6 



T!!E CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[Janvart, 



■though ilcl'errcci for auch a lengtli of time, tlie public indignation now became 

 ^unaniiDi.us, and at a meeting lield in April 1827. which was attended i.'V a 

 most ir.fluential body of the nobility and residents of the V.'cst of London, 

 resolutions of a very strong nature were passed, and a petition agrce-.l to, 

 praying for the appointment, by the Crown, of a commission to inqnire into 

 the present modes of supply, and their ctlcct on the health of the population. 



In compliance with tliis urgent demand. Dr. Iloget. Mr. Brand, and Mr. 

 Teifcrd were named on the lith July, 1827. to examine the allegations 

 brought forward, which at once led to the suggestion of mmicrous remedies, 

 for an evil, which no one appeared ready to controvert. 



Among these we tind a Mr. Hipkins proposing to convey in an open con- 

 duit, the water of the Thames, from above Old Brentford. Dr. Kerrison. 

 from Islewortb. and Mr. James Mills, from Teddington ; Mr. Martin, the 

 artist, also sought to shew that the water of the river Cohie might he brought 

 in a canal from Denham. in the neighbourhood of Uxbridge. to London : and. 

 in addition to these, various other proposals emanated from Messrs. Smart. 

 Brown of Wf.kefield. Chambers. Jones. William Anderson. &c. &c. 



None of these, however, were fully discussed by the commission, as the 

 demand for their Report rendered it necessary that it should be given in long 

 before they could well said to have terminated their labours. 



The CTidencc they obtained enabled them, however, to decide ' that the 

 present state of the sui>ply of water requires improvement, that the com- 

 plaints respecting the quality are well founded, and that the water ought to 

 be derived from other sources than those now resorted to." 



In consequence of this report it was deemed necessary that a Select Com- 

 mittee of the House of Commons should be appointed to make fmther en- 

 quiries, and at the end of the session it appears to have fully agreed that 

 the supply should be derived from a purer soiu-ce than the present, in further- 

 ance of which object it was recommended that Mr. Telford should be em- 

 ployed to make such surveys as would enable him to suggest a practicable 

 plan of supplying every part of London with wliolesome and pure water. 

 After several years of protracted enquiry, -Mr. Telford came to the conclusion 

 thaTit would be desirable to bring the water from the river Verulam. on the 

 north side of the Thames, and one of the branches of the Wandle. on the 

 south, to London, to efl'ect which so large an outlay was necessary, that he 

 proposed it should be met by a parliamentary grant. 



Another and numerous committee of the House of Commons again met to 

 consider these plans, but its labours were unfortunately not terminated at the 

 «nd of the session : the enquiry may therefore still be considered as remain- 

 big nearly in the same state in which it was left in the year 1834. 



The plan of sinking Artesian wells to the sands of the plastic clay or chalk. 

 lias indeed, as I have already mentioned, been again mooted, but abandoned 

 for causes to be herealter detailed ; and Mr. Telford's proposal of bringing 

 the water of the Vendani to London has also been taken up, with various 

 modifications, by Mr. Giles, who. however, did not succeed. I believe, in 

 the preliminary step of finding capitalists willing to embark in the under- 

 taking. 



it will now. I think, be siiflioiently established that the present mode of 

 supplying London with water, has for a length of time, been any thing but 

 satisfactory to the public ; and if for some years past the subject has been 

 allowed to rest, it has probably arisen more from a prevalent idea that the 

 enquiry was in the hands of the legislature than from any real abatement of 

 the groimds of complaint. 



Prom various causes it would seem, however, that there is no intention on 

 the part of tha government to prosecute the enquirv- ; and. indeed, this may 

 in some degree be accounted for from the countrj- being called upon, accord- 

 ing to .Mr. Telford's plan, to expend nearly Jt'l, 200,000 to cany that into 

 effect which many have already doubtless perceived to be but a partial remedy 

 for the evil. 



