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194
Underground Tanks : The Regulations.—A communication
was received in July from the Coroner, forwarded at the
request of a jury, with reference to the death of a child drowned
in an underground tank in a mews at South Kensington. The
jury very properly observed "that these tanks are exceedingly
dangerous, and ought to be done away with."
The jury doubtless supposed that the sanitary authority
had some power of control over the placing of cisterns ; but it
is not so. The Water Companies, however, have powers under
regulation 16 which provides that :— .
"No cistern buried or excavated in the ground shal 1 be used for the storage
or reception of water supplied by the Company, unless the use of such cistern
shall be allowed in writing by the Company."
Application was made to the several Companies to ascertain
whether they had "allowed in writing" the use of such
cisterns, and it was suggested that the use of them should be
discontinued. The Grand Junction Waterworks Company
stated that there were no underground tanks in their district;
the other two Companies (West Middlesex, and Chelsea) replied
to the effect that they no longer permitted the construction of
underground cisterns, but felt it difficult to interfere with the
use of those already in existence.
Professor Frank land's Report.—The report on the
water supply of the Metropolis in 1889, prepared for the
Registrar-General by Professor Frankland, F.R.S., is
published, as usual, in the Annual Summary. It sets out the
results obtained in monthly examinations of the water supplied
by the eight Companies, three of which—Grand Junction,
West Middlesex, and Chelsea—supply Kensington. The
results obtained in a similar periodical examination of the
water supplied by the the Colne Yalley Water Company, and
by the Tottenham Local Board of Health, are included for the
purpose of comparison. The high quality which the river
water has now exhibited for several years past, was more than