Science |)ragre$s. 



No. 27. May, 1896. Vol. V. 



THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE WATER 

 SUPPLY OF LONDON. 1 



IN a discourse to the Members of the Royal Institution 

 on the subject of the Metropolitan Water Supply 

 nearly thirty years ago, I stated that out of every thousand 

 people existing upon this planet at that moment, three 

 lived in London ; and, as the population of London 

 has in the meantime doubtless grown at a more rapid rate 

 than that of the rest of the world, it will probably be no 

 exaggeration to say that now, out of every thousand people 

 alive on this earth, four live in London ; and therefore any 

 matter which immediately concerns the health and comfort 

 of this vast mass of humanity may well merit our most 

 earnest attention. Amongst such matters that of the 

 supply, in sufficient quantity, of palatable and wholesome 

 water is certainly not the least in importance. 



It is not therefore surprising that this subject has 

 received much attention from several Royal Commissions, — 

 notably from the Royal Commission on Water Supply of 

 1867, presided over by the Duke of Richmond, the Royal 

 Commission on the Pollution of Rivers and Domestic 

 Water Supply of Great Britain, presided over by the late 

 Sir William Dennison, of which I had the honour to be a 

 member ; and lastly the Royal Commission, appointed in 

 1892 to inquire into the Water Supply of the Metropolis, 



1 A discourse delivered at the Royal Institution, 21st February, 1896. 



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