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72
to every householder in the parish. The warning is greatly
needed, for I am confident much disease is caused through
the medium of the water supply: and though the amount
of it would he diminished by the universal abolition of the
waste pipe that so often connects the interior of the cistern
with the house drains and the common sewer, we cannot expect an
entire removal of this source of disease, so long as householders
remain negligent of the condition of the receptacles themselves.
A NEW SCHEME OF WATER SUPPLY.
The water supply of the Metropolis has received an unusual
amount of attention during the current year. On the one hand
a Select Committee of the House of Commons, appointed mainly
to consider the means at the disposal of the Metropolitan Board
of Works for the extinction of fire has reported, recommending
that the water system should be consolidated in the hands of a
public authority, which, in dealing with the question of constant
supply, pressure, and pipage, should be bound to have regard
not only to the convenience of consumers, but also to the requirements
for the extinction of fire. It is estimated that the
purchase of the undertakings of the water companies would
involve an outlay of £25,000,000, and that the annual charge
on the Metropolis for interest (at 3½ per cent) on this outlay,
and in the outlay for alteration of pipage, and on the cost of
hydrants, and on the cost of altered house fittings, together with
the increased cost of pumping for higher pressure required by jets ;
and the cost of management (diminished owing to concentration)
would amount to £1,612,250 per annum, equal to about 16½d. in
the pound on the present rateable value of the Metropolis, no
improvement whatever having for this outlay been made in the
quality of the drinking water, and nothing having been attained but
a better provision for the extinction of fires. On the other hand
a scheme has lately been submitted to the Metropolitan Board of
Works by Sir Joseph Bazalgette, Mr. Bramwell, and Mr. Edward
Easton, having for its objects a far more adequate provision for the
extinction of fire, and an abundant supply of drinking water free
from the objections to which the present supply, derived from
riparian sources, is open. These gentlemen propose, as the only
practicable mode of dealing with the question within limits of
expenditure which the ratepayers of the Metropolis would be
likely to tolerate, to separate the water for drinking purposes,
aud for the extinguishment of fire, from the water (supplied by
the companies) which is used for all other purposes. They admit
the impossibility of changing the sources of supply for all purposes,
for they say it is impossible to provide otherwise than as at
present 125,000,000 million gallons of water daily, of water