A PRACTICAL HANOBOOH FOR Dam.- 
 
REESE LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.' 
 
 V'P 1.9. 1P4 
 ^ecei-ved , /<?<? . 
 
 Accessions No.SS'//^- . Class No. 
 
 J 
 
WATER: 
 
 ITS COMPOSITION, COLLECTION, 
 AND DISTRIBUTION. 
 
 /^'f 
 
ITS 
 
 COMPOSITION, COLLECTION, 
 
 
 AKD 
 
 DISTRIBUTION. 
 
 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK FOR DOMESTIC 
 AND GENERAL USE. 
 
 BY JOSEPH PARRY, C.E, 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 LONDON : 
 FREDERICK WARNE AND CO., 
 
 STREET, STEAND, 
 
V 
 
 DALZIEI. BROTHERS, CAMDEN PRESS, LONDON, N.W 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 WE live in an age of sanitary restlessness. Never 
 has there been so much solicitude about drains and 
 clust, about the air we breathe and the Water we 
 drink. Never have there been so many sanitary 
 schoolmasters in the world. 
 
 But, in the practical application even of the 
 knowledge we already possess,"the progress that has 
 been made is exceedingly small, when compared 
 with the magnitude of the work to be done. To 
 effect greater progress in the future, there must be 
 a wider diffusion of knowledge concerning the 
 laws of health, and a more general recognition of 
 individual responsibility in relation to them. 
 
 Water is an indispensable agent in every kind 
 of sanitary improvement, and the adoption of a 
 high standard of purity cannot fail to exercise an 
 ameliorating influence. The subject of Water 
 .Supply has therefore a paramount claim to atten- 
 tion, and it derives additional importance from its 
 
vi Preface, 
 
 intimate connection ' with such questions as the 
 purification 'of rivers, the prevention and utilization 
 of floods, and the promotion of temperance. 
 
 This book has been written with a desire to give 
 information that may be useful to the public in 
 reference to Water and Water Supply; in deciding 
 upon the merits of Water schemes and methods of 
 distribution ; and in the selection, construction, and 
 management of the numerous Water appliances in 
 which consumers are interested. In the part re- 
 lating to house fittings, I have endeavoured to take 
 up those points in regard to which, according to the 
 experience of every waterworks engineer, informa- 
 tion is most frequently sought and required. The 
 employment of technical phraseology has, as far as 
 possible, been avoided. J. P. 
 
 LTVEEPOOL, 
 
 January 1, 1881. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WATER. Page 
 
 Water, its use and abuse Domestic supply Health of towns' 
 inquiry, 1841 Subsequent progress Review of water 
 supply legislation Pollution Commissioners' Report 
 Outbreaks of disease due to impure water Parliamentary 
 Return, 1879 Present state of water supply in England 
 What remains to be done General and local regula- 
 tions How further progress is to be effected 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 COMPOSITION OF WATER AND SOURCES OF SUPPLY. 
 
 Pure water, what it is Gases in water Natural water Safe 
 sources of supply Lakes, rivers, deep and shallow wells 
 Sewage pollution Rain-water Water analysis Or- 
 ganic matter in water Standards of purity Controversies 
 of chemists Action of Parliament Effect of water supply 
 on mortality Diseases communicated through water 
 Microscopical examinations Physical tests Hardness of 
 water Softening processes , 22 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PURIFICATION OF WATER. 
 
 Domestic filtration Filtration on the large scale Various 
 
 forms of house filters Effect of boiling on water 51 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MODERN WATERWORKS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Origin of water companies Competition in water supply- 
 History of London supply and its lessons Duty of local 
 authorities Services rendered by water companies Ad- 
 vantages of supply being under control of local bodies .. 08 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 DISTRIBUTION OF WATER. 
 
 Constant and intermittent systems Evils of intermittent sys- 
 tem Consumption of water under both systems, and "in 
 various classes of property Liverpool experience Pro- 
 posed supply of houses through meters Objections to un- 
 necessary restrictions Correct principles of distribution. , . 79 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 WATER RENTS, RATES, AND CHARGES. 
 
 Domestic water rents How levied Extra charges London 
 
 ratesCharges for sanitary supplies 94 
 
viii Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WATER APPLIANCES FOR DOMESTIC SUPPLIES. Page 
 
 Control over pipes and fittings Construction and management 
 of cisterns Overflow-pipes Examples of defective and 
 dangerous work Water direct from mains Water-closets 
 Faulty closets Entrance of sewer gases Drawing-cocks 
 Stop-cocks Ball-cocks Iron and lead pipes How to 
 lay new pipes How to discover underground leakages 
 Pipes in bad soil Baths Hot water apparatus Outside 
 stop-cocks How to choose water fittings Waste- pre- 
 venters No water Water-traps and their defects Ex- 
 periments on passage of gases through water Effect of 
 frost How to thaw frozen pipes 101 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WASTE OF WATER. 
 
 Significance of waste Extent and value of waste from defec- 
 tive fittings Relation of pressure to waste Standards of 
 consumption Waste in the metropolis Wasteful constant 
 supplies Experience of A merican towns Results of care- 
 less methods Sources of waste Prevention of waste 
 Statutory powers to prescribe fittings Reductions effected 
 by proper regulations Liverpool system Co-operation of 
 public desired Responsibility for waste prevention 133 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 RURAL SUPPLIES. 
 
 General state of water supply in rural districts Improvements 
 needed Polluted streams and wells Examples Shallow 
 wells How to provide wholesome water The Abyssinian 
 tube Rain-water from roofs Filtration Machinery for 
 raising water 155 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 WATER FOR TRADE PURPOSES. 
 
