Labourers' Cottages. 
109 
rounded with 12 in. of clay puddle. They should never be 
less than 50 ft. deep, and the deeper they go the less likely 
is the water to be contaminated. With regard to shallow 
wells, it is no uncommon thing when the weather is very 
dry, for the water-supply to become scanty and sometimes 
to cease altogether. This is a proof that the water is derived 
from surface drainage after passing through a few feet of 
soil and collecting in the hollow made for it. The one great 
objection to shallow wells is that the water is liable to pollu- 
tion to a greater degree than in deep wells. Wells, if 
removed from all likely sources of pollution, are better than 
surface streams. 
It frequently happens, more particularly in the fen 
districts, that the sources of water-supply already enumerated 
are not available, and cottagers have to depend upon the 
storage of the rain-water for domestic purposes, or the water 
is pumped and carted from the dykes and drains which are 
so common in that part of the country. Water from the 
latter sources is frequently of a brownish colour owing to the 
fact that it has drained through peaty land ; it has been proved 
by analysis that it is not deleterious for drinking purposes 
on that account, but there are risks of its being polluted by 
other causes. 
Rain-water collected from the roofs of houses and stored 
in underground tanks frequently becomes polluted, and 
should be boiled and efficiently filtered. The tanks should 
be constructed of substantial concrete or brickwork in cement, 
and should be rendered in cement 1 in. thick or lined with 
pure bitumen sheeting, and should be thoroughly cleaned 
out three or four times a year. On no account should tanks 
for the storage of rain-water be lined with lead, as the lead 
becomes oxidised by the action of rain-water, and persons 
drinking the water are liable to lead poisoning. 
The frequent occurrence of wells and cesspools in close 
proximity, and the use in villages of surface streams, make 
it absolutely necessary that great care should be exercised in 
the use of water. Unfortunately, the provision of a suitable 
water-supply sometimes involves considerable expense to a 
landowner, a recent case in Buckinghamshire working out 
at 22 per cent, of the actual cost of the cottage. 
