296 SOME MUNICIPAL, ENOINEEKINd l'I:OHI,EMS IN THE TKOPICS 



installation in connection with wliicli is comljiiird with the electric light power station, 

 both of which are administered by the Public Works Department. 



The water-supply is laid on to European houses, hotels, etc., and the better-class 

 shops and native houses, while the bulk of the native population is supplied from street 

 Water-supply fountains. Each of these fountains is fitted with a meter, and a man is placed in 

 charge to collect the payments for water drawn. At first, trouble was caused by water 

 being spilled on the ground and forming an extensive puddle on the unmetalled streets, 

 but this has been much reduced by the use of an armoui-ed hose fixed to the top of the 

 fountain and by sinking a barrel in the ground to catch the drip as shown in the 

 photograph (Fig. 89). 



The number of distribution stations of this kind is necessarily limited, owing to the 

 cost of installation and working expenses, and the system is therefore objectionable on 

 account of the danger of pollution of the water during its subsequent distribution by 

 donkey-bags, etc. It has therefore been proposed to erect a large number of small 

 street fountains in the third-class quarter of the city for free use by the public, a water 

 rate being levied on householders. 



The trouble caused by spilt water was also experienced in tilling carts for street and 

 tree watering, but the arrangement shown in Fig. 90, consisting of a vertical pipe with a 

 bend and a short length of hose at the top, has diminished the waste, and a hole under 

 the street filled with rough broken stone under the macadamised surface allows the spilt 

 water to soak away and keeps the street comparatively dry. 

 Wells Before the introduction of the town water a great number of houses obtained their 



supply from wells sunk in the "hoosh" or yard, very often in close proximity to latrines, 

 stables and other sources of contamination. Since this supply has becoriTe available, 

 however, many of the wells, especially in the better-class quarters of the town, have fallen 

 into disuse and been filled up, and even in the native quarters their number is diminishing. 

 Wells are looked upon as objectionable and are discouraged as far as possible. If 

 infrequently used and not properly covered they become breeding places for mosquitoes, 

 and they are at all times liable to contamination, especially from surface water getting into 

 them during the rains. Clause 24 of the Building Eegulations (x\ppendix A) empowers 

 the municipal authority either to forbid the construction of a new well or to order the 

 filling up of a'\i old one, and specifies that all wells must have a proper steining built ujd 

 one foot above ground to prevent the inflow of surface water, and a close-fitting cover, 

 kept in proper repair, to exclude mosquitoes. Fig. 96 shows the type drawing of a well 

 head which is issued when an order for the repair of an old well or sanction for the 

 construction of a new one is given. 

 Irrigation The public and private gardens in Khartoum are irrigated partly by water from the 



town mains and partly by water drawn from the river by " sakias," or native wooden 

 water wheels worked by bullocks. Most of the gardens lie between the Embankment 

 and Khedive Avenue {vide Fig. 84), and the fact that the bank of the river is almost 

 always higher than the land immediately behind it, renders this area particularly well 

 suited for the distribution of the irrigation water by gravitation. Behind Khedive Avenue, 

 where the land begins to rise again, the inconvenience and expense of the separate 

 distribution system that would be necessary for its irrigation by river water possibly 

 justifies the use of the town supply. The trees in the streets were formerly watered by 

 native women water carriers, but the work is now performed by water-carts filled from the 

 street stand-posts. A scheme is at present under consideration for superseding the 

 sakias referred to, by three-inch electrically driven irrigation pumps, which should give 



