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Report on Constant Water Supply. 47
CONSTANT WATER SUPPLY.
This Vestry having, received from the Vestry of Bermondsey a communication
on the subject of a Constant Supply of Water, and having referred it
to the Sanitary and Sewers Committee for consideration and a Report
thereon; the Committee presented the following (prepared by Mr. Rendle,
a member of the Committee), which was received on the 29th of May,
1866, and ordered to be printed in the Annual Report of the Vestry. Mr.
Churchwarden Saunders, Mr. Rendle and Mr. Sandall were at the same
time appointed to attend on behalf of the Vestry, any meetings that might
be held with a view to promote a Constant Water Supply.
REPORT.
The question of a constant water supply, arising out of a communication from the Bermondsey
Vestry, and referred to the Sewers Committee, has been considered.
No doubt, with a practically unlimited supply of water from its sources, apparatus of
adequate strength, and with reasonable thought and care on the part of the people, a constant
supply would be a very great boon indeed. It is stated that 30 gallons per individual
are now supplied; and notwithstanding the assertion of the Southwark "Water Company's
engineer that half this quantity would be enough, it may be considered to be not really too
much, when we take into account the various uses for which the water would be required ;
viz., drinking, personal cleansing ; washing clothes, house, and drains; for cooking, and for
the modern water-closet, which alone requires a very large supply.
It cannot however be pretended that anything like this amount is supplied to each indi
vidual. The 28 or 30 gallons referred to, include the supply to manufacturers and others,
who use large quantities, and to individual persons and families who use or waste a quantity
much in excess of this average. It comes, in fact to this, that very large numbers of persons
especially those in the poorest, unhealthiest, and most uncleanly districts, are in every
sense very badly and insufficiently supplied. Probably in some cases the main-pipes leading
to these densely-inhabited districts are inadequate, that branch-pipes to groups of houses