 Distinction between domestic and trade supplies Practice as 
 to charging by meter Directions for reading meter index 
 Precautions against waste and overcharge Examples of 
 rates charged in various towns Water as motive power 
 Advantages of water-pressure machinery 171 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 REGULATIONS FOR THE PREVENTION OF WASTE AND MISUSE 
 
 OF WATER .. 178 
 
r -TY 
 
 W ATE R 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Water, its use and abuse Domestic supply Health of. towns inquiry, 
 1844 Subseqitent progress Review of water supply legislation 
 Pollution Commissioners' Report Outbreaks of disease due to 
 impure water Parliamentary Return, 1879 Present state of 
 water supply in England What remains to be done General 
 and local regulations How further progress is to be effected. 
 
 A BOUT three feet of water, in the form of rain, snow, 
 and hail, falls upon the surface of Great Britain 
 every year. Spread over the present estimated popula- 
 tion, the average daily fall is more than nineteen tons to 
 every inhabitant. 
 
 This represents a vast power for good : to cleanse and 
 refresh the air and earth; to irrigate and fertilize the 
 soil; to support life; to drive machinery; to give 
 wholesome drink to man and beast. Uncontrolled, it 
 sweeps over valleys and lowlands in destructive floods. 
 Misapplied, it becomes a carrier of disease and death. 
 
 To preserve and convey, for the use of every town and 
 village and of every household throughout the country, 
 
 I 
 
Water Supply. 
 
 a sufficient supply of the water -which nature has so 
 abundantly provided, is a service of inestimable value 
 and importance. There is no sign more convincing and 
 satisfactory of the progress which the country has made 
 during the second half of the present century than is 
 afforded by the numerous and costly works that have 
 been carried out for the collection and distribution of 
 water for domestic purposes. 
 
 In the year 1844 a Eoyal Commission was issued to 
 inquire into the state of large towns and populous districts 
 in England and Wales. The instructions included "the 
 supply of water in such towns and districts, whether for 
 purposes of health or for the better protection of property 
 from fire." Out of the fifty towns to which the inquiries 
 of the Commissioners extended,, there were only six in 
 which the arrangements and supplies could be deemed in 
 any comprehensive sense good, while in thirteen they were 
 indifferent, and in thirty-one bad. There was almost 
 universal scarcity of supplies for domestic use among 
 the poorer classes. In some of the larger towns the 
 proportion of houses receiving a separate supply was 
 extremely small. The waterworks were generally in the 
 hands of joint-stock companies, who, being trading 
 bodies, only laid their pipes to those parts where they 
 got the largest and best customers. The mode of sup- 
 plying and charging operated most prejudicially to the 
 
Health of Towns Commission, 1 844. 3 
 
 interests of the poor. Where pipes were laid, the water 
 was usually distributed on a restricted intermittent 
 system, in many places a supply of only one or two hours' 
 duration, two or three times in a week, being given. 
 There was no general law applicable to the subject, and 
 it was not generally recognized as part of the duty of 
 the body entrusted with the local government of a town 
 to enforce or to provide an ample supply of water. 
 
 The Commissioners recommended that it should be 
 rendered imperative on local administrative bodies to pro- 
 cure sufficient supplies of water, for all domestic, public, 
 and sanitary purposes ; that water companies should be 
 required to comply with the demands of local adminis- 
 trative bodies on equitable terms; that local adminis- 
 trative bodies should be empowered to purchase water- 
 works by agreement ; that new companies should only 
 be established on condition that the local administrative 
 body might subsequently purchase the undertaking; that 
 where pipes were laid down all houses capable of bene- 
 fiting by them should be rated in the same way as for 
 sewerage and other local purposes, the owners of small 
 tenements being made liable for the rates ; that for in- 
 creasing the protection of property from fire, there should 
 be a constant supply at high pressure. 
 
 I have given this short summary of the conclusions 
 
 12 
 
Water Supply. 
 
 and recommendations of the celebrated Health of Towns 
 Commission, both for its historical value, and because it 
 provides a convenient point from which to measure the 
 progress that has since been made. 
 
 Forty years ago water was sold in the streets of large 
 towns at a halfpenny or penny the bucket, from casks 
 mounted on wheels. To-day there is no town of impor- 
 tance without public works from which water is distri- 
 buted through pipes to every dwelling. 
 
 In 1817 the first general Act relating to water supply 
 was passed. The principle was laid down that the 
 body undertaking to supply a town or district should 
 provide pure and wholesome water sufficient for the 
 domestic use of all the inhabitants, and constantly laid 
 on at a pressure adequate to reach the top storey of the 
 highest house. The undertakers were required to lay 
 pipes to any houses in their district of which the aggregate 
 water rates payable annually should be not less than 
 one-tenth the cost of extending the pipes if the owners 
 or occupiers agreed to pay such rates for three years. It 
 was also provided that the undertakers should, on the 
 request of Town Commissioners, affix fire-plugs to their 
 mains. 
 
