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187
it will be long before anything is done. The questions-remain,
therefore: Is the river of necessity to continue to be polluted,
in a measure, as heretofore, supposing the precipitation works
should fail of their full expected effect ? Is there no alternative ?
These questions were attempted to be answered in my Annual
Report for 1889, (pp. 189—192), wherein I described three
schemes which had then lately been put before the public, viz.,
the "Amines Process," the "International Sewage Purification
Process," and the" Webster Electrical Process." The two lastnamed
processes are vouched for by Sir Henry Koscoe: the
former as suitable for dealing with the sewage of small towns;
the Webster Process as practicable even as regards the large
volume of London sewage. In summing up my observations
on this system I stated that it was averred, that " by the
electrical process, the sewage is clarified; the bulk of the
sludge is reduced to a minimum; smell is removed; and
secondary putrefaction is prevented—results that could not
be produced by chemical precipitation—the process being at
once simple and economical. Assuming all this to be true,
and it appears to be justified by the high authority of Sir Henry
Roscoe* it may be inferred that an approach to a solution of
the question of sewage disposal has been reached, and one in
all respects only less satisfactory than that to which in the end
we shall have to come ; when every other process must give
way to the only rational system—that, namely, of restoring
to the land the valuable organic matters contained in the
sewage."
WATER SUPPLY.
In my last Annual Report, I referred to the appointment
of the Royal Commission to enquire into the Water Supply
of the Metropolis, and cited the views on the subject entertained
by the London County Council. The Commission
have completed their inquiry, and at the present time (May)
* Sir Henry Roscoe's conclusions are corroborated by Mr. Alfred E. Fletcher,
II.M. Inspector under the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act for Scotland.