View report page

40
B. Water-Supply.
During the past year, as in the preceding one, I
have given frequent consideration to the subject of
water-supply within the City.
I have already endeavoured to convey to you the
deep sense which I entertain of its importance, and
I have every reason to believe that your Honourable
Court recognizes, at its full weight, the necessity
of providing for the City of London a supply
of water which in quantity shall be ample, in quality
pure, in distribution constant and accessible.
In my former Annual Report, and in some remarks
subsequently addressed to your Committee of
Health, I dwelt especially on such defects of our
present system as relate to the quantity and distribution
of water; endeavouring to illustrate the insufficiency
of its supply to the poorer tenements of
the City, and the extreme inconvenience which is
entailed on their inmates, sometimes by dependence
on a common tap, sometimes by the troublesome,
expensive, and unwholesome necessity of storing
water.
In reverting to this subject, I may correct a fallacy
which is apt to prevail with respect to the abundance
of supply. I have no reason whatever to
doubt that a very liberal allowance of water is daily