ists.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECrs JOURNAL. 



177 



Report fin the Supphi of Surpbin Water to Manchester, Salford, and 

 Stockport, with some Remarks upon the Construction of Rain Gauge,^, 

 nnd the Annual Depth of Rain falling in different localities around 

 Manchester. By S. C. Homersham, C'.E. Loiuloii : Weale, 1848. 



This work relates to the great Manchester water controversy, 

 vhicli for the last few years has so much occupied that town. 

 Tiiere are three candidates for the supply of Manchester with 

 water : the Manchester and Salford AV^aterworks Company, the 

 Corporation of Manchester, and the Manchester, Sheffield, and 

 Lincoln Railway Company. Mr. Homersham is the follower of 

 the last-named, and his work is tlierefore one-sided so far, though 

 we helieve it to be for the most |)art fair and straightforward. 



The Waterworks Company suffer from a short supply and the 

 bad quality of their water, which is got partly from peat-moss, and 

 partly from the drainage of an inhabited district, but eked out 

 hx a supply from the Railway Company. The supply is clearly 

 neither enough nor good enough for tlie growing town of Man- 

 chester. The town council have therefore got a bill to enable them 

 to get water from Longdendale, gathered into reservoirs from a 

 mossy surface. In the meanwhile they have likewise bought water 

 of the Railway Company. 



The Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln Railway Company having 

 bought the Peak Foi-est Canal, were struck with the profit to be 

 got by the sale of water to the great towns of Manchester and 

 Stockport. Their canal, beginning in the Peak district of Derby- 

 shire, among the steep hills, gives them a right to all the water not 

 required bythe millowners; and as there is much morethan iswanted 

 for the trade of the canal, it is a clear gain to sell it in those towns. 

 Tlie Company do not however wish to retail water to tlie house- 

 liolilers, but to sell it wholesale and in bulk to the corporations or 

 water companies. The Manchester and Salford W^aterworks Com- 

 pany in July 1 Sll, bought some of this water, and soon after con- 

 tr.icted for 120,000,000 gallons yearly, for three years certain, at 

 "id. per 1,000 gallons, or a rental of 1,000/. yearly. In 1841, they 

 agreed to take 50,000,000 gallons more. In August 181.7, the Cor- 

 poration of Manchester took for three years '200,000,000 gallons 

 yearly, at 3rf. per 1,000 gallons, or a rental of 2,.500/. yearly. The 

 Railway Company offer to supply the Corporation with seven 

 millions of gallons of filtered water daily, at Ijrf. per 1,000 gallons, 

 or at a yearly rental of 15,968/. 15.5. 



By the enterprise of the Railway Company, this large supply of 

 good water is secured ; and we have no doubt that in many other 

 leases, railway companies might have done great good to the public 

 in the supply of water and gas, if it were not for the prejudices in- 

 dulged in by the legislature, which shackle railway companies as 

 they do private enterprise generally. Indeed, the whole drift of 

 legislation is to thwart enterprise, even when there is the pretence 

 of consulting the public interests. Thus, what with the Sanitary 

 measure, threatening to interfere with the companies, and what 

 with the Standing Orders, there is hardly a bill before the House 

 of Commons for waterworks. The Board of Trade inspection 

 presses likewise very heavily on smaU companies, besides the 

 House of Commons fees. 



Mr. Homersham thus describes the country around Manchester 

 from which the water is drained for its supply: — 



'• The towu of Mauchester is situated at an average heieht of about 120 

 feet above the ineau level of the sea at Liverpool, and is boidered on the 

 liorih-west, the north, the east, and the south, by high hills and upland 

 lliHl, m a distance varying from twelve to eighteen miles from the town, 

 rise 1,100 to 1,900 feel above the sea, when they liegin to tall in a contrary 

 ilirection. The highest points in this range of liilb are Kivington Pike to 

 the north-west of Manchester, 1,545 feet above the mean level of the sea ; 

 Blackstore Edge to the north-east, about 1,450 feet; Holme Moss to the 

 east, about 1,859 feet ; Kinder Scout to the south-east about 1981 feet; 

 Axe Edge, south-east by souih, 1,751 feet; and l\osley Minns, nearly 

 direct south, about 1,260 feet. These hills rise very abruptlv, aud the 

 numerous vallejs aud mountain gorges that intersect tiiem in various direc- 

 tions contain channels, called rivers or streams, that drain olf the rain 

 which falls upou them. The names of the principal rivers deriving their 

 waters from the sources now pointed out, are the Irwell, the Irk, the Med- 

 lock, the Tame, the Eiherow, the Goyt, the Dane, aud the Bollin. The 

 waters of the whole of these rivers unite in the river Mersey, and by this 

 cjianiiel are discharged into the sea at Liverpool. 



