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37
It has always been a subject of deep importance
to the inhabitants of this Parish to know
how far the Thames Conservancy Board are
adopting regulations provided by their Act, for
intercepting the drainage of towns into the Thames.
I thought it my duty to draw your attention to
this comparative impurity of Thames waters in my
Annual Report for 1868-69, and in asking for the
cause of it, the reply from the Secretary of the
Grand Junction Water Company to my inquiries
declared that the Thames Conservancy Board were
taking stringent measures to prevent pollution.
I fear that very little has since been done in this
direction, and that some pressure is required to be
made upon the Board of Conservators and the
Water Companies also, before a thoroughly pure
supply for the future can be guaranteed.
We are very much at the mercy of the oxydizing
power of vegetation in the rivers and streams in
converting animal organic matter into "innocuous
compound;" and as that process goes on with
great slowness and uncertainty, we cannot regard
our present supply of potable water from the
Thames as yet in a state of perfection such as to
satisfy the advisers of the government, and suitable
to the demands of the metropolis.
The Constant Service System.
The agitation going on in London for many
years for constant water supply is at length
likely to be successful, at least to a great extent.
No doubt can be entertained about the present