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West Middlesex Company 32.8 gallons. For domestic purposes,
the daily supply throughout the Metropolis, by the several
Companies, averaged 220 gallons per house. The average daily
supply per house was as follows:—by the Chelsea Company
280 gallons, by the Grand Junction Company 255 gallons, and
by the West Middlesex Company 216 gallons.
Filtration.—Provision was made by the Metropolis
Water Act, 1852 (sec. 4), for the efficient filtration of the
water before distribution. Testimony is uniform that this
provision is duly carried into effect. The late Sir Francis
Bolton, the first Water Examiner appointed under the Water
Act of 1871, laid down the conditions necessary to secure this
object; viz., (1) storage in subsiding reservoirs of capacity
sufficient to avoid the necessity of intake of flood water; (2)
a sufficient area of properly constructed filter beds; and (3)
the limitation of filtration to a certain speed, represented by the
passage of about 540 gallons per square yard of filtering area
in 24 hours, or 2£ gallons through each square foot of surface
per hour. These conditions are complied with by the several
companies. Whatever the condition of the water when taken
from the river, or passed on to the filtering beds, the filtered
water, as delivered to consumers, is uniformly bright and clear
In former reports I have described the mode and apparatus of
filtration, and to these reports I would refer anyone desirous
of information on the subject.
To sum up, there can be little doubt, that, taken altogether,
the water supplied to the Metropolis, is of good chemical
quality. It has improved much of late years, and it would
appear to be capable of being made everything that can be
desired, so as to meet the requirements of all but the
super-fastidious.