
SIC, 6,0O0, 900. not only in extending the ca
pacity Of their reservoirs. but in increasing
the areas OF filtration and improving the
quality Of the supply. In 1884 and 1885 DIR.
FARMLAND testified to a still further dim
mutton in the fluctuations OF quality. and
in 1880 he declared that every sample col
lected was perfectly clear and transparent.
and that during the greater part OF the
year the river waters had contained only
very moderate amount OF organic matter
What should we understand by the words
every moderate 1t appears that the
maximum amount Of organic matter de-
| CecLeO curing tne lasC uWenUy-tnree years
in the waters OF the thames and Lee was
found in 1869. when 1t was much under half
grain per gallon. In 1890 the maximum
quantity discovered was less than one-sev-
enth OF grain. 1t is. nevertheless. adj
mitted by DR.. FARMLAND that such an
amount Of animal matter. small as it is.
may be accompanied by zymotic poisons
dangerous to health. though he thinks the
chance OF such poisons reaching the con-
sumer greatly reduced both by the sys-
tematic filtration and by care to exclude the
flood waters from the reservoirs.
| The County Council takes much less OPP
timistic view OF the conditions Of the Lon
don water supply as regards both quantity
and quality than has been expressed by
civil engineers on the one hand and by
] chamists on the other. Its mamhers insist