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68
stanced, but has arranged for the construction of suitable storage
reservoirs and other works at Hampton. The filter beds at Kew
of this latter Company are also to be put in thorough working
condition, and the area thereof greatly extended. These much
needed additions and alterations will, without doubt, greatly improve
the quality of this Company's supply. The rate of filtration
of the Metropolitan water supply should not exceed 540 gallons
per square yard of filter bed each 24 hours, and at this rate Colonel
Bolton says filtration should be effectual. The composition of
the filters of the West Middlesex Company is as follows:—Harwich
sand, 1 foot 9 inches; Barnes sand, 1 foot; gravel, screened to
different sizes, and arranged in layers, 2 feet 3 inches. Total
depth of bed, five feet.
Not much progress has been made in the matter of constant
supply. The West Middlesex Company is said to be giving it to
some houses, and to be prepared to extend the system as required;
but no steps have been taken to make the constant supply general.
The Chelsea Company are moving more actively in this
direction, but no reference is made to any similar action on the
part of the Grand Junction Company. The difficulty arises in
connection with the alterations in fittings under the Board of
Trade Rules and Regulations which the Metropolitan Board of
Works, the "Public Authority," deem too stringent, and they
have therefore not taken the steps the law empowers to bring
about a constant supply.
The filthy state into which cisterns are frequently allowed
to fall neutralises the efforts of the Companies, and the Water
Examiner, &c., to obtain an efficiently filtered supply. In
addition to this common form of neglect, the water in many
cisterns is still further exposed to pollution of a dangerous
character by the retention of the waste-pipe in direct connection
with drains. It is in the power of the Water Companies to
remedy this evil, under Regulation 14, but with the exception of
the Chelsea Company, whose necessities a few years ago compelled
them to economise water, and who without any great difficulty,
as I was informed, succeeded in getting the waste-pipes
abolished from the cisterns in their districts, nothing has been
done by the Companies to effect this improvement, so obviously
desirable in a sanitary point of view, excepting in houses where
the fittings have been renewed on the constant supply being given.
Nor have they been stimulated to action by public bodies, or by the
Government, though Colonel Bolton always refers to the necessity of
the alteration in his monthly reports. Dirty cisterns and waste-pipes,
however, are not the only sources of fouled water. Oftentimes the
cause of pollution is found in the domestic filter which some persons
appear to treat as if it were indestructible, or at least