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25
The wells of both Companies are in close proximity to
considerable populations, and this renders it necessary to
regard them as at least open to some suspicion, all the more
so as the water is obtained from strata which are unprotected
by an overlaying impervious formation. Sutton is a sewered
town, but it is understood that some soak-away cesspools still
remain, not far removed from the wells. Other possible
dangers which have attracted attention are a cemetery at one
of the large Metropolitan Lunatic Asylums at Banstead, and
the sewage-disposal works at a large Metropolitan Poor-Law
School. The wells, moreover, are of no great depth, and the
water is delivered direct to the consumers.
At Kenley, the only means of sewage-disposal is by
cesspools, all of which, practically, are of the soak-away
type. The population numbers over 1,300, and, of the houses,
which are rapidly increasing in number, some 182 are within
half-a-mile of the wells, of which 50 are within quarter-of-amile.
The wells are of considerable depth, and partially protected
with impervious linings, while all the water is softened
by Clark's process before distribution, which involves mixture
with lime-water and prolonged rest in precipitation tanks.
The water in the wells, however, approaches very nearly
to the surface level at certain seasons. It is in this neighbourhood
that some of the chalk "bournes" show themselves and
form temporary water-courses, the largest of them traversing
almost the exact spot where the wells are sunk. They all
appeared in a marked manner in the spring of 1897, following
the excessive rainfall of 1896, and their existence shows how
near the surface the water-bearing stratum is, or, in other
words, indicates the close relation existing between the cesspools
and their contents, and the water of that stratum, which
water is pumped out for drinking purposes for a population
numbering nearly 48,000 persons.