Supply of Water to the Metropolis. 415 



These evils they would very gladly remedy if enabled to do so 3 

 and their removal, together with the adoption of an extensive 

 system of filtration, would materially contribute to the perfection 

 of the New River supply. Great benefit would result, not only 

 to the extensive district of London supplied by this company, 

 but also to the public at large, if the inducement to bathe in the 

 open canal of the New River were superseded by the establish- 

 ment of baths in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, to which 

 the public might, under certain regulations, be allowed access. 

 It has been stated to us in evidence, that the New River Com- 

 pany have voluntarily oflFered to furnish sufficient supplies of water 

 for a purpose of such manifest and general utility. 



Taking into consideration the various circumstances to which 

 we have now adverted, together with the details of evidence 

 by which they are proved and illustrated, and also the facts 

 derived from our own observation and experience ; we are 

 of opinion, that the present state of the supply of water to the 

 metropolis is susceptible of, and requires, improvement 3 that 

 many of the complaints respecting the quality of the water are 

 well founded ; and that it ought to be derived from other sources 

 than those now resorted to, and guarded by such restrictions 

 as shall at all times ensure its cleanliness and purity. 



Various schemes proposed by different individuals, for the 

 attainment of these desirable objects, have occupied our atten- 

 tion in the course of our inquiries 3 but the complete examination 

 of any plan of this kind, with reference to its practical efficiency 

 and expediency, would necessarily have required the taking of 

 surveys of the ground, and the determination of levels of dif- 

 ferent points comprehended in such plan. The limits which have 

 been assigned to our inquiry, and the manner in which our 

 Report has been demanded, have precluded such further inves- 

 tigation of this important subject as we had originally con- 

 templated, and for which, indeed, we had been making prepara- 

 tion. But while we must, consequently, refrain from any further 

 remarks upon the remedies applicable to the existing evils, and 

 upon the best means of conveying a sufficient supply of water of 

 unexceptionable quality to the inhabitants of the metropolis, we 

 are unwilling to close our labours, without expressing our strong 

 sense of the importance of this object to the public, and our earnest 

 hope that its full investigation by competent persons will not be 

 long deferred. As, however, the materials we had collected with 

 a view to this more extended inquiry may still be useful to those 

 by whom the inquiry is resumed, we have thought it proper to 

 insert them in the Appendix to this Report. Some part of the 

 evidence ofiFered to us by one of the companies, relating to projected 

 alterations and improvements, and which was not in a sufficiently 

 mature state to be made public, has, at the request of that com- 

 pany, been withdrawn, on their finding that we had not the power 

 of prosecuting the inquiry to the extent originally contemplated. 



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