1911-12.] -yj 



"water supply from UNDERGROUND SOURCES." 



The Geological Section of the Club held its first meeting 

 of the Winter Session in the Museum, on Wednesday, 29th 

 November, when Dr. A. R. Dwerryhouse read a paper on " Water 

 Supply from Underground Sources." There was a very large 

 attendance, and Mr. W. J. C. Tomlinson presided. Before 

 calling upon Dr. Dwerryhouse the Chairman referred to the 

 opportuneness of the subject to be brought before the members 

 that evening. Not within living memory had there been 

 throughout these islands a season of such intense and prolonged 

 drought as had been experienced during the past Summer and 

 Autumn. 



At the conclusion of the lecture a letter of apology for 

 non-attendance was read from Mr. William A. Traill, and a very 

 interesting discussion followed, in which Messrs. R. J. Welch, 

 Wm. Gray, S. A. Bennett, G. Donaldson, and the Chairman took 

 part. In reply to questions with regard to recent suggestions that 

 the supply of Belfast should be supplemented from underground 

 sources, Dr. Dwerryhouse stated that he had no data regarding 

 the amount of water now drawn from the Triassic sandstone 

 beneath the city, but that in all probability this was not far from 

 the maximum quantity which the rocks were capable of yielding, 

 and that heavy pumping for a public supply would therefore 

 seriously interfere with the supply from existing wells. He did 

 not think that the Greensand beneath the basalts of the Antrim 

 plateau would be likely to yield a large permanent supply owing 

 to the narrowness of the Greensand outcrops and the fact that 

 they occurred on steep ground where the run-off was excessive and 

 the amount of water available for replenishing the underground 

 stores correspondingly small. 