 The Report of the Health of Towns Commission 
 
Waterworks Legislation. 
 
 led to the passing of the Public Health Act, 1848. 
 The preamble set forth that " It is expedient that 
 the supply of water to such towns and places, and the 
 sewerage, drainage, cleansing, and paving thereof, should 
 as far as practicable be placed under one and the same 
 local management and control/-' With this vieAv, local 
 authorities were empowered to provide sufficient supplies 
 of water by contract or agreement, and to erect water- 
 works, subject to a proviso that, where a waterworks 
 company already existed, new works could only be 
 constructed if the company after demand failed to give 
 a proper supply on reasonable terms. Waterworks com- 
 panies were empowered to contract with local authorities 
 for the supply of water, or to sell or lease their water- 
 works to local authorities willing to take them. It was , 
 also enacted that a local authority might require the 
 occupier of any house to obtain a proper supply of water, 
 where such supply could be furnished at a rate not 
 exceeding twopence per week. 
 
 Further powers and facilities were given to local 
 authorities for constructing and purchasing waterworks 
 under the Local Government Act, 1858; Amendment 
 Act, 1851 ; and the Sanitary Acts of 1866 and 1874. 
 
 An Act was passed in 1870 (the Gas and Water Fa- 
 cilities Act) to facilitate in certain cases the obtaining 
 of powers for the construction of waterworks, by pro- 
 
Water Supply. 
 
 visional orders to be granted by the Board of Trade,, after 
 notice and inquiry. Provision was also made for small 
 water companies not incorporated under a special Act, 
 to obtain the necessary parliamentary powers if they got 
 the consent of the local authority. The application of 
 provisional orders was further extended by the Gas and 
 Water Works Facilities Amendment Act, 1873. The 
 Public Health Act, 1875, repealed and consolidated all 
 previous Acts relating to sanitary matters. By the 
 Health Act of 1872 England was divided into Urban 
 and Rural Sanitary Districts, and an authority was 
 thus established in every part of the country, upon 
 which devolved the duty of securing a proper and suffi- 
 cient supply of water for all domestic and sanitary pur- 
 poses. The provisions of the Health Acts enable this 
 duty to be discharged. 
 
 If a district sanitary authority fails to provide a 
 supply of water, so that the health of the inhabitants is 
 endangered, the Local Government Board is directed, 
 on complaint being made, to institute an inquiry, and 
 if satisfied that the local authority has been guilty of 
 the alleged default, to issue an order requiring, and 
 failing compliance compelling, the performance within 
 a specified time of the duty that has been neglected. 
 
 In 1877 an Act was passed to give further facilities 
 to landowners of limited interests, to charge their estates 
 
Waterworks Legislation. 
 
 with the expense of constructing or contributing to the 
 construction of reservoirs for the better supply of villages 
 and towns, where it could be shown to the satisfaction 
 of the Enclosure Commissioners that such works would 
 be permanently productive of profit to the estates. 
 
 By the Public Health (Water) Act, 1878, it has be- 
 come the duty of every rural sanitary authority to see 
 that every occupied dwelling house within their district 
 has, within a reasonable distance, a sufficient and avail- 
 able supply of wholesome water. Under the same Act 
 it is the duty of every rural authority to make a peri- 
 odical inspection of the water supply within their district, 
 and it is enacted that 110 house hereafter erected or re- 
 built shall be occupied until an official certificate has 
 been given that a sufficient supply of wholesome water 
 has been provided for the house. 
 
 This brief outline of general legislation affecting water 
 supply would be incomplete without some reference to 
 the private bill legislation of the same period. 
 
 In the summer of 1871 I had occasion to obtain an 
 abstract of waterworks legislation, and I found that be- 
 tween 1847 and 1871 there had been 533 Water Acts 
 passed. Of these, 310 had been obtained by companies, 
 209 by local authorities, and 14 were general. Of the 
 Acts obtained by companies 124 were to incorporate new 
 companies, 25 to re-incorpornte companies, 52 contained 
 
Water Siipply. 
 
 provisions for extending the limits of supply, 116 for 
 additional works, and 21 for the transfer of works to 
 local authorities. Of the Acts obtained by local au- 
 thorities, 47 were for the purchase of works from com- 
 panies, and 56 to construct new works, 64 to provide for 
 additional works, 26 to extend the limits of supply, 101 
 were limited in operation to the districts within which 
 the authorities applying exercised jurisdiction, and 108 
 included places beyond those districts. 
 
 Since the year 1870 Parliament has passed 234 private 
 Acts relating to water supply. 140 of these were ob- 
 tained by local authorities, and 94 by water companies. 
 During the same period 80 provisional orders have 
 been granted to water companies by the Board of Trade 
 under the Gas and Water Facilities Acts. 
 
 An elaborate Report on the Domestic Water Supply 
 of Great Britain was issued in 1874 by the Rivers Pol- 
 lution Commissioners. They examined more than two 
 thousand samples of drinkable water ; they inspected a 
 large number of waterworks ; and they applied for in- 
 formation by circular to all parts of the country. Their 
 applications do not appear to have been always treated 
 with the respect due to communications from Royal 
 Commissioners, for in their report they say, " There are 
 at least 16,000 cities, towns, villages, and hamlets, in 
 
Rivers Pollution Commission Report. 9 
 
 England, Scotland,, and Wales; but the number we have 
 visited or from which we, after repeated applications, 
 have received information, is only 610." These 610 in- 
 cluded nearly all the principal towns, and the Commis- 
 sioners remark, "Every variety is copiously represented." 
 On these data they based the following conclusions : 
 
 1. A large majority of the cities and large towns,, 
 other than London, arc abundantly supplied with pala- 
 table and wholesome water. 
 
 2. In other towns and villages and other inhabited 
 places the w T ater available for domestic purposes is fre- 
 quently neither abundant nor wholesome. 
 
 3. Immense numbers of the people are daily exposed 
 to the risk of infection from typhoidal discharges, and 
 periodically to that from cholera dejections. 
 
