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156
remains cool and refreshing in summer, and is less
likely to become frozeu in the service-pipes in winter,
whilst river water at 70°, or even 65° Fahr., is vapid
and unpalatable, and at 39° Fahr. is soon cooled to
the freezing point.
The solid matters in water consist almost wholly
of inorganic mineral substances, and to a very
slight extent of organic material. The inorganic or
mineral matters, in the proportion in which they
exist in Metropolitan waters, in no way diminish
their fitness for drinking. But the salts of lime
and magnesia which constitute the principal part
of these mineral ingredients are objectionable, not only
because they impart to the water what is known as
"hardness," and thus render it unsuitable for washing,
but also because they cause incrustations and deposits
in steam and kitchen boilers and hot-water pipes.
The amount of solid matter in the deep-well water
from the chalk is considerably greater than that in the
river water, and inasmuch as this chalk-water is sent
out in its natural condition by the Kent Company and
by the Tottenham Local Board of Health, these
supplies contain more solid matter than any of the
others. The Colne Valley Company, on the other
hand, by treating this chalk-water with lime before
delivery, so reduces the solid matter that the latter
scarcely exceeds one-half of that present in the river
waters, and is considerably less than one-half of that