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works in hand are completed this Company will have 36 acres of subsiding and
storage reservoirs of a capacity of nearly 116 million gallons. The Grand Junction
Company have now completed the construction of three filters capable of filtering
more than four million gallons of water per day, at their Hampton Works, with a
covered reservoir to contain two million gallons of filtered water. The Chelsea
Company have not found it necessary to undertake any new works in the last year.
Constant Supply.—The West Middlesex Company are giving constant supply to
all new estates and buildings, and when new services are laid down constant
supply is made compulsory by the Company: 1,873 houses were put on constant
supply during the year, making the total number of houses on constant supply
9,121, out of a total of 58,827.
The Grand Junction Company are giving constant supply to 13,139 houses, out
of a total of 44,616. They are giving constant supply to the whole of their district
lying to the west of Notting Hill, and for this purpose their reservoirs at
Campden Hill are kept filled by continuous pumping at Kew Bridge. The
reservoirs at Kew Bridge and Campden Hill have been connected with the mains
of the East London Company in order to insure a supply of water from the
works of that Company at Sunbury, in case of accident or emergency.
The Chelsea Company are giving constant supply to 2,235 houses, out of
a total of 31,213; and they are fully prepared to extend the system as required,
but judging from the few applications made for such supply, there
appears to be no desire in the public authorities, or private individuals, in this, or
either of the other districts, for the constant service. By way of contrast, and to
show how backward the Western Companies are in this matter of constant supply,
as compared with the Companies in the East of London, where the Companies have
taken the initiative, it may be mentioned that the East London Waterworks Company
now give constant supply to 106,043, out of a total of 132,440 houses
supplied by them, and containing an estimated population of 991,575 persons.
A considerable expenditure has been incurred by the West Middlesex and Grand
Junction Companies during the year upon enlarged and extended mains, engines,
boilers, pumps, &c. The number of miles of streets containing mains constantly
charged, and in which hydrants for fire-extinguishing purposes could at once be
fixed, in the districts of the Local Companies are, West Middlesex, 82; Grand
Junction, 365¼; and Chelsea, 62. The Companies are ready to affix hydrants on
the mains whenever required to do so. In the Metropolis there are now fixed only
6,051 hydrants, the total length of mains being 750 miles: the increase in mains
during 1881 being 18¾ miles, and number of hydrants 649.
Deterioration of Water in Dirty Cisterns.—The Local
Government Board addressed a circular letter to Nuisance Authorities
in the Metropolis last year, stating that Colonel Bolton had
drawn their attention to the serious deterioration which water frequently
undergoes, after delivery, by being kept in impure cisterns,
and enclosing an extract from his report of the examination of the
water supplied by the Companies during the month of June, 1881.