 In regard to rural supplies they say, " The remain- 
 ing twelve millions of country population derive their 
 water almost exclusively from shallow wells, and these 
 are, so far as -our experience extends, almost always 
 horribly polluted by sewage and by animal matters of 
 the most disgusting origin." 
 
 The Annual Reports of the Medical Officer to the 
 Local Government Board contain important evidence 
 concerning the sanitary state of districts where special 
 outbreaks of disease occur. In the last report issued, 
 
lo * Filth Diseases. 
 
 there is an abstract of fourteen medical inspections made 
 in regard to the incidence of disease in particular places : 
 out of the fourteen there were ten in which the inspectors 
 reported an impure or deficient water supply. A report 
 issued in 1874 contains 144 illustrations from inspectors, 
 reports during four years, 1870-3, of the circumstances 
 iu which enteric fever is commonly found prevalent. 
 In 131 out of the 144 cases examined, the inspectors 
 reported an impure or defective water supply. 
 
 In an able Report on FilthDiseases (1874), Mr. Simon, 
 the late Medical Officer to the Privy Council and Local 
 Government Board, stated that lie believed it to be the 
 common conviction of persons who had studied the sub- 
 jjct, "That the deaths which we in each year register 
 in this country are fully 125,000 more numerous than 
 they would be if existing knowledge of the chief cause 
 of diseases, as affecting masses of the population, were 
 reasonably well applied." 
 
 There is unfortunately plenty of filth, and plenty of 
 disease, in places where the water supply is unexception- 
 able in quality and unstinted in quantity. A copious 
 supply of pure water is only one of many conditions 
 conducive to health and comfort; but it is an important 
 condition; and the existence of evils which have a greater 
 influence in producing a high rate of mortality, such as 
 poverty, overcrowding and intemperance, ou^ht not to 
 
Domestic Siipply in England. \ i 
 
 lessen our exertions to provide that which all experience 
 shows to be essential to healthful existence. 
 
 The most complete information that has recently been 
 collected, with regard to the supply of towns, is contained 
 in a parliamentary return issued last year, " showing the 
 means by which drinkable water is supplied to every 
 urban sanitary district in England and Wales, such means 
 being provided by public or private arrangements."" 
 Unfortunately some of the questions put to the urban 
 sanitary authorities were exceedingly vague and indefinite, 
 and were not framed so as to elicit information on 
 matters of primary interest. The return is therefore less 
 valuable than it might have been. Then there is 110 
 abstract given so as to reduce the information to a con- 
 venient form for judging of the general state of water 
 supply in the country. To make up to some extent for 
 these deficiencies, I have had the annexed table prepared, 
 based on the return, with a view more particularly to 
 show, in the first place, to what extent the supply of the 
 country is now in the hands of joint-stock companies or 
 of local administrative bodies ; and in the second place, 
 how far the constant system of distribution prevails. 
 The return does not contain specific questions and 
 answers on the first of these points ; and the question 
 relating to the second has evidently been misunderstood 
 by many of the sanitary authorities. 
 

 ||||, 
 
 
 iOcocqeocoot-osoofMioco 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 CO 
 
 c: 
 
 
 W o "1 ?J 2 
 
 ^- ^H "5 
 
 
 ?[ -^S r^ i s M ^ * ^ M 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 ci*| 
 
 c 
 
 2 M 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 i g 
 
 1** t^ 
 
 **^m* 
 
 "^T^ 
 
 
 
 c5.H J; 
 
 "s - 1 
 
 O-} 
 
 7-p 
 
 
 
 
 P. ~ 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' "2 v <* 
 
 - '^ 
 
 f jj 
 
 ^ . 
 
 
 "o 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 is 
 
 _, o / 
 
 c 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 11 SI'S 
 
 .2 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 >> 
 
 p- J/r. ^ 
 
 " H 
 
 t-T 
 
 i-T 
 
 
 cj 
 
 ti " ^ w 
 
 C- ^ 
 
 o 
 
 ' 
 
 
 e 
 
 (fil^M 
 
 ("* 
 
 
 
 
 rt 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C/J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 <*- 
 
 .1 
 
 liSI S 11 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 CO 
 
 
 o ^> 
 
 "F 'p 
 
 it'^r^'Vr | rcrf-o" | o'oc 
 
 o" 
 
 
 5 
 
 *{ '^ ^ 
 
 o E 
 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 rt to. .2 
 
 a; 
 
 Cl ^1 7i 71 
 
 "~i, 
 
 
 rt 
 
 A S c 
 
 S 
 
 
 " 
 
 
 "o 
 
 _c o _o 
 
 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 >, ._, 
 
 j 
 
 ^} ^~ 2 " !^i ^3 ~ 2 -^ .~ 2 
 
 o 
 
 f2 
 
 _co 
 
 "5-3 "3 
 
 u 2 
 
 MCOCSOrHOOOtOiOOlO 
 
 
 rM 
 
 ** 
 
 3 cT 
 C^^ Pn 
 
 11 
 
 co^^ow5>ao '* "" r^ 
 
 3" 
 
 
 ri 
 O 
 
 
 coo 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 u 
 
 T3 
 3 
 
 'o 
 
 
 c 
 
 i!il?lll;ilgg 
 
 S 
 
 g 
 
 c 
 
 * t 
 
 <v S 
 
 r ?. 13 S 2 L " o "** o " 1 
 
 rJH 
 
 
 O 
 
 rt'o .2 
 
 CO aj 
 
 ri-i ~" r-i ^i 
 
 
 
