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32
supplied to the consumer in London is of a very high standard
of excellence and of purity, and that it is suitable in quality for
all household purposes," and also that the Thames and Lea
Valleys may, without prejudice to the claims or material injury
to the interests of districts outside the area of Greater London,
be made to supply more than double the present population of
the Metropolis with 35 gallons per head daily.
The Commissioners recommend that the inspection of the
River Thames should be more thoroughly done than it is at
present, and that increased provision should be made, in the
form of reservoirs for avoiding the taking in of water while the
river is in a state of flood. Of all the sites that have been
suggested to them as suitable for reservoirs they consider none
in the Thames Valley so reliable as can be found upon the
London clay, only a short distance above the Hampton intakes.
This will be welcome reading alike to water drinkers and to
those whose business it is, or may become, to supply water;
and the forty-five sittings which have enabled the Commission
with confidence and authority, to give it as their unanimous
opinion, must be regarded as the best service that has been
rendered to the London public since the Duke of Richmond's
Commission sat some seventy-five years ago. From the
Thames, when required, may be taken 300,000,000 gallons a
day ; from the Lea, 52,500,000 gallons ; from wells in the Lea
Valley, 40,000,000 gallons; and from wells in the Kent
Company's district, 27,500,000 gallons; besides a further
considerable quantity, should it ever be wanted, from the
Valley of the Medway and the country to the east of it.
The Commission, as might be expected, deal with the
question broadly, without committing themselves to details.
It would be going beyond the duty of useful criticism
to discuss some of the interesting scientific, though minor,
points upon which the Commissioners adopted views adverse to
those of some of the distinguished witnesses who appeared