TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 249 



A ScJieme of Water-supply for the Villages and Country ParisJtes of the 

 Central and Eastern Counties of Enrjland. By Professor Hull, F.R.S., 

 Director of the Geologiml Survey of Ireland. 



After referring to the prevalence of zymotic diseases in villages, hamlets, and 

 country parishes, admittedly due to "dirt" (which, as Lord Palmerston defined 

 it, is " matter in the wrong place ") and bad water, the author proposed to_ deal 

 with the latter evil by a scheme applicable to the central and eastern comities of 

 England. This scheme was oulv intended to apply to those districts which come 

 under the division of " Rural Sanitary Districts " of the Public Health Act of 1872, 

 the " Urban Sanitary Districts " being provided for by local resources and en- 

 gineering skill ; but the author maintained that in a large number of instances the 

 villages and hamlets required the introduction of some system of water-supply 

 quite as much as tlie larger towns and cities. 



The author's proposal involved a double system of supply applicable in two dif- 

 ferent sets of cases, (1) either by means of wells, or (2) when wells were inadmis- 

 sible, by surface streaius. He proposed, as a preliminary step, that, by the aid of 

 the llural Sanitary Officers appointed under the Act of 1872, returns should be ob- 

 tained regarding the water-supply at present in existence in the villages and ham- 

 lets throughout the central and eastern counties. These returns were to be trans- 

 mitted to the Central Board of Health in London, and from them it could be deter- 

 mined what were the cases requiring the application of a scheme of supply. 



The author then proceeded to point out how favoumbly circumstanced were 

 those districts of England to which his observations applied for a system of supply 

 by means of wells of greater or less depth. These districts were formed geologi- 

 cally of the ISIesozoic or Secondary strata, included between the Lower Tertiaiy 

 strata above and the Permian beds below. And it would be found that they were 

 capable of being grouped into an alternating series of permeable (or water-bearing) 

 strata on the one hand, and impermeable (or dry) strata on the other. 



The permeable strata were grouped as follows :— 1. Chalk and Upper Green- 

 sand. 2. Lower Greensand. 3. Purbeck and Portland Beds. 4. Coralline Oolite 

 and grit. 5. Great and Inferior Oolites and sands. G. Middle Lias, or Marlstone. 

 7. New Red Sandstone. Attaining a combined thickness of 1,275 to 5,600 feet. 



The impermeable strata were also gTouped as follows: — 1. Gault Clay. 2. 

 Kimmeridge Clay. 3. Oxford Clay. 4. Upper Lias Clay. 5. Lower Lias Clay 

 and Keuper Marls. Attaining a combined tliickness of 2,100 to 5,000 feet. 



It was shown, by reference to the Geological Map of England, that these gi-oups 

 of strata, alternating i;\-ith each other, were spread out over considerable areas, and 

 dip one underneath the other at very moderate inclinations, owing to which the 

 waters collected from the rainfall over the permeable strata percolate downwards 

 till stopped by the underlying impermeable strata, forming underground reservoirs 

 which might be reached by wells or bore-holes. 



It was also shown that these underground waters pass for long distances under 

 the overlying impermeable formations in the direction of the dip, and could be 

 reached and rendered available by wells or borings on the Artesian principle. 



As an illustration of this, the author referred to the deep boring recently made 

 nt Scarle, near Lincoln, where, after the impermeable Lias and Keuper Marls had 

 been passed through, the water-bearing beds of the New Red Sandstone were en- 

 tered, and a fine fountain of water rose through the bore-hole above the surface of 

 the gTound. In this instance the water had travelled 12 to 16 miles imderground, 

 from the outcrop of the water-bearhig sandstones near Mansfield. The author 

 then described the qualities of the waters yielded by the different formations as 

 shown by numerous examples submitted to chemical analyses. 



From the knowledge now possessed on such subjects, it was certain that, by 

 means of wells or borings, supplies of water could be obtained, not only in localities 

 situated on water-bearing strata, but on those situated on the overlying impermeable 

 strata, according to depth. At the same time there would necessarily be a large 

 number of villages aiul hamlets where the depth to the water-bearing bed.> and the 

 cost of reaching" them would be too great for the resources of the inhabitants. 

 These would have to be dealt with by other means of supply. 

 In order to carry out a geueral scheme applicable to all villages found, from the 