 G 
 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 
 _05 
 
 .5 3 : .2 
 
 
 M CO M C ^ ~ L- ^ =3 p 
 
 -f 
 
 2 
 
 "o 
 
 ''3 ' "? 
 
 o p 
 
 -fi 'ci i- cS i'~ -T- -? ci i^ o 
 
 GO 
 
 CO 
 
 1 
 
 CO j-^ ' PH 
 
 II 
 
 S f W '^ S IJ 1 
 
 CXI 
 
 
 ^0 
 
 
 u 
 
 c-r ' ' 
 
 us" 
 
 
 _. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 fC 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 bj 
 
 h 
 
 Q 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 i ! : ! &; :^j : 
 
 
 
 
 
 CH 
 
 
 : ^5 ! .S cs i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ ' ii "^ 
 
 
 
 
 ft 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ r3 ~* .C ^ C .fe ^ 
 
 
 C8 
 
 
 w 
 
 
 : : S , i S "^ "^ d 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 c j : d ^ CQ c ^ c"^ 
 
 .2 : .2 ^ ^ .2 ^ .2 o 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 in 
 
 
 c3 ;aic3c3cj | ^5 ; ^ 
 
 tj : ti. -^ . , -y -jj Q) 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 ^ '> a .2 '> a ^ '> cu '> S 
 
 
 'g 
 
 
 
 
 ^S^^^b^S^Jno 
 
 
 H d 
 
 
 
 
 ^ O P3 7TO P? ^ O PM O M 
 
 
 
Domestic Supply in England. 1 3 
 
 The population of urban districts included in the return 
 was, according to the census of 1871, 11,310,832. This 
 is exclusive of the metropolis, which is not an urban 
 sanitary district. The population of the metropolis in 
 1871 was 3,254,260. Adding this to the figures given 
 above, we have 
 
 Population supplied with water by joint-stock companies 6,475,788 
 Supplied by local administrative bodies 6,809,047 
 
 Classifying the population according to methods of 
 water distribution, the result is 
 
 Under the constant supply sys tern 8,024,343 
 
 Under the intermittent supply system 5,320,402 
 
 To arrive at the present population of these districts the 
 increase since 1871, probably 15 per cent., must be 
 added. Relatively, the figures cannot be far wrong. 
 
 Omitting the metropolis, it therefore appears that about 
 61 per cent, of the population in urban sanitary districts 
 is supplied by local authorities, and about 28 per cent. 
 by water companies. To 71 per cent, of the urban 
 population water is constantly laid on, and to 18 per 
 cent, only an intermittent supply is given. 
 
 The effect of public control is seen in the fact that 
 constant service is given to 86 per cent, of the inhabitants 
 of districts in which the works are managed by local 
 authorities, against 65 per cent, (or, including the 
 
14 Water Supply. 
 
 metropolis, 32 per cent.) in districts where the water- 
 works are managed by companies. 
 
 Owing to the imperfect answers furnished by many 01 
 the sanitary authorities, it is impossible to ascertain from 
 the return the precise number of persons residing in 
 urban sanitary districts who are without a proper supply 
 , of water, and who are dependent on shallow wells or 
 similar unsatisfactory sources. The abstract shows 230 
 districts and a population of 812,445 without any public 
 waterworks, and 65 districts containing a population of 
 407,065 only partially supplied from public works. In 
 addition to these there is a considerable number of people 
 residing in towns and districts where works are established 
 who do not take a supply from them. 
 
 Let us now briefly review what has been done in Eng- 
 land for supplying the people with water. 
 
 There is no important town without waterworks from 
 which all the inhabitants can obtain a supply, though in 
 some towns it is deficient in quantity and inferior in 
 quality. Nearly all the principal towns (the metropolis 
 always excepted) are liberally supplied with wholesome 
 water at high pressure and at low rates. In most of them 
 the works are under the control of the local authorities. 
 Liverpool and Manchester, already possessed of very large 
 works, have recently obtained power to construct addi- 
 
Is further Legislation wanted? 15 
 
 tional works exceeding in magnitude anything hitherto 
 attempted in this eountry. In many places where water 
 is derived from suitable sources the system of distribution 
 is defective and wasteful, and the charges are high. 
 The rural population is almost entirely supplied from 
 streams and shallow wells, which are often seriously 
 polluted. 
 
 Suchbeing the broad facts in relation to this matter, what 
 remains to be done to secure a wholesome supply of water 
 for the use of every household ? Is further legislation 
 needed? I think not. Parliament may render useful 
 service by cheapening and simplifying private bill legis- 
 lation, and by encouraging joint water schemes. Beyond 
 this, I think we have had legislation enough. What is 
 wanted israthertoput existing laws andexistingknowledge 
 into practice. Nor is it desirable, where it can possibly be 
 avoided, to invite the interference of a Government de- 
 partment. The Local Government Board has now great 
 power, for good or evil, over the sanitary condition ot 
 the country. Under this central Board are the urban 
 and rural district authorities, with their medical officers, 
 armed with the comprehensive and rigorous provisions 
 of the Public Health Acts. The difficulty is to induce 
 district authorities to take an intelligent interest in sani- 
 tary matters, and to exercise the powers they possess. 
 
 
1 6 Government Interference. 
 
 For the removal of tliis difficulty very much depends on 
 the efficiency of the medical officers. Where they are 
 vigilant and qualified, valuable work will be done. On the 
 other hand, where they are indolent and incapable, the 
 local authority will probably remain inactive. In such 
 cases the interference of the Local Government Board 
 may be necessary. But it should be the aim of all dis- 
 trict authorities, and of all who desire reform, to render 
 unnecessary, and to discountenance, the interposition of 
 the London Board. 
 