It is indeed surprising, that with the exception of the proposal to obtain 

 the water by perforating the London clay, every project, including Mr. Tel- 

 ford's, should have contemplated using the water of streams which are all 

 subject to be affected by the surface drainage of a more or less extensive tract 

 of country, and. consequently, oidy a very few degrees better than that already 

 in use, whilst at the same time all the difficulties consequent on the injury to 

 existing interests, as navigations, mills, &c. have to be encountered. Manv, 

 altliongh they sought to remove the objection to using the v.ater of the 

 Thames in the immediate vicinity of London, continued to endeavour to de- 

 rive their sup)dyfrom a greater distance, where, although, certainly less hable 

 to contamination, it might still be considered as the common sewer of many 

 important towns on its banks, and the general drain into which much animal 

 and vegetable matter must find its way, particularly after the scouring of the 

 neighbouring country by every heavy fall of rain. 



1 ilo not, indeed, at all contest that the extraneous bodies, which pollute 

 the water of rivers, are merely held in mechanical suspension, and that pro- 

 vided we get rid of these by allowing them to fall to the bottom, the Thames 

 ■water may be looked upon as quite as pure as any other. But there appears 

 to me one material objection to the method of removing the imi)urities by 

 rest, which applies to all surface water, namely, that a considerable space of 

 time is necessary to admit of their complete separation, and as this is also in- 

 creased by the slightest agitation again diffusing the particles of the deposit 

 through the water, the gradual accumulation of filth in the reservoirs, and 

 the lapse of time requisite to render the water clear, must undoubtedly add 

 to its unpleasant odour and flavour, or, in other words, to its tendency to be- 

 come putrid. 1 therefore repeat, that it is scarcely to be wondered at, that 



the legislature should have delayed acting on Mr. Telford'^ plan, which com- 

 liined these objections with a very large outlay, nor that a company should 

 still have found grounds for proposing .\rtesian wells in preference to his sug- 

 gestions. That this, however, was not to have been easily attained, appears 

 partly proveil by the fact, that this project was never broueht to maturity, 

 and the remarks I am now about to lay before you will also,"l trust, confirm 

 tills view. 



The group of strata, designated as the lower tertiary, or eocene, and con- 

 sisting of two divisions, the upper called the London ciay, and the lower com- 

 posed of various coloured sands and argillaceous deposits, distinguished as 

 the plastic clay, lying immediately upon the chalk formation, may in general 

 terms be described as a huge mass of clay resting upon a still more exteniiTe 



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River Thames. 



River Brent. 



River Co!ne. 



bed of chalk. The section which accompanies this report, and which, with 

 slight modifications, is taken from Dr. Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise, will 

 shew this clearly, and by inspecting it you will at once understand that the 

 surface of country occupied by the clay, is surrounded on all sides by a belt 

 of chalk, excepting to the east, where the Genuau Ocean for some distance 

 interrupts the continuity, and you mil also perceive that this cretaceous circle 

 is, generally speaking, higher in level than the deposit of clay which fills the 

 centre of the basin. 



It is almost needless that I should inform you, that of the water which 

 descends as dew or rain upon the surface of the London clay, little, if any, 

 can be considered as absorbed into the earth, and that whilst a part either 

 again reascends into the atmosphere as vapour, or enters into the composition 

 of animal and vegetable bodies, by far the greater portion flows off into the 

 main drain of the district, the river Thames. 



In this respect there is a most material difference from that portion of the 

 surface w here the chalk comes to light, divested of any covering wliich could 

 intercept the passage of the moisture ; being not only extremely porous but 

 also full of fissures in every direction, a very rapid absorption takes place, 

 and we accordingly find that there are but few streams carrying off the sur- 

 plus surface water, and that these are insignificaht, and, indeed, many of them 

 <lry during the greater part of the year. The rapidity with which the water 

 finds its way into the bowels of the earth, also in a great measure, preveats 



