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adequate in quantity and quality, and, if not, whether such supply can
be obtained without going outside the watersheds of the Thames and
Lea. They find that the water as at present supplied is of a high
standard of excellence and purity, and they consider that it can be
used without danger provided there is adequate storage and efficient
filtration. As to quantity they show that a very large addition to the
present powers of supply of the Companies will be needed in order to
meet the requirements of the next forty years, but they find that the
means of satisfying these requirements exist within the watersheds of
the Thames and Lea, and can be made available by storage
reservoirs, increased abstraction of water from the rivers and the
sinking of wells in the chalk. They add important recommendations
for the prevention of the pollution of the rivers and for insuring the
proper filtration of the water after abstraction. The report has been
freely criticised, mainly on the ground that it cannot be considered as
a final settlement of the question, as the Commissioners have limited
their forecast to a term of 40 years. It has been pointed out that the
capacity of the Thames and Lea watersheds as sources of supply will
reach their limit about the year 1931, and then it will be impossible to
avoid turning to some outside source; and by that time the best
gathering grounds in the country, which are already being rapidly
taken possession of by other municipalities, may be lost to London.
Mr. Binnie, engineer to the London County Council, says that, bearing
in mind the long time which is required for the vast works necessary in
large water schemes, at some not very distant date—probably twenty
years hence—the people of London will have to contemplate the
exhaustion of the supplies which can be obtained in the Thames
valley and the necessity of looking elsewhere for an increased supply.
And with regard to the quality of the water it has also been pointed
out by Mr. Binnie that "there is a population of upwards of a million
"persons, and steadily increasing; draining into the Thames above the
"intakes of the Water Companies ; and, that, besides the human
"population, there are probably 1,600,000 animals inhabiting the above
"area. Consequently," he says, " it is clear that if the Thames is to be
"retained as a source of supply, the people of London must drink the
"more or less clarified excreta of this vast population. That, with
"regard to the purification of this water, Dr. Frankland has stated that
"the river is the common waterway for a large quantity of polluting