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connection of them with drains through the medium of " wastepipes,"
which the Companies only have the power to abolish,
viz., under the provisions of the 14th water regulation, which
reads as follows
Regulation 14.— "No overflow or waste-pipe, other than a warning pipe,
shall be attached to any cistern supplied with water by the Company,
and every such overflow or waste-pipe existing at the time when these
Regulations come into operation shall be removed, or at the option of
the consumer shall be converted into an efflicient warning-pipe,'
within two calendar months next after the Company shall have given
to the occupier of, or left at the premises in which such cistern is
situate, a notice in writing requiring such alteration to be made."
The late Sir Francis Bolton remarked in one of his reports
that—
"The particular object of the above regulation is to prevent the waste of
water; but if the over-flow-pipe is brought outside the house, and the end left
exposed to the air, instead of being carried into the drain, as is often the case,
it will effect an object of far greater importance, by getting rid of the poisonous
effluvia and gases from the drains; which would otherwise ascend through
the pipe, and not only be partly absorbed by the water in the cistern, but be
partly mixed with the air in the houses, thereby becoming a cause of fever and
disease."
These remarks are just, and hold good at the present time
I would again urge, therefore, that the Companies should be
compelled to exercise their power, or that the Vestries and
Districts Boards should have co-ordinate authority, to enforce
the regulation. Meanwhile, the attention of householders cannot
be too frequently drawn to the necessity for the abolition of wastepipes,
and periodical cleansing of cisterns for storing potable
water. Cisterns, moreover, should be properly covered so as to
exclude light and dirt; and so placed that the water may be
kept cool in summer, without being in danger of freezing in
winter. When "constant supply" is given, a screw-down
draw-off tap should be affixed to the rising main or service pipe,
so that drinking and cooking water may be drawn therefrom,
fresh and uncontaminated, without the intervention of cisterns,
which are required for washing, flushing, baths, and similar