1849. J 



THE CIVIL EXGIXEKR AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL, 



357 



SUPPLY OF WATER TO THE METROPOLIS. 



It is not usual for us to comment on the proceedings of scientific 

 bodies, reported in our Journat, but we cannot refrain fi-om making 

 some remarlis at this time on the lecture delivered by Dr. Buck- 

 land, at the Royal Institute of British Architects, and published 

 in our present number (p. 379.) 



In the first place, we find it needful to question the accuracy of 

 Bome of the Doctor's statements, for he says the supply of water 

 wanted for the Trafalgar-square fountains could be obtained from 

 the Chelsea Waterworks at much less than it now costs. This 

 might be the case if the whole outlay of the well and machinery 

 be set down to the account of the fountains, and, as the Doctor 

 says, in pumping and re-pumping the same water. He must, how- 

 ever, be well aware the engines are likewise used for pumping the 

 water to supply all the government ofEces, the palaces, the Houses 

 of Parliament, and St. Martin's baths and washhouses. Does he 

 know what is the contract price for pumping all the water for such 

 supply, — and the sum demanded by the Clielsea W^aterworks for 

 such supply.'' If he be nott possessed of such information, he 

 will in a future number find the means of enlightening himself 

 and the public on the subject. 



We further contend, with all due submission to the learned 

 doctor, that an Artesian well is a well sunk to a certain depth to 

 form a reservoir, and whence a boring is made to the lower springs 

 until the water rises and overflows the top of that borina- into the 

 well or reservoir. The learned Doctor holds that nothing is an 

 Artesian well, unless the well itself overflows; as if there were any 

 great good in that, or as'if all the wells in the country of Artois 

 are of that character. \Vbat the Dean calls an Artesian well, we 

 call an Artesian boring, which is nothing more than a bore-hole 

 made from the surface down to the springs, until the water rises 

 and overflows at the surface of the ground, or above the surface of 

 the bottom of a well. An Artesian well is therefore a well with 

 such a boring. 



Having said thus much on these two points, we wish to make a 

 few remarks on the important question of the supply of Lond(m 

 with water. The first step, we conceive, should l)e the appoint- 

 ment, by government, of a commission of scientific gentlemen, 

 untrammelled and unfettered by any bias or connection with any 

 other scheme, and to whom the whole subject should be referred. 



We could much have wished that Dr. Buckland had, at present, 

 held back from offering any opinion on the Henley water scheme. 

 Had he wished to do so, it would have been far better to have 

 reviewed all the plans proposed, for if any other than the learned 

 and respected Dean had made such allusion to the Henley water 

 scheme at such a moment, he would have been strongly suspected 

 of aiding and abetting the promoters of that work, and running 

 down the Artesian-well scheme. For ourselves, we will not at- 

 tempt to give any (qiinion now on the various plans, but will in our 

 next month's Joaruul review the whole, in order that our scientific 

 readers may be in a position to join in the discussion, and to come 

 to a correct judgment, for it is of the greatest importance the 

 public mind should be led in the right direction. 



It is very evident something must be done to improve the water 

 supply, — the monopoly of the London water companies can last 

 no longer, for they \\n\e had time enough to improve the supply, 

 and have taken no heed. There is a pressure from without, — the 

 companies must discharge the public duties with which they have 

 been entrusted, or they must cease to be public servants. The 

 contract is to supply such water as the public want to drink, not 

 such as the companies choose to sell. As it now is, the companies, 

 claiming a monopoly, are a hindrance in the way of those who 

 offer to sell pure water. They claim a monopoly for trash. The 

 New River Company, while the cholera was still raging, actually 

 withdrew the supply to the courts and alleys. The quantity is 

 now little more, the mode of supply still inconvenient, and the 

 quality of the water no better. 



The companies persist in using the Thames, while it is clear the 

 public must have water from some other source than the Thames 

 in the neighbourhood of the London drainage, and from a source 

 in which there is no chance of contamination. The supply, too, 

 must be constant. The practice of compelling the inhabitants to 

 have cisterns, can no longer be uplield; and no engineer who has 

 any respect for the honour of the profession, will any longer advo- 

 cate intermittent supply, and the nonsensical stuff which has been 

 put forward in its support. 



The public are masters of the subject, and will not allow 

 themselves to be talked out of their senses by any parade of 

 figures, for what can be done in other parts of England can be done 

 in London ; and there is no need ior the Londoners, after having 



shown the %pay forward, to be left behind the rest of the world. 

