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76
The Chelsea Company's water takes precedence of that of the West
Middlesex Company, which has hitherto borne the palm for comparative
excellence, but in 1878, for the first time in ten years, was once
"slightly turbid," and was once found to contain "living and moving
organisms." Among other advantages enjoyed by the consumers of deep
well water, uniformity in the temperature of the water is not the least.
The temperature of such water even in the hottest weather never
interfered with its palatability. The range of temperature was only
11°2 Fahr., the maximum temperature in July, August, and September
being 56°1, and the minimum in February 44°9. The temperature of
the Thames water on the contrary varies considerably: during 1878
the range was 29°0 Fahr., viz., from a minimum 39°7 in January and
December to a maximum of 68°5 in July. At the latter temperature
the water tastes vapid and disagreeable. All the waters were harder
in 1878 than in 1877, and the only water delivered in London fit for
washing was that of the Colne V alley Company, which is softened by
Clark's process before distribution, and is thus rendered suitable for
washing, whilst its excellence for dietetic purposes is not thereby impaired.
All hard water must be softened before it can be used for
washing linen; and when it is softened in detail by the laundress the
operation costs for an equal volume of water at least eighty times as
much as it costs when conducted on a large scale by a water company.
The average hardness of the Thames water as delivered was 20°3 or
parts in 1878, as against 19°5 or parts in 1877: that of the softened
water of the Colne Valley Company being 7.3 or parts.
Of the solid matters contained in the water by far the larger proportion
is saline and harmless when the water is used for dietetic
purposes, and a large part of this may be removed by the softening
process already referred to. It is the organic substances—a small
proportion of the total solid matters—that are objectionable and are
dangerous to health, consisting as they do to a great extent of the
excreta of men and animals. The most important constituents of
organic matters are carbon and nitrogen, and these are therefore the
expression of the relative quantity of organic impurity present in the
waters. The river was much more polluted by organic matters than it
was in 1877, and in the months of January, May, June, July, September,
November and December, it was so much polluted as to be
unfit for dietetic purposes.