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attempt to put this bye-law into operation. Under certain
circumstances and in many situations no harm is likely to resul???
from sewage percolating into the soil from cesspools. Where such
cesspools are constructed in the chalk or are made to pierce the
impervious stratum overlying the chalk there can be no justification
for a departure from the regulations of the model bye-laws. It is
true that a watertight cesspool soon becomes full, but this difficulty
can be met either by the provision of a pump or where the soil and
levels are suitable by arranging for the overflow on to or just below
the surface of the soil. Under such circumstances the disposal of
sewage on the gathering ground of public water supplies may be
continued without risk, but it is far otherwise when cesspools are
allowed to be built in defiance of bye-laws, and in such a way as to
encourage the direct flow of sewage under 20 or 30 feet of pressure
into porous chalk. Of course it may well happen that even under
such circumstances sewage may percolate into the chalk and may
not find its way into any water supply on account of the chalk at
that particular spot being comparatively free from fissures, but the.
unsatisfactory point of the whole matter is the absolute impossibility
of guaging this risk without undertaking prolonged
investigation of each cesspool under varying conditions. I am
therefore strongly of opinion not only that the water authorityshould
take all possible steps within its own area to prevent
unpurified sewage finding its way into the wells, but that the Local
Government Board should assist in preventing contamination from
sources outside the Borough by insisting that cesspools should not be
in direct communication with water bearing strata from which
drinking water is derived. It has been suggested in certain quarters
that there is some hardship in asking owners and occupiers of
houses not to turn unpurified sewage into the vast underground
reservoir from which wells in the chalk derive their supply. Such a
contention would, I believe, be regarded as monstrous were the
reservoir situated in the full light of day so that all could see what
damage they are doing to their neighbours. Be this as it may I am
convinced that all populous places on the chalk should be sewered
and that all isolated cesspools should be made watertight, and
arrangements made either for their periodical emptying or for their
overflow to discharge on to the surface of the soil where it could
undergo purification without risk.