 We shall do our best for the cause, and we think we can show there 

 is no additional expense for constant supply, as the actual cost of 

 lifting water 100 feet, for the supply of 100 gallons of water to 

 each house daily, is not, on the average, above 2«. 6d. yearly. 



We wish the Rev. Dean had in his lecture gone a little further, 

 and explained why the wells in London have failed, for, with his 

 great geological knowledge, his opinion would have had some 

 weight. As he is aware, nearly all the deep wells of London 

 derive their supply from springs below the level of the river 

 Thames, and we ask him whether it is to be expected supply 

 enough of water can be so obtained, when the natural outfall of 

 the springs and drainage is by the river Thames.'' The Doctor 

 may be able to inform us, that if we go much below the level of 

 the' sea, there cannot be any dependence on getting a large supply; 

 but that if we go to the outcrop of the chalk, in the neighbourhood 

 of London, and there sink wells, thei-e can be little doubt a large 

 quantity of water may be had from the bowels of the earth before 

 the water has had time to overflow from the springs into the rivers. 

 How are the rivers rising in the chalk formation, as the Colne, 

 Mole, Wandle, and Lea, all of which derive their supply from the 

 springs in the chalk, supplied with water ? 



It may be said by the niillowners, "This can be done, but then 

 you will hurt us" — to which we answer: "You, a few in number, 

 must not stand in the way of the health and life of millions; you 

 must be recompensed, — the VYater Clauses Act gives you ample 

 protection; you can claim compensation, and set steam-power to 

 drive your mills, instead of water." Much, too, may be done for 

 the millowners by damming and storing-up the water of ri\ers in 

 compensation reservoirs in the time of heavy floods, and letting it 

 out in time of drought, for by such care, the stock of water now 

 wasted may he made enough for the waterworks and the mills, and 

 the latter have much steadier h ork and more working-days in the 

 year. 



In offering these few suggestions, we do not mean to say a supply 

 for all London can be got from any one well, but we think it may 

 from a few wells sunk north, east, west and south, within twenty 

 miles of London. If the supply from such source to the full ex- 

 tent required for all sanitary purposes be doubled, this mode of 

 supply might be confined to household uses, and the plants of the 

 water coni])anies at Brentford, Hammersmith, Chelsea, Battersea, 

 London-bridge, and Old Ford be used for pumping up the water of 

 the river Thames, as now, but for sanitary purposes only, as flushing 

 the sewers, and watering and cleansing the streets; and by making 

 an arrangement with the Regent's Canal Company, the water might 

 be pumped into that canal, which is well situated for the purpose of 

 sending a stream of water to the head of the main sewers, through 

 which it would f.o\v, cleansing them, and emptying the sewage into 

 the river Thames below low-water mark. 



In the way here shown, ten gallons of pure water could be given 

 daily to each house in London, wliich would be enough for house- 

 hold uses; and, at the same time, the mains of present companies 

 might be kept for cleansing. It may further be observed, an 

 arrangement could be made for connecting many of the present 

 services with the new mains to be brought into London for the 

 pure water supply, and also the present reservoirs likewise be 

 used for distributmg such v/ater. An arrangement of this kind 

 depends, of course, on the present water companies, and, as we 

 have said before, if they will not move and do something- of them- 

 selves, it must be done for them, and they must be crushed. The 

 result lies with them, and they have had warning, often and loud 

 enough. 



A Salt Tf'aler Spring in a Coal Mine. — During the past month (lie miners 

 employed in sinking down to the Ardley Mine, at nhat is commonly callfd 

 the Patricroft Colliery, Ince, completed their task ; and during tlieir progress 

 they have cut through a white stone rock of 15 yards thick, in the centre of 

 which, at 410 yards from the surface, they found a spring of salt water, 

 which, according to their account, makes about 20 gallons per hour. The 

 water is clear and hright, and on a tenijiorary anahzation is found to contain 

 about 14 grains troy of tlie different kinds of salts to 1 ounce of water. 

 The mines are the property of Messrs. Lancaster, the Ince Hall Cnal and 

 Canal Company ; and it now remains a question as to how far this excellent 

 alkaline spring might he rendered nvailalile for haths, &c. Below this rock 

 the miners cut thiough various metals for about 15 yards, when they came 

 to the mine, vihich is 4 ft. 6 in. thick, exclusive of what is called the 

 "buzzard" coal on the top. The miners have frequently fiiind salt water in 

 the mines in Ince, hut we believe that this is the first discovery of the source 

 from whence it emanated. — I'reslon Chronicle, 



