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would be reduced to an almost infinitesimal minimum, were
the provisions of the Acts for the prevention of river pollution
duly carried out. The Commissioners are emphatic upon
this point, and also in respect of the necessity for additional
legislation to secure the prevention of such pollution, which
greatly increases the difficulty and the cost of fitting river
waters for human consumption.
Professor Frankland's Report to the RegistrarGeneral,
sets out the results of his monthly chemical analyses
and physical and bacterioscopic examinations of the waters
supplied by the several Water Companies. The weather in
1893, save in the months of February and October, was very
favourable for the operations of the companies ; and, excepting
in February and March, the water delivered by the
Thames companies was of excellent chemical quality. More
storage capacity, however, is required by the several companies.
The East London Company possesses more storage than
any other company, viz., for fifteen days; but even this was
" not sufficient to circumvent the long flood of February."
Notwithstanding this remediable defect, the samples of
water examined were invariably clear and bright; for, even
when analysis showed the admission of flood water, the water
actually supplied to consumers was always efficiently filtered,
clear and transparent. The average temperature of the different
waters is remarkably uniform throughout the year, but the
monthly variation in the case of river waters is great: the
temperature of the deep well waters, on the other hand, is
practically constant throughout the year. The Kent
Company's water varied only from 51"8° Fahr., in January, to
55-6° in June, a range, therefore, of only 4 8" ; that of the
Thames waters being 35'3°, viz. from 35'8°, in January, to 71T°
in August. The deep well water is thus " cool and refreshing
in summer, and is less likely to become frozen in the service
pipes in winter; whilst river water at 71T° is unpleasantly