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91
called their attention in his monthly reports to the importance of
carrying out this particular regulation.
Dirty cisterns and waste-pipes are not the only causes of fouled
water, the source of pollution being not unfrequently found in the
domestic filter which many people treat as if it were self-cleansing or
incapable of deterioration, whereas, it needs more or less frequent
attention and change of material according to its character.
Constant Supply.—To obtain a constant supply of water was
supposed to be a principal object of the Act of 1871, and Colonel
Bolton states that considerable advance has been made in extending the
system to the Metropolis, upwards of one-fourth of the total number of
houses being now on constant service. The West Middlesex
Company have 4.080 houses so supplied out of a total of 53,534 in
their district; the Chelsea Company 941 out of 29,945; and the
Grand Junction Company, none, out of a total of 40,285. In other
words there are in the districts of these Companies in which we are
locally interested, about 5,000 houses on constant service out of a
total of nearly 124,000, or about 4 per cent. The East London
Company, on the other hand, to quote but one, and the strongest case, by
way of comparison, has nearly 99,000 houses on constant service out of
117,000. The western parts of the Metropolis are deplorably behind
in this matter, and speaking generally, it may be said that constant
service has been given only on estates built over since the passing of the
Act, on which the intermittent service cannot be lawfully introduced.
The average daily supply during the year for all purposes, was
equal to 32½ gallons per head of estimated population, and 238½
gallons per house. The West Middlesex, Grand Junction, and
Chelsea Companies respectively supplied an average of 26½, 33, and
36½ gallons per head; and 199, 296½, and 285 gallons per house.
These quantities are greatly in excess of the public needs, and the
fact of so much having been supplied, implies excessive waste of water,
which would be almost entirely avoided by the adoption of the
constant supply system.