I'he rivers upon which the towns of Manchester and Salford are 

 situated, are the Irwell, the Irk, and the Mediock ; the two latter streams 

 Joining the Irweii wuhin the to^>D. Tlie area of land u^on which the 

 rain falls that feeds these streams before entering Machester is about 

 163,000 statute acres ; of which about 1 1 300 drain into the river Mediock ; 

 17,000 into the Irk; and 134,700 uito the Irwell; these rivers, like all 

 others having a similar origin, are very irregular as regards the quantity 

 of water which passes down them at differeut seai-ous." 



Nothing is idle in that busy district — even the water is made to 



work hard. Mr. Homersham says of the river-gods of Lancashire 

 and Cheshire — 



" They are made to turn innumerable water-wheels, that give motion to 

 machinery of various kinds; they are used lo supply both the means of 

 forming and condensing steam, that, properly directed, performs such a 

 prodigy of labour with unceasing and untiring r fleet ; they are nsed to 

 scour, bleach, and dye the goods ihey have helped to spin and weave ; and 

 their flood-waters, collected in reservoirs, feed with water the canals and 

 rivers that transport both the raw and manufactured material. Tht-y 

 supply our houses with water for domestic purposes, and Ihey perform 

 the office of scavenger ; removing from imr dwellings the excretion au"l 

 filth, that, lem.iiniiig near us, would niidermiue our healtli, eugender 

 fevers, and cause premature death." 



Of the fall of water two very interesting tables are given, which 

 show that the depth of rain falling at the same place is very un- 

 equal in different years, and that it seems to follow no law, but the 

 greatest depth of water falls to the west, which is nearest to the 

 sea: — 



Table, — Showing the Depth of Rain fallen per annum for a series of 

 years in different places situated in the upland lo the tvesl, north-east, and 

 south of Manchester, and the level above the mean level of the sea. 



Table, — Showing the Depth of Rain fallen during the past yenr of IS-l?. 

 at various places situated in the upland, east and south of Manchester^ and 

 level above the mean level of the sea. 



Note. — The observations for Belmont were procured from .1. ftla^natl. Esq. ; and for 

 Boltoo from H. H. Watson, Esi). ; from Bury, from J. Norris, Esq., F.R.A S.. who, 

 since September, 1845, has removed to Howick House, near Preston ; from Hochdale, 

 from J, Ecroyd, Esq. ; from Blackstone Kdge, from Mr. R. Matthews, the engineer of 

 the Rochdale Canat ; and the rest trom observations supplied by J, Meado.vs, Esq, The 

 whole of the observations, with the single exception of Blackslone Edge, were made with 

 r-in gauges fixed very near the ground, 



Mr. Homersham charges against the corporation water that it is 

 drained from peat land, and is charged ivith organic matter, which 

 is hurtful to health. He affirms that no filtration can remedy this, 

 as when the water is warm the peat is soluble in it. 



Our author, not content with charging his opponents on every 

 side, asserts that his own company is free from all defects, that the 

 water is most abundant, is collected at the best time, and is little 

 tainted by peat, while he contends that it is likewise the cheapest 

 supply that the corporation can obtain. In his zeal, he says of the 

 freshets impounded by the Railway Company — 



"This system of collecting water is very favourable to lis. purity, as whet) 

 it flows olf the hill-sides during heavy rains (except in a peaty or boggy 

 district) it is much less contaminated than water (percolating slowly from 

 the soil, and reduced iu quantity by evaporation) which forms the streams 

 in dry weather; besides, over most large tracts of land, consisting of thou- 

 sands of acres, there will be found farm-houses and a cons derable resident 

 population, and all the excretion and filth created from these sources, with 

 the soluble parts of manures placed on the land, must, of necessity, dram 

 into the streams, and tend to foul them in comparatively dry weather, al- 

 though, in heavy rains and floods, the water is not perceptibly soiled from 

 these impurities " 



We must say this doctrine is new to us, for we always considered 



24 



