328 APPENDIX. 



No. XXV. 

 ON THE WATER SUPPLY OF THE METROPOLIS. 



EXTRACTS from LETTERS to the ' Times ' and ' Standard,' 

 by ALFRED SMEE. 



THE deep springs which supply our rivers round London flow from 

 the chalk, which absorbs the rain which falls upon it and retains it like a 

 sponge, and the great chalk hills which surround London are Nature's 

 storehouses for water, which yield a steady supply, influenced by the total 

 rain which falls over a period of several weeks, but uninfluenced by any 

 sudden showers. The Lea, the New River, the Colne, the Wandle, the 

 Grays water springs, and other streams, have their source in the chalk, 

 and it is our duty to take the water at its source, before it is contaminated 

 with sewage. Moreover, the rivers round London are full of weeds, which 

 grow with great rapidity in hot weather, but which die and rot at the 

 beginning of September, and this decaying matter is then supplied to 

 London at a period of the year when epidemics are most rife, and when its 

 presence is most dangerous. 



By taking spring water as it pours from the earth, and stowing it in 

 dark reservoirs, vegetation cannot occur, and the water can be supplied in 

 its purest condition. 



Although the cause of the choleraic impairment of water is unknown, 

 the pernicious influence of cesspools near surface wells is now thoroughly 

 recognized, and. possibly, the choleraic poison can run through the earth 

 as a fungus can extend for a considerable distance, &c. 



While London cries for a further supply of water, it is not generally 

 known that there exists at Grays in Essex a series of fissures, or under- 

 ground rivers, which pour their water into the Thames, and the yield 

 of which is estimated at upwards of 10,000,000 gallons a day. Some of this 

 water is used for the supply of Brentwood, and Romford will be supplied 

 in two or three weeks, but the remainder is absolutely wasted, notwith- 

 standing that it is destitute entirely of organic matter, and is of a quality 

 declared by the Government commissioners as the best which is obtainable 

 for the metropolitan supply .... 



AGAINST DRINKING WATER CONTAINING ORGANIC MATTER. Speech 

 delivered by ALFRED SMEE at the Civil Engineers', May 21st, 1867. 



MR. SMEE denied that a small quantity of organic matter in water was 

 immaterial. A small quantity of small-pox matter would infect a large 

 number of persons, and a less quantity of scarlet fever poison was required 

 to propagate that disease. There were many other poisons communicated 

 by means so subtle that the material agency by which the poison was 

 carried from one person to another had never been discovered, whilst 

 there was distinct evidence that it was so carried. When the great 

 cholera epidemic struck the neighbourhood of Golden Square, Dr. Snow 



