318 The Water Supply of London, [July, 



Old Ford Water Works has also since admitted that he distributed 

 unfiltered water from one of these reservoirs a few days previous 

 to the cholera outbreak. The mortality in that portion of London 

 supplied from the Old Ford reservoirs was frightful, for whilst the 

 deaths in the districts drawing water from other sources varied 

 from 2 to 12 in 10,000, they ranged from 63 to 111 in 10,000 in 

 those districts supplied from these reservoirs. 



London is at present supplied with water by nine companies, 

 who deliver about 108,000,000 gallons daily. A better idea may 

 be formed of the vastness of this supply by a comparison of its 

 volume with some well-known magnitude. If it were contained in 

 a reservoir having a floor-area equal to that of Westminster Hall, 

 the walls would require to be carried to the height of 1.070 feet, or 

 more than three times the height of the Victoria tower, to enable it 

 to contain the water which is daily distributed in the metropolis. 

 Five of the water companies abstract about one-half of the total 

 supply from the Thames ; two withdraw about 42,000,000 gallons 

 from the river Lea, and the remainder is pumped by two other 

 companies' (the Kent and South Essex Companies) from Artesian 

 wells sunk into the chalk of the Thames basin. Such is the pre- 

 sent volume of water daily supplied to London and its suburbs ; 

 what will be the amount required twenty years hence, it is difficult 

 to estimate, but if the annual rate of increase since 1850 be con- 

 tinued, it can scarcely be less than 150,000,000 of gallons; for in 

 1850 the gross dailv quantity delivered was onlv 44^ millions of 

 gallons, in 1856 it had reached 81,000,000 gallons, whilst in 1865 

 it was 108,000,000 gallons. 



Notwithstanding the best efforts of the water companies, the 

 present supply of water to the metropolis is far from satisfactory, 

 owing to causes which are mostly beyond the control of those to 

 whom that supply is entrusted ; it is therefore contemplated either 

 to change entirely the source, and thus obtain water of greater 

 purity than any available in the neighbourhood of London, or so 

 to alter the conditions at present affecting Thames water as to 

 materially improve its quality. For this purpose no less than five 

 schemes have been recently brought forward, viz. : — 



1. Sources of the Severn, proposed by Mr. Bateman. 



2. The Cumberland Lakes— Messrs. Hemans and Hassard. 



3. Thames water filtered through Bagshot Sands — Mr. Telford 

 Macneill. 



4. Storage reservoirs near the sources of the Thames — Mr. 

 Bailey Denton. 



5. Derbyshire and Staffordshire hills — Mr. Piemington. 



The first two of these schemes have been recently so ably dis- 

 cussed in this Journal by Mr. Edward Hull, that it will be only 

 necessary here to allude to the chemical quality of the water ; the 



