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252
Subsequent to the passing of the Act of 1871, the Water
Companies have incurred a considerable expenditure, amounting
altogether to £4,165,434, 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 1887
amounted to £14,140,433, of which £275,310 was expended
during the past year.
DETERIORATION OF WATER IN DIRTY CISTERNS.
The Local Government Board a few years ago addressed a
circular letter to Sanitary Authorities in the Metropolis, stating
that Sir F. Bolton, the then 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 often uncovered condition of
cisterns; (2) to the need for frequent cleansing of cisterns, and
(3) to the misplacing of the cisterns. Not uncommonly there
is but one cistern to a house, and that one, frequently, not only
situated over a water-closet, 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