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(d) "That the best-known method of dealing with Sewer emanations is by
admitting air freely into the Sewers, to oxidize and dilute the emanations,
and by favouring the escape of foul air by free openings in the
roads, and by pipe ventilators carried above the houses.
The Report of the Committee was adopted by your Vestry,
as also was their recommendation "That the system of pipe
ventilation be carried out in this parish where necessary and
practicable, as heretofore, and that all obstructions to the
ventilation of the sewers be removed by frequent removal of the
mud from the air openings in the gratings on the road level."
WATER SUPPLY.
Professor Frankland's Reports.
It is desirable that your Vestry, as Sanitary Authority
should be kept informed with reference to the water supply of
the parish, a subject of great importance in relation to public
health ; and in pursuance of custom I propose to submit information
culled from the reports prepared annually by Professor
Frankland for the Registrar-General, and from the annual
reports of the Water Examiner under the Metropolis Water Act,
1871. Dr. Frankland, who is adverse to riparian sources of
supply, deals mainly with the quality of the water in its chemical
and microscopical aspects, and in regard to its fitness for dietetic
and domestic purposes: the observations of the Water Examiner
have reference to the condition of the water in bulk at the intakes;
to its physical qualities when delivered to the customer;
and, in a word, to whatever concerns collection, subsidence,
filtration, storage, and distribution.
London is supplied mainly from the rivers Thames and Lea, but a considerable
and increasing quantity of water is obtained from deep wells
sunk in the chalk, not only by the Companies which obtain their
entire supply from that source, but also by some of the old Companies
which thus supplement their intake of river water. The average daily
volume supplied per head of population in 1887 was 28.6 gallons.
Dr. Frankland is consistent in his preference for "deep well water," taking
it as the standard of purity in his comparative observations on the
supplies of the different companies. In one of his reports he described
this water as being "delicious and wholesome" and uniformly excellent