 The present tendency to centralization requires watch- 
 ing and guarding with great jealousy. Seeing the local 
 apathy and active opposition by which the introduction 
 of sanitary improvements has often been thwarted, it 
 is not surprising that zealous reformers should urge 
 Parliament to enforce the adoption of such measures 
 through the agency of a Government department. But 
 compliance may be purchased at too great a cost. Any- 
 thing that tends to lessen the sense of responsibility and 
 to repress the exercise of intelligence on the part of 
 individual citizens and of local administrative bodies, is 
 antagonistic to the permanent interests of the country, 
 and opposed to the spirit of our institutions. 
 
 A Government department can seldom keep pace with 
 the progress of scientific knowledge. Government regu- 
 lations cannot be easily changed. If they are revised 
 
Regulations. 1 7 
 
 to suit every new discovery, people will justly complain 
 of the expense and uncertainty to which they are sub- 
 jected in consequence of frequent alterations. On the 
 other hand, a Government is placed in a somewhat ridi- 
 culous position if its rules will not permit the use of 
 improvements which are adopted everywhere outside of 
 its influence. 
 
 Where Government has to interfere in local ad- 
 ministration, its function is perhaps best discharged by 
 laying down general principles, leaving a large amount 
 of liberty as to the methods to be pursued. 
 
 The adoption and enforcement of sanitary and other 
 regulations by local administrative bodies within their 
 own limits stands clearly upon a different footing. One 
 of the first duties of a district sanitary and water au- 
 thority is to introduce proper regulations,, and to see 
 that those regulations are faithfully observed. This 
 applies with especial force to the erection of new buildings,, 
 and is as necessary for the protection of honest trades- 
 men as for the general benefit of the inhabitants. There 
 has been scarcely any effective control over house plumb- 
 ing until recently. In most places it has been left very 
 much to the discretion of builders and plumbers; and 
 the evil effects of employing incompetent, unskilful, and 
 unscrupulous men, are to be seen everywhere, in waste- 
 
1 8 Water Regulations. 
 
 ful water fittings and defective drainage. Model regu- 
 lations, which have stood the test of experience, are now 
 furnished by the Local Government Board to all district 
 sanitary authorities, who should be careful to employ 
 qualified men to carry them out. How far such regu- 
 lations should be made retrospective in their operation 
 must depend on the circumstances of each case. In ap- 
 plying new regulations to old buildings, every possible 
 consideration should be shown to avoid inflicting un- 
 necessary hardships upon the owners or occupiers of 
 property interfered with. 
 
 In this matter of neglected house plumbing, I must 
 admit that engineers have not been free from blame. As 
 historians have confined their narratives too much to 
 palaces and battle-fields, so have engineers bestowed 
 attention too exclusively upon reservoirs and aqueducts, 
 to the neglect of domestic appliances, upon which, after 
 all, the success of their operations depends quite as 
 much as upon the larger works. It is of no use to build 
 substantial sewers if the drain-pipes are so badly laid 
 that sewage escapes under the houses. Nor is it of 
 much avail to provide wholesome water in the mains if 
 cisterns are allowed to be receptacles for foul gases. 
 
 For the remedy of the evils to which I have adverted, 
 and for the general introduction and maintenance of a 
 
Personal Responsibilities. 19 
 
 wholesome supply of water, I think we must look mainly 
 to the spread of knowledge on the subject, and the 
 formation of an enlightened public opinion. 
 
 Ignorance and apathy are the great enemies of all 
 reform : ignorance of evil effects, and the means of 
 averting them ; apathy, from a sense of personal help- 
 lessness, and from physical and moral degradation. 
 
 That the quality of a water supply exercises a potent 
 influence upon health is universally admitted, but the 
 admission does little more than reflect a popular impres- 
 sion, to which practical effect is seldom given. For in- 
 stance, in deciding upon a change of residence, from town 
 to country, from one town to another, or from one part 
 of the metropolis to another, how rarely is a moments 
 consideration given to the difference there may be in the 
 character of the water supply, though it may be the most 
 serious circumstance as affecting health connected with 
 the change. 
 
 Starting with a conviction of the vital importance of 
 a good water supply, not only as an essential part of the 
 animal economy, but for various purposes of cleanliness 
 and comfort, the subject has for each individual a practical 
 bearing, and assigns to each a personal duty. Few houses 
 are free from sanitary defects, capable of being easily 
 remedied. When an outbreak of disease occurs, and is 
 traced to these defects, no exertion is spared to get rid 
 
 2 2 
 
2O Water Siipply. 
 
 of the danger. Is not prevention better than cure ? If 
 the remedy lies with a parsimonious landlord who 
 will not do \vhat is wanted, the local sanitary authority 
 can compel compliance. If the local authority is at 
 fault, public opinion or the Local Government Board 
 can set it right. But the occupier is also under obliga- 
 tions,, the discharge of which he ought not to shirk. 
 
 In connection with the modern system of separate 
 house supplies, there are many useful and ingenious, 
 but often complicated, sanitary appliances, which are to 
 a considerable extent under the care and control of 
 occupiers. The introduction of these appliances has been 
 much more rapid and general than the education of the 
 people in the use of them ; and the ignorance that pre- 
 vails causes much loss of money, comfort, and health. 
 
