1 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 
that the County Council should take strong and decided action in 
the matter. 
The resolution was unanimously agreed to. 
The Chairman remarked that that was not the first time the 
question had been before the Society, for in March, 1882, a paper, 
by Mr. Greg and himself, on the rivers Bib and Quin, was read; 
and in that paper it was stated that the Bib was often dry, and 
that the water coming down the two rivers in the summer time was 
less than it was in the last century. He could not help thinking 
that the great amount of land drained now must make some 
difference to the quantity of water in the streams. He should 
like to hear the opinions of some of the watercress growers. 
Mr. J. Welch, watercress grower, Old Highway, Hoddesdon, 
said he had felt very ill effects from the pumping, as he lost the 
greater part of the water for watercress growing. There must 
be a lot of waste by the New Biver Company, for, to prevent the 
water from freezing, and the banks from being damaged by ice, the 
river in the winter was kept as full as possible. He thought the 
abstraction of water was chiefly due to the construction of headings. 
His watercress beds were a mile from the pumping station, and 
immediately the pumping began the effects were apparent. 
Mr. C. E. Longmore quite agreed with the opinion that London 
should go further afield for a supply of water, because navigable 
rivers, such as the Lea and the Thames, could not safely be made 
sources of supply. He was glad that the County Council had taken 
steps to endeavour to prevent the further abstraction of water ; but 
there was a more important point, and that was to see that these 
new or old companies, whichever it might be, when they came into 
power, would not have increased powers, and power to tell the 
different authorities in the district to keep their water-supply for 
those companies pure. In this district they had had immense 
difficulty in dealing with the water companies. If any poor little 
place started a scheme for its own sewage and proposed to put its 
effluent water into the Lea, they met with every obstruction and 
were put to great expense before they could carry out the work. 
Great as was the difficulty of dealing with the water companies, 
it would be still more difficult to deal with the popularly elected 
bodies in London, as they would have more influence in Parliament. 
If the water companies were to get a supply, it should be laid 
down, at the start, that that water must be kept pure at the 
expense of the ratepayers of London, and not at the expense of the 
ratepayers of the district from which it was derived. 
Mr. Durrant said that he should like to know whether the level 
of the water in the wells in the Lea basin was lower than it was 
ten years ago, and what means could be taken to prevent undue 
waste of water. 
Mr. Campbell stated that the water-level in the Lea valley was 
considerably lower, and that the water in the Ware well was 18 
feet lower than it was 18 or 20 years ago. 
