View report page

235
The Royal Commission on Metropolitan Water Supply.
At the present time the subject of the water supply of
the Metropolis is being enquired into by a Royal Commission
appointed
"To enquire whether, taking into consideration the growth of the population
of the Metropolis and the districts within the limits of the Metropolitan
Water Companies, and also the needs of the localties not
supplied by any Metropolitan Company, but within the watersheds of
the Thames and the Lea, the present sources of supply of these
Companies are adequate in quantity and quality; and if inadequate,
whether such supply as may be required can be obtained within the
watersheds referred to, having due regard to the claims of the
districts outside the Metropolis, but within those watersheds, or
will have to be obtained outside the watersheds, of the Thames and
Lea."
The London County Council have submitted to the
Commission a statement intimating that, in their opinion,
there are strong prima-facie grounds for the belief that the
Thames district will not long suffice for the needs of the
rapidly growing population, and that an additional supply
will soon be imperatively required; that "any estimates
having reference to the future water supply should be based
on a period of fifty years from the present time"; that, in
dealing with the question of a source or sources of water to
meet the requirements of London and its neighbourhood for
fifty years, provision should be made for supplying a population
of at least 12,500,000, and that in no case should the
quantity provided be less than thirty-five gallons per head
per day; it being assumed that when the supply is in the
hands of a municipal authority, much larger amounts will
probably be used, than at present, for street cleansing, fountains,
public conveniences, &c. A considerable body of
information, chemical and medical, has already been laid
before the Commission with reference to the pollution of the
upper reaches of the rivers, constituting what the witnesses
in their "statements," prepared beforehand, regard not