348 SEWAGE AND ITS PURIFICATION 



greatly assisted, in that the number of purification works to be 

 kept under observation would be diminished." 



They find that it should be '' the duty of the local authority 

 to provide such sewers as are necessary to carry trade effluents 

 as well as domestic sewage, and that the manufacturer should 

 be given the right, subject to the observance of certain safe- 

 guards, to discharge trade effluents into the sewers of the local 

 authority, if he wishes to do so. . . . In each district it would 

 probably be desirable that the local authority should frame 

 regulations, which should be subject to confirmation by a 

 Central Authority. ... It appears from the evidence that 

 manufacturers would much prefer to have standards to work to." 



This alteration in the law should involve " no charge on the 

 manufacturer, in those cases in which the regulations as to 

 preliminary treatment are complied with." . . . Where the 

 effluent must not be discharged into the sewer because the 

 water is obtained from a stream and must therefore be returned 

 to it, the duty of purification will rest with the manufacturer, 

 " but they do not consider that this will be a serious grievance, 

 as he obtains his water without charge, and this advantage may 

 be set against the cost of purification." 



With regard to Sludge Removal from Manufactories (3rd 

 Report, p. xxii), manufacturers are generally willing to adopt 

 reasonable means for the removal of solids from their effluents 

 before entering the sewers. But sedimentation, and still more 

 precipitation, involved the production of " sludge," which was 

 a cause of difficulty. The Salford Corporation undertake to 

 dispose of such sludge ; and in London the sanitary authority 

 removes trade refuse at a reasonable cost. 



They further urge the need of setting up a Central A uthority as 

 a new department under the Local Government Board for — 



(a) The settlement of differences between manufacturers and 



local authorities ; 



(b) The general protection of sources of water supply. 



(c) The collection of facts, and the scientific investigation of 



questions of general importance relating to the protection 



of water. 

 The recommendation also includes the formation of Rivers 

 Boards throughout the country, each to have jurisdiction over 

 the whole of a watershed, and to be a first tribunal of appeal. 



