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earths, with a small quantity of sulphates, nitrates, and chlorides.
No one suggests that these salts are detrimental to health, and it is
contended that they are useful to the animal economy, as one
means of supplying constituents required for the organism.
Numerous extracts are given from the Report of the Royal Commission
on Water Supply, 1869, directed to show the justice of the
conclusions the writers have drawn from the facts stated, and to
discredit the mode of statement, and inferences, in the monthly
reports of Professor Frankland: whilst statistics are furnished to
show that a comparison of the average death-rate and the
number of deaths, &c., from various diseases in towns supplied by
deep well or spring water, and in towns supplied by river water,
(excluding London), is not at all to the disadvantage of the latter:
with respect to the metropolis itself the reporters "are of
opinion that the filtered water of the Thames and Lea is unimpeachable
in respect of its wholesomeness and suitability for town
supply."
Colonel Bolton's Report.—I now turn to the Annual Report
of Colonel Bolton, the Water Examiner appointed under the Act
of 1871, in which are embraced many particulars of general interest
relating to the water supply.
Colonel Bolton, it should be mentioned, makes monthly examinations
of the various waterworks, and in monthly reports duly
sets out the results of such examinations. One of the most important
of his duties is to ascertain whether or not the requirements
of Section 4 of the Act of 1852 are complied with, viz.,
that "every Company shall effectually filter all water supplied by
them within the metropolis before the same shall pass into the
pipes for distribution." The effectual filtration of river water
depends, he says, upon—
1. A sufficient area of properly constructed filter beds, constantly clean and
fresh sanded from time to time as the original thickness is reduced.
2. The rate of filtration being controlled and limited to a certain speed.
3. The water delivered into the filter beds having been previously stored in
subsiding reservoirs, and the capacity of these reservoirs being such as
to avoid the necessity for the intake of turbid and muddy water during
the time of extraordinary and heavy floods, which tend to foul and choke
the filters.