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109
WATER SUPPLY.*
Much of what was said on this subject in the
Report for 1894 holds good for 1895, and it will be
unnecessary to do more than direct attention to
those particulars in which 1895 differed fron 1894.
Professor Frankland observes that the raw
material from which the companies drew their
supplies was more favourable for purification in
1895 than it was in 1894, and that the Thames
water, as distributed to consumers, was of a better
average quality last year than in any of the
four years immediately preceding.
All the samples from the mains of the "West
Middlesex and Grand Junction Water Companies
were found to be "clear and transparent" when
examined for transparency. The results of the
chemical analyses of the waters of these two
companies during 1895 are set out in Table 31, the
average results for 1894 and 1895 being contrasted
in Table 32.
From the figures given above it appears that
last year's supplies were chemically purer than
those of 1894, "nitrites and nitrates" being the
only organic constituents with higher results last
year than in the year before. These nitrites
and nitrates are evidences of pollution which has
* Abstracted from the Report on the Chemical, Physical, and Bacteriological
Examination of the Water supplied by the Metropolitan Water
Companies during the year 1895, by Prof. E. Frankland, D.O.L., &c. The
full Report is given in the Registrar-General's Annual Summary.