190 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[|Jl'XE, 



WATER SUPPLY FOR LIVERPOOL. 



Refobt of RoBEHT Stepiienson, C.E., on the Supply of Water 

 to the Town of lAverpoul. 



The question which has been entrusted to me for my considera- 

 tion and opinion, and on which I have now to report, is the best 

 plan to he adopted for securing an adequate supply of water to the 

 town of Liverpool; and in opening the sul)ject, it will probably be 

 most convenient and intelligible to introduce a coi)y of the In- 

 structions conveyed in the Minute of the ^\'ate^ Committee of the 

 Town Council, which is as follows: — 



"At B meeting of the Water Committee, held on Monday, the 14th of 

 January, 1850: — 



Present: — James Procter, Esq., Chairman, &c., &c., &c. 



"Read a letter from Mr. Stephenson, dated the 12th init., and addressed 

 to the Town Clerk. 



"Resolved: — That the followinj^ instructions be communicated to Mr. 

 Stephenson, and that he he respectfully requested to meet the Committee 

 to-morrow morning at half-past nine o'clock. 



"Mr. Stephenson having been unanimously appointed the Engineer for 

 the purposes of the resolution of the Council of the 9th of November, the 

 desire of the Committee is, that he should inform himself upon the 

 subject in all its bearings, by evidence, reports, or otherwise, so as to ensure 

 that the views of all parties may he elicited before him to their satisfaction, 

 and report his opinion to the committee fully: — 



"1st. Whether a supply sufficient as regards quantity and quality for the 

 present and prospective wants of the town and neighbourhood, including 

 domestic, trading, and manufacturing purposes, and shipping; and for public 

 p.irposes, viz. — watering and cleansing streets, Hushing sewers, extinguishing 

 fires, and supplying public baths and wash-houses — can he obtained by 

 additional borings and tunnels, or otherwise, at the present stations, viz. — 

 those purchased from the companies respectively, aT.d from the Green Lane 

 Works, now vested in the Corporation; and the cost of obtaining such suf- 

 ficient supply. 



" 2ndly. Whether a sufficient addition to the present supply can be ob- 

 tained in the locality or neighbourhood of Liverpool, as recommended by 

 Messrs. Simpson and Newlands, or by borings, or by any other course; and the 

 cost of obtaining and distributing the same. 



"3dly. Wiietber such supply can be obtained by means of the Rivington 

 \\ orks ; and the cost of obtaining and distributing the same as recommended 

 by Mr. Hawksley. 



"4lhly. Under all the present circumstances of the case, what course is 

 recommended to be pursued.' 



" Extracted from the Proceedings. 



"William Shuttlewobth. 



" Town Clerk." 



In entering on the matter of the above resolutions, I feel it a 

 jdeasure to acknowledge the facilities which have been aiforded by 

 Mr. Newlands, the Borough Engineer, and those acting under him, 

 both by supplying the necessary plans and by giving every means 

 in their power for the examination and experiments at the pumping 

 stations: and I also gladly avail myself of the opportunity to thank 

 all who have assisted in the inquiry, either by offering their 

 opinions and information in the public court, or in verbal or 

 written communications. 



There can be but one opinion respecting the great Importance of 

 rin abundant supply of good water to such a town as Liverpool, for 

 whether regarded in a sanitary or commercial point of view, there 

 is, probably, notliing more conducive to the welfare and enjoyment 

 of a large community. 



In a sanitary point of view, the necessity of a large supply of 

 water, in combination with a good system of sewerage, is now ad- 

 mitted on all hands; — the disposition evinced everywhere to place 

 at the disposal of the poorer classes much larger quantities of water, 

 and more convenient arrangements for their constant domestic 

 supply, and to promote the general establishment of baths and 

 wash-houses, sufficiently exhibit the strong prevailing feeling in 

 this respect. 



In a commercial point of view, both the quantity and the quality 

 of the water supplied are also very important; in manufactures 

 wherein water is used for the piirjiose of extracting vegetable or 

 other principles from any substance; in the preparation of tea and 

 coffee, in the saving of soap and labour in all detersive operations, 

 in steam-engine hollers, and in economic processes generally, pure 

 water has long been appreciated, and would no doubt be universally 

 used where the expense of obtaining it is not too great. And wlie'n 

 the influence of some small superiority of situation, or of the 

 materials found or the facilities given on any spot, and tlie great 

 extent to which competition now affects the profits of manu- 



facturers are considered, the necessity is evident for taking 

 especial care to secure every advantage that may present itself. 



