OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF WATFORD. 131 



An experimental well was steined and puddled by the workmen 

 of the Canal Company, pumps were worked before and after this 

 process, and in both cases the eiiects of draining the stream were 

 the same. And so it would be at the new Water Works. I am 

 informed that in sinking the Water Works well the water came 

 in greater volume from the side away from the river. This is 

 easily explained by the fact that the water in the Chalk to the 

 east received through the swallow-holes in one of the wettest 

 seasons on record stood at an inclination rising from the river of 

 from 40 to 50 feet in the mile, hence the greater pressure and con- 

 sequent more rapid flow into the well. When the exhaustion of 

 water by pumping is daily carried on, the water in the Chalk to 

 the east will, naturally in dry seasons, and artificially by pumping, 

 be gradually reduced, the pressure from that quarter will be 

 lessened, the level of water in the well will be lowered, and the 

 abstraction of water from the river increased in proportion to 

 the amount of water pumped. If that quantity amounts to, say, 

 2,000,000 gallons per day, the power of the mills below will be 

 sensibly diminished. The natural effect of the rise and fall of the 

 surface of the water in the river will be like that of tidal wells on 

 the sea-coast, where the Chalk waters outfall into the sea, the alter- 

 nation of level of water in the wells within a certain range being 

 regulated by the height of the tide. At Liverpool, under the direc- 

 tion of the late Mr. Eobert Stephenson, an experiment was made, to 

 test the possibility of supplying the town with water from the 

 Red Sandstone formation on which the town stands. Large 

 quantities were obtained from several wells. At length, when 

 the level of the wells was reduced, the tidal waters found their 

 way into the wells. Read river for tidal waters and the same 

 will take place at Bushey meadows. I have lately heard of the 

 abandonment of wells as a source of supply to an important and 

 thickly inhabited district from the fouling of the wells from 

 proximity to a tidal river. If the proposal to extend the supply 

 from the well now in question should be carried out, at certain 

 seasons a great portion of the water must of necessity be drawn 

 from the river, and in flood time, such as has been of late, there 

 will be the danger of the water in the well becoming turbid and 

 thus furnishing unmistakable evidence of the source whence it is 

 derived. 



