1869.] The Future Water-suppJy of London. 243 



the public. I regret this the less, because it would be premature to 

 express a decided opinion on their respective merits until the 

 appearance of the Keport of the Eo3'al Commission on Water-supply. 

 It would indeed be foUy to attempt the work of criticism in antici- 

 pation of the full particulars which that document will no doubt 

 supply on each of the separate projects ; but a slight sketch of their 

 leading characteristics may, perhaps, be found useful. The schemes 

 may be divided generally into those wliicli proj)Ose to confine the 

 source of supply to the Thames basin, and those which propose to 

 take the supply from a distance. There is, indeed, one scheme — 

 that of Mr. A. S. Ormsby* — which belongs to neither of these 

 classes. He proposes to collect rain-water by means of vast roofs 

 of glass and u^on, so arranged that the water may immediately flow 

 oif into receiving, and hence into settling, filtering, storage, and 

 distributing reservoirs. These might be constructed either in the im- 

 mediate neighbourhood of London or on Salisbury Plain, where, by 

 roofing in a space of 2012 acres, a supply might be obtained that 

 would, the author estimates, supply one gallon of pure water 

 per head per diem to the inhabitants of London. The ground 

 below the roofs might be employed by market, fruit, and flower 

 gardeners. The supply would, of course, be only suj^plementary to 

 the ordinary supply ; and we should, therefore, be provided with 

 water of two quahties — one for drinking, and one for all other pur- 

 poses. Such a double supply would, I imagine, be a grave objection 

 to the scheme ; and I do not think it very likely to find favour in 

 London, though it might probably, as the author suggests, be used 

 advantageously in some of our foreign stations where water is scarce 

 or of bad quality. 



Apart from Afr. Ormsby 's, the projects stand as follows : — 



Thafiies Basin Su])}jly. — Mr. Bailey Denton,t Mr. Telford Mac- 

 neill4 



North Wales. — Mr. Bateman.§ 



South Wales.— Mx. Fulton. || 



Cumberland and Westmoreland. — Messrs. Hemans and 

 Hassard.Tl 



Staffordshire and Derhijshire Hills. — Mr. Eemington.** 



It is obvious at the first glance that those schemes which pro- 

 pose to utilize the Thames basin have a great initial advantage. 

 The strongest reasons ought to be shown to induce us to quit our 

 natural watershed for a distant one, for the objections to such a 



* 'A New Idea for the Water-sujjply of Towns.' Metchim & Son, Parliament 

 Street. 18G7. 



t 'The Water Question: ALetter to the Earl of Derby.' London: Stanford, 1866. 



X ' Water-snpply of London by means of Natiu'al Filtration of the Water of the 

 River Thames.' London : Stanford, 1866. 



§ ' Sources of the Eiver Severn.' London : Vacher, 1865. 



II Mr. Fulton lias favoured me with a description of his scheme in maiuiscript. 



•jl ' On the Future Water-supply of London.' London : Stanford, 1866. 



** ' Eno-ineerins.' 



