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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,
86½; Grand Junction, 37½; and Chelsea, 67. The Companies are ready to affix
hydrants on the mains whenever required to do so. In the Metropolis there are
now fixed 6,163 hydrants, the total length of mains being 828¾ miles: the increase,
in mams, during 1882 being 78½ miles, and in number of hydrants, 112.
Deterioration of Water in Dirty Cisterns,—The Local
Government Board not long ago addressed a circular letter to
Nuisance Authorities in the Metropolis, 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, 1831. Colonel Bolton's observations were
directed (1) to the deterioration of the water by the dirty and
uncovered condition of the cisterns; (2) to the need for frequent
cleansing of cisterns; and (3) to the misplacing of the
cistern, where there is but one, and that one situated over a
water closet, and having an untrapped waste-pipe communicating
with the drains.
The importance of the subject is undeniable; and your
Vestry's Sanitary Inspectors have standing instiuctions to
examine into the condition of the cisterns, and the water, in
every house they inspect, where practicable. It is the fact, however,
that cisterns are often so placed as to be inaccessible to
inspection or for cleansing: the solitary cistern, moreover, is
often placed immediately over the water-closet, as stated by
Colonel Bolton. With respect to the improper placing of a
cistern we have no power to interfere, but the Water Companies
might, if so minded, do something to remedy the evil complained
of. The 13th Regulation reads thus:
" Every cistern shall be properly covered and
placed in such a position that it may be inspected and cleansed."