26 



" that as a water supply the Thames, polluted with the 



" sewage of the inhabitants of the lliver Basin, is open in 



" kind, if not in degree, to the same objections as well- 



" water infiltrated by liquid from an adjoining cesspool ; 



" well- water which is so tainted beyond all doubt is liable 



" to become poisonous. Considering the enormous mag- 



" nitude of the interests at stake in this question of the 



" Metropolitan xoater suiyphj (the healths of many hun- 



" dreds of thousands of persons), it seems impossible to 



Only safe " co)7ie to any other co7iclusion than that the onhj safe 



course is to " course IS to keep sewage out of the ricer. Each town 



keep sewage n needs to be protected from the abuses of towns above 



^^.^^gj. " it, and to be prevented from committing abuse towards 



" towns below. 



" The question of sewage pollution of a river is an indi- 

 " visible one for the whole River Basin. Attempts to keep 

 " the main stream pure will be vain so long as tributaries 

 " are allowed to remain foul." 



On the subject of disposing of town sewage, the Com- 

 missioners state that they fully concur with the Commis- 

 sioners appointed " to inquire into the best mode of 

 ^' distributing the sewage of towns, and applying it to 

 " beneficial and profitable uses,^' who, in their final report 

 delivered in March, 1865, gave it as their unanimous 

 "R'o-Vit t opii^ion, after an investigation extending over eight yearSj 

 dispose of that " the light way to dispose of town sewage is to apply 

 apply it to " ^'^ continuously to land, and that it is only by such appli- 

 la^tl. " cation that the pollution of rivers can he avoided -^'^ and 



And that they add, that such application of town sewasi^e to land, 

 wherever that j ^ 1 1 _ ^ J3 ' 



application wherever that system is in operation, as at Croydon, Nor- 



tion Itwas'''' ^^'0°^^' "^^'oi-tliing, Carlisle, and Edinburgh, &c., was unat- 



unattended tended by any injury to the public health. 



bv injury to ai/-** i- i-ii/^ 



public health. And alter various recommendations Munich the Uommis- 



Recommend sioners humbly submit to Her Majesty respecting the 



that no sew- . i c ^.^ • i.\, 



ao-e unless government and conservancy oi the river, they recom- 



purified be mend — 



cast into the 



Thames " That after the lapse of a period to be allowed for the 



under << alteration of existing arrangements, it be made unlawful 



penalties. ^ ,• ^ t.\ \ \ i 



' " lor any sewage, unless the same has been passed over 



" land, so as to become purified, or for any injurious re- 



