PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 131 



into most books dealing witli the subject of water supplies, 

 in fact it has hitherto influenced opinion in a very decided 

 way, and it is unfavourable to untreated river water. In 

 the light of more modern knowledge however this table 

 requires revision and rearrangement, and the next classi- 

 fication of drinking waters will have to be made with due 

 considerations to circumstances of purification into which 

 I will presently enter. Notwithstanding however that so 

 strong a bias has existed against river water for drinking, 

 the water of rivers and smaller streams has after all formed 

 the chief supply to towns. There are a great many towns 

 in England supplied with water from small streams many 

 of which arc subject to sewage pollution, but I will make 

 mention of some places that are supplied by rivers of 

 larger size. Oxford is supplied from the Thames, Reading 

 from the Kennet, York from the Ouse, Hereford from 

 the Wye, Durham from the Wear, Newcastle in part 

 from the Tyne, Doncaster from the Don, Worcester and 

 Tewkesbury from the Severn, and other towns, in part, 

 from the same river, Chester from the Dee, Carlisle from 

 the Eden, Exeter from the Exe, Ely from the Great Ouse. 

 On the continent the following large cities are partly or 

 wholly supplied with drinking water from the rivers 

 upon which they stand, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Antwerp, 

 Ghent, Warsaw, Buda Pesth, Hamburg, and Altona, Am- 

 sterdam, Rotterdam, Dortrecht, and many others. In 

 America I am informed on good authority that 1500 

 towns are supplied with water from rivers and that upon 

 all the great rivers, such as the Hudson and Mississippi, 

 town after town takes out water for drinking. Philadelphia, 

 Cincinnati, Boston, Washington, Springfield, Jersey City, 

 New Orleans, San Francisco, Allegheny, Pittsburg, St. 

 Louis, Albany, being amongst those using river water. 

 From none of these numerous towns comes news of 

 disease caused by properly purified river water. 