 People are seldom concerned about their pipes and 
 traps, cisterns and taps, so long as they get water free 
 from taste and colour. They trust to the waterworks 
 authorities to exercise whatever supervision may be 
 necessary. They overlook the fact that waterworks re- 
 gulations and inspections are mainly designed to prevent 
 waste, and tosecure payment for the commodity supplied ; 
 and notwithstanding the periodical visits of waste water 
 inspectors, if the consumer's intelligent co-operation is 
 withheld, a great amount of waste may take place, and 
 a supply which in the street main is wholesome, may, 
 
Personal Responsibilities. 2 1 
 
 through imperfect domestic apparatus, be unfit for 
 use. 
 
 In districts where no general supply is provided, it is 
 highly necessary that knowledge should be diffused as 
 to the precautions to be adopted, and the means to be 
 taken, to choose the safest source available, and to insure 
 freedom from the dangers to which those who drink 
 polluted water are exposed. There is no rustic comsumer 
 who cannot derive some assistance from the possession 
 of such knowledge. 
 
 I wish to fix upon every individual a sense of personal 
 responsibilty in these matters. It is not enough to admit 
 in a general way their importance to the moral and 
 physical well-being ; there is something to be done, 
 probably under your own roof, certainly within the 
 reach of your influence. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 COMPOSITION OF AVATEE AND SOUECES OF SUPPLY. 
 
 Pure water, what it is Gases in water Natural water Safe sources 
 of supply Lakes, rivers, deep and shallow wells Sewage pol- 
 lution Rain-water Water analysis Organic matter in water 
 Standards of purity Controversies of chemists Action 01 
 Parliament Effect of water supply on mortality Diseases com- 
 municated through water Microscopical examinations Physi- 
 cal tests Hardness of water Softening processes. 
 
 TIT ATE II is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, in 
 the proportions of two atoms of hydrogen to one 
 atom of oxygen. 
 
 It is a most powerful solvent, and it greedily absorbs, 
 and holds in solution, the gases which are present in the 
 atmosphere. A sample of rain-water, examined by the 
 Ilivcrs. Pollution Commission, contained, in 100 cubic 
 inches, 1*303 of nitrogen, 0'637 of oxygen, and 0'128 o. 
 carbonic acid; making altogether 2*073 cubic inches of 
 atmospheric gases. 
 
 Absolutely pure water is not to be found in a natural 
 state, either on the face or in the crust of the earth. In 
 
Wholesome Waters. 23 
 
 descending from the clouds, it carries down impurities 
 from the air through which it passes. In flowing over 
 or penetrating the surface of the earth, it gathers in its 
 course foreign matters of mineral, vegetable, and animal 
 origin. A pure natural water is clear, transparent, and, 
 when viewed in a small volume, colourless, free from 
 taste or smell ; viewed in bulk, or in a long glass tube, 
 it has a blue-green tint. The most wholesome waters for 
 potable purposes are those obtained : 
 
 1. From rivers and lakes in barren and uninhabited 
 mountainous districts, where the rainfall is heavy and 
 flows rapidly off the land. 
 
 2. From deep wells or springs. 
 
 The geological formations most favourable for well- 
 sinking are : the new red sandstone, chalk,^and oolites. 
 They form excellent niters, and, as the water percolates 
 slowly through the interstices of the rock, organic im- 
 purities are to a great extent removed, or are so changed 
 as to become entirely innocuous. At the same time, 
 mineral constituents are dissolved, which, when present 
 in large quantities, render the water undesirable as a 
 beverage, and inferior to soft water for manufacturing 
 and culinary purposes. 
 
 Deep wells should not be sunk in populous districts, 
 nor in proximity to cesspools. Where objectionable sur- 
 roundings cannot be avoided, special precautions should 
 
24 Water-yielding Rocks \ 
 
 be taken to prevent contamination, and the composition 
 of the water should be frequently ascertained and closely 
 watched. 
 
 The formations which are most valuable for their water- 
 bearing qualities are unfortunately also the most liable 
 to pollution. They are not homogeneous, but are largely 
 broken by faults and fissures which may become channels 
 for the carriage of sewage. To take as an illustration 
 the ne\y red sandstone,, one of the bost water yielding 
 rocks in the country : suburban and rural districts on 
 this formation have generally no system of sewers, as the 
 sandstone is such an excellent absorbent that the sewage 
 can be quickly got rid of by means of cesspools, the 
 contents of which often disappear with marvellous 
 rapidity. 
 
 Small cesspools in the sandstone often receive the 
 drainage of houses for several years, without being 
 emptied and without overflowing. When cesspools bo- 
 come clogged, their usefulness is sometimes restored 
 by firing a charge of blasting - powder, to loosen the 
 bottom. A deep well sunk for the supply of a town, on 
 a site carefully selected by an experienced engineer, was 
 surrounded by fifty-one cesspools, some of them of un- 
 usual depth, within a radius of half a mile, and many of 
 them evidently in close sympathy with the well. After 
 the well had been completed, the water was analysed, 
 
Wells. 25 
 
 and found to be contaminated by organic matter to 
 sucli an extent, that pumping operations had to be sus- 
 pended until the district was sewered. A deep well may 
 affect and exhaust all the neighbouring shallow wells for 
 a distance of two or three miles, and evidence has been 
 afforded by the action of the pumps, that the communi- 
 cation between such extreme points may be very rapid. 
 
 Under circumstances of this kind, there can be no 
 doubt that noxious organic bodies may be conveyed 
 almost as freely, and with as little change, as in a river ; 
 while the difficulty of detection is far greater. These 
 remarks are made, not in any way to depreciate well 
 supplies, but, simply to show the necessity of care and 
 judgment in selecting sites for sinking, and in adopting 
 timely measures to prevent pollution. 
 
