NATURE 



765 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1920. 



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The Control of Water Resources. 



IN June, 1918, a Committee, with Sir John Snell 

 as chairman, was appointed by the Board 

 of Trade and the Ministry of Reconstruction "to 

 examine and report upon the water-power 

 resources of the United Kingdom and the extent 

 to which they can be made available for industrial 

 purposes." The Comniittee issued an Interim 

 Report early in 1919, directing attention to nine 

 large sources of water-power in Scotland which 

 could be developed at once so as to supply elec- 

 trical energy at economic rates. It was no doubt 

 while investigating the conditions of water-power 

 that the complexity of the general problem of the 

 use of natural water was appreciated by the 

 Committee, for in October, 1919, the terms of 

 reference were extended by the Board of Trade 

 to "consider wha^ steps should be taken to 

 ensure that the water resources of the country 

 are properly conserved and fully and system- 

 atically utilised for all purposes." At the same 

 Time the Committee was strengthened by the 

 addition of two officials of the Ministry of Health 

 and three eminent water engineers. The enlarged 

 Committee has issued a Report^ dealing with the 

 special subject of the new reference. It should 

 be remembered that water for potable supplies 

 must be delivered in a high state of purity, so that 

 it cannot be collected from the surface in urban 

 or agricultural areas. Water subject to organic 

 impurities may, indeed, be rendered potable by 



1 Board of Trade. Second Interim Report of the Watcr-Power Resources 

 Committee. Presented to Parlinment by Command of His Majexty. 

 Pp. a8. Cmd. 776. (London : H.M. Stationery Office, igao.) Price 4rf. 



>0. 2651, VOL. 105] 



chemical and bacteriological means, as Sir 

 Alexander Houston has demonstrated on the 

 citizens of Greater London. But many commu- 

 nities demand a natural and untreated supply, and 

 this, in default of deep wells, can be obtained only 

 from uncultivated moorlands, most of which in 

 England and Wales have already been appro- 

 priated. 



The present method of allocating supplies is for 

 a local authority to select a suitable gathering 

 ground and then to promote a private Bill in Parlia- 

 ment. The proposed scheme, after being found 

 to conform to Standing Orders, is examined in 

 turn by a Committee of each House, the members 

 of which may or may not have some knowledge 

 of water supply and of parliamentary usage. An 

 able counsel urges the necessity and perfection of 

 the scheme on the Committee and brings forward 

 experts to prove that the selected area can yield 

 enough water and no more than is required. 

 Certain Government Departments have the right 

 to report upon the Bill, e.g. the Ministry of 

 Health with regard to the quality of the supply 

 and the needs of the population, the Ministry of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries with regard to land 

 drainage and possible damage to fish, and the 

 Board of Trade or Ministry of Transport with 

 regard to any possible effect on navigation. If the 

 promoters succeed in arriving at an arrangement 

 with the public bodies and private persons who 

 appear as opponents, their scheme is likely to be 

 passed by the Committee without any very critical 

 inquiry, and it may be that broad national aspects 

 of the case are never considered at all. 



In Scotland there is in most cases an alternative 

 to the promotion of a private Bill, by obtaining 

 a provisional Order from the Scottish Office after 

 an inquiry by a joint Committee of both Houses 

 of Parliament sitting in the locality, and not at 

 Westminster. In the absence of opposition the 

 Order is confirmed by Parliament without further 

 examination. A multitude of public and private 

 opponents have a locus standi with regard to a 

 Water Bill, but the fundamental idea appears to 

 be that opposition is a matter for individual 

 interests, and that it is not the business of any 

 impartial authority to ascertain the facts of any 

 particular case in the public interest alone. Selfish 

 opposition often makes the passage of a Water 

 Supply Bill difficult, and in the case of water- 

 power the difficulty is much greater, as alternative 

 sources of power are merely a matter of price. 



The Report before us gives the considered 



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