View report page

177
"Subsequent to the passing of the Act of 1871, the Water
Companies have incurred a considerable expenditure, amounting
altogether to £3,890,124, for the improvement of the water
supply, both in quantity and quality, by extending the storage
capacity of their reservoirs, and increasing their areas of
filtration, as well as by providing for the requirements of constant
supply, by the construction of high service reservoirs for filtered
water, the laying of mains and the addition of powerful machinery
to their works. These measures have tended to improve the
supply of water to the Metropolis. The total expenditure of the
Companies on works, improvements, &c., to the end of 1886
amounts to £13,865,122, of which £237,202 was expended
during the past year."
Deterioration of Water in Dirty Cisterns.—The Local
Government Board, some three or four years ago, addressed a
circular letter to Sanitary Authorities in the Metropolis, stating
that the Water Examiner had drawn their attention to the serious
deterioration which water frequently undergoes, after delivery, by
being kept in impure cisterns, and they sent an extract from one of
his reports on the examination of the water supplied by the
Companies. Sir F. Bolton's observations were directed (1) to the
deterioration of water resulting from 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 frequently not only situated over a watercloset,
but also having communication with the drains by means of
the waste pipe.
The importance of the subject is undeniable, and, with the
view to removal of defects, your Vestry's Sanitary Inspectors
have standing instructions to inspect the cisterns of every house
visited, where practicable. It is a fact, however, that cisterns
are frequently so situated as to be inaccessible for inspection and
cleansing alike; often, moreover, there is but one cistern, and
that one over a water closet, as stated by Sir F. Bolton. The
Sanitary Authority has no control over the placing of cisterns,
but the Water Companies, might, if so minded, remedy the evil