 It cannot be too widely known or too emphatically 
 proclaimed, that the wholesomeness of water cannot be 
 determined by its appearance : bright sparkling water, 
 which is so highly prized, often owes its seductive ap- 
 pearance and pleasant taste to contact with sewage. 
 Shallow wells are generally polluted to a perilous extent ; 
 and persons who are dependent on such means of supply 
 should very critically examine the surroundings, to see 
 that there is no cesspool, drain, or other source of con- 
 tamination, from which danger is possible. Rivers and 
 streams polluted by sewage are not safe sources of 
 
26 Rain- Water. 
 
 supply,, though there may be no visible evidence of the 
 presence of sewage at the point where the water is 
 abstracted. 
 
 Rain-water collected from the roofs of buildings varies 
 in composition,, according to the state of the atmosphere 
 through which it descends, of the surface upon which it 
 falls, and of the receptacle in which it is stored. The 
 Rivers Pollution Commissioners obtained a large number 
 of samples of rain-water for experimental purposes from 
 a leaden rain-collector erected in a field at Rothampstead, 
 twenty-five miles out of London; and also several samples 
 of stored rain-water, collected in tanks, in various parts 
 of the country, for domestic supplies. The Commis- 
 sioners found that the samples from Rothampstead were 
 by no means so uniformly free from impurities as it is 
 commonly supposed that rain-water would bo under such 
 conditions. Out of the eight samples of stored rain- 
 water they found only one fit for domestic use. The 
 conclusion at which they arrived was that rain-water 
 collected from the roofs of houses and stored in under- 
 ground tanks is cc often polluted to a dangerous extent 
 by excrementitious matters, and is rarely of sufficiently 
 goo.l quality to be employed for domestic purposes with 
 safety. " They were of opinion that in Great Britain, 
 and especially in England, we shall "look in vain to the 
 
Rain- Water. 2 7 
 
 atmosphere for a supply of water pure enough for diet- 
 etic purposes." 
 
 It must, however, not be forgotten that rain is the 
 ultimate source of all water supplies, and if proper pre- 
 cautions are taken to insure the cleanliness and fitness of 
 the receiving surface and tank, there is no reason why 
 rain-water should not be obtained from the roofs of 
 buildings in rural districts, as well adapted for domestic 
 purposes as most of the water collected into reservoirs 
 from upland watersheds. In towns and suburban dis- 
 tricts the impure condition of the atmosphere, and ths 
 unavoidable accumulation of filth on housetops, preclude 
 the collection of rainfall fit for dietetic use. 
 
 If the quality of a water supply is doubtful, a sample 
 should be sent to a competent analytical chemist for ex- 
 amination. A qualitative analysis gives the constituent 
 elements of the sample without the quantities. A quanti- 
 tative analysis gives the proportional quantity of each of 
 the elements contained in the sample. For a complete 
 analysis not less than 2 gallons of water should be 
 provided. The sample should be taken in a glass bottle, 
 with a ground glass stopper. If a cork is used it should 
 be new, and washed before insertion. Care should be 
 taken that the bottle is perfectly clean. It should be 
 filled to within about half an inch of the stopper, and im- 
 
2 8 Water A nalysis. 
 
 mediately before being filled it should be washed out two 
 or three times with water from the source to be sampled. 
 In filling a bottle from a reservoir or river, the vessel 
 should be immersed so that the top will be below the sur- 
 face. The stopper should be securely tied and sealed. A 
 statement should be sent to the chemist describing fully 
 the source of the sample, and the circumstances under 
 which it was taken. 
 
 To make a chemical analysis of water intelligible to 
 those who have not studied chemistry is no part of my 
 present purpose, but a few particulars relating to water 
 analysis may be useful to enable an opinion to be formed 
 with regard to the meaning and value of the most im- 
 portant of the figures usually supplied by analytical 
 chemists. 
 
 The first point to be observed in reading an analysis is 
 whether the figures refer to grains per gallon or to parts 
 per 100,000. It was formerly the invariable practice, as 
 it is still the practice of the majority of chemists, to ex- 
 press the results in grains per gallon. Many chemists 
 now state the results in parts per 100,000. To convert 
 grains per gallon into parts per 100,000, move the deci- 
 mal point one figure to the right and divide by 7, thus : 
 
 Suppose the grains per gallon to be 17*5 
 
 Then 7)17-5 
 
 Equal to 25-0 parts per 100,000. 
 
Water A nalysis. 2 9 
 
 To convert parts per 1 00,000 into grains per gallon 
 the process is of course the reverse, thus : 
 
 Paris per 100,000 = 25-0 
 
 multiplied by 7 
 
 Equal to grains per gallon 17T> 
 
 The quantities given always apply to matters in 
 solution, and not to matters in suspension, unless the 
 latter are expressly mentioned. 
 
 The total solid matters, or total solid impurity, which 
 is generally the first quantity given in a water analysis, 
 represents the residue left when a sample of water has 
 been evaporated to dryness. This varies greatly ac- 
 cording to the source whence the water is derived. The 
 best river-waters contain from 2 to 4 parts per 100,000. 
 The best deep well-waters from the red sandstone con- 
 tain from 14-0 to 20*0 parts per 100,000, and the chalk 
 from 25-0 to 35'0 parts per 100,000. Water from simi- 
 lar sources containing a much higher total of solid im- 
 purities may be quite wholesome, but