To Liverpool, in particular, witli its high commercial position, 

 its large and rapidly increasing population, and its immense con- 

 structions for the purposes of trade, science, and habitation, the 

 advantage of a copious and permanent supply of good water can 

 scarcely be over-rated. 



These prominent considerations, with many others easy to me:i- 

 tion, have led me to approach the subject with anxiety, and to 

 devote to it my best energies. I trust the result may prove of 

 advantage to the town and its community. 



Supply from Wells. 



In my inquiry, it was clearly necessary in the first instance to 

 ascertain correctly the quantity of water yielded by the existing 

 wells, the influence which they exert upon each other, and the 

 mode by which the water contained in the mass of sandstone is 

 transmitted from one place to another. 



On this last and most important point the evidence adduced 

 before me in Court was very conflicting, some of the witnesses 

 maintaining, that however large a quantity might be pumped from 

 one well, little or no effect was found to be produced upon those in 

 the vicinity; and of this several well authenticated instances were 

 certainly adduced, but a careful consideration of the whole mass 

 of facts leads me to believe that these cases form rather the ex- 

 ception than the rule; and that they are occasioned by local geo- 

 logical faults, partially or wholly water tight, which are known to 

 be interspersed throughout the new red sandstone formation in the 

 neighbourhood of Liverpool. 



It appears to me, also, that the purport of the evidence offered 

 on this part of the subject was entirely misconceived by the parties 

 who adduced it; for, it is evident that if the sandstone was so 

 impermeable as to prevent one well influencing another at a 

 moderate distance, it would be exceedingly diflScult, if not abso- 

 lutely impossible, to obtain a very large supply of water from any 

 one well. As regards, indeed, the main question of obtaining from 

 the sandstone an adequate supply of water, it is of the utmost con- 

 sequence to establish indisputably that the sandstone is extremely 

 permeable. 



All the witnesses who have studied the structure of the forma- 

 tion on which Liverpool stands, concur in stating that it consists of 

 a series of strata varying in permeability, and that large sheets of 

 water may be conceived as spread out one above the other, being 

 retained in their positions by intermediate beds more or less porous. 

 Hence in sinking wells under ordinary circumstances, a gradual 

 accession of water takes place as each succeeding stratum contain- 

 ing the sheets of water alluded to is intersected. 



If this description of the structure represented truly the cha- 

 racter of the sandstone, it is evident that wells would only affect 

 each other when drawing water from the same series of strata; but 

 there is a most important deviation from simple stratification in 

 almost every part of the rock, from the existence of an infinite 

 series of fissures, intersecting each other in every direction; a cir- 

 cumstance which obviously destroys the insulation between the 

 sheets of water. These fissures are, by some, supposed to be filled 

 with clay, and thiis rendered impervious to water, which may be 

 to some extent true; and it seems to be indicated by the circum- 

 stances already mentioned that wells in some cases are not found 

 to act upon each other. 



Dr. Buckland believes that some of these fissures are so ex- 

 tensive and so completely charged with clayey matters, as to divide 

 the formation into a series of boxes. Mr. Rowlandson in his evidence 

 dissents in a great measure from this view, and while admitting that 

 fissures exist, he denies that they are quite impermeable, and to 

 establish this, refers to the influence which one well exerts upon 

 another. On this point he says, "I believe that those fractures 

 are general, and in fact, that the water is diffused throughout the 

 whole district through those cracks, and that therefore they are 

 not filled with the impermeable clay." In this opinion I concur. 

 Different degrees of porosity unquestionably exist, satisfactorily 

 accounting in my mind for the different degrees of influence which 

 wells are found to exert on each other The facility with which 

 the water will pass from one part of the sandstone to the other, 

 depends principally on the size of the fissures, their character and 

 their direction; and hence it is quite consistent with the existence 

 of a very large number of fissures, that two wells at a great dis- 

 tance may aflect each other while two that are near may show little 

 or no connection. 



The most extensive and the best established series of facts bear- 

 ing on this part of the question are those surrounding Green Lane, 



