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41
WATER-SUPPLY.
pumped into theCity—enough,or more than enough,
so far as I know, to fulfil all necessary purposes.
But those purposes are not fulfilled by it. A certain
large figure is stated as representing the average
quantity daily driven through the mains of
the City; this quantity is divided by the number of
residents within your area, and the inference is
drawn that each individual inmate of the City has
at his disposal 25 gallons a day; or (after deduction
for public purposes and the like) 211/4 for his domestic
supply. As an arithmetical conclusion from
the premises this may be true: nothing can be less
accurate as a practical representation of the facts.
An average amount of three million gallons per diem
may, or may not, be pumped through the mains of
the City: but to calculate the available water-supply
from this dividend, without previous deduction for
the immense escape of un-available water by wastepipes
or otherwise, gives a most fictitious result.
The large waste which naturally arises in the system
of intermittent supply has been well illustrated by
some evidence given by Mr. Lovick before the late
Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, in respect of a
particular block of nearly 1200 houses. "Some of the
houses were of the higher, and many of the poorer
class, but the average might be stated to be of the
middle class, and to present a fair example of an
urban population. The drainage of all these houses
was discharged through one main sewer. The run of
water through this sewer was carefully watched and