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43
WATER-SUPPLY.
waste of water, during the period of supply, "at
least 10,000 open cocks."
Assuming the accuracy of this statement, I doubt
whether the average available supply of water for
domestic purposes within the City, can possibly exceed
a quarter of its alleged quantity; and I am persuaded
that there must be large numbers of persons
to whom the enjoyment even of that reduced average
is utterly unknown. Your Honourable Court, observing
the incalculable waste, and knowing that
the cost of water-supply (as of all other commodities)
must of necessity vary according to the quantity
supplied, can appreciate the consequences of
so much fruitless expenditure.
I would beg likewise to observe to you, that this
unapplied flood of water is in itself not unobjectionable.
It would be of questionable advantage, if
the drainage of the City were so perfect as to carry
all away without inundation of the soil; while under
opposite circumstances, in every quarter where
drainage is absent or faulty, evil must arise from
the extensive and habitual infiltration of moisture.
On the extreme inconvenience which attends the
storage of water in the poorer habitations of the
City, I have already reported to you, and will now
only add that increased experience has given much
confirmation to my view. Their receptacles are
generally such as contribute to the contamination
of water, and are constantly so arranged as to invite
an admixture of the most varied impurities.