View report page

25
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES OP THE AREA
Water Supply
If there is anything in our country that is taken for granted it is the
adequate and pure supply of water. The mere turning of a tap at will
produces a seemingly endless quantity. Its purity is rarely questioned by
the public. Water is such a common commodity that hardly any of us think
about it at all we just use it in ever increasing quantities and the daily
demand rises.
Since early times man has settled near rivers, lakes and springs for
obvious reasons. He carried his water needs from these sources of supply in
containers. In the Middle Ages (thirteenth century) the City of London
obtained permission from a landowner in the Oxford Street area to run leaden
pipes from springs there into the City. Other similar schemes followed to
supply London s needs until the era of Peter Morrys, who in 1582 is thought
to have been the first person to effect a mechanical supply in a small way to
the city. He had obtained a lease of an arch of London Bridge and by means
of a water wheel and wooden conduits supplied houses close at hand. This
ultimately led with other concerns to the formation of the London Bridge
Waterworks many years later.
The New River Scheme was an important step forward. After Parliamentary
approval in 1606 it was proposed to bring water from the springs in the
neighbourhood of Ware into the City. The project was completed in 1613.
In 1822 an Act of Parliament merged the London Bridge Waterworks and the
New River concern into the New River Company. With the new company and the
many other small concerns there was considerable competition. Finally as a
result of a Royal Commission into the Supply of Water for London, legislation
was recommended and the Metropolis Water Act of 1902 instituted the Metropolitan
Water Board.
A wonderful feat is performed by the Metropolitan Water Board today in
procuring, purifying and protecting the supply of water to our homes. Last
year's figures reveal that for the 6½ million people in the Board's area
there was an average daily supply of 327, 000, 000 gallons of water. In other
words the average daily requirement per person was around 50 gallons. The
Board through the Thames Conservancy and Lee Conservancy Catchment Boards
meet this daily demand by making use of all the natural resources available,
surface rivers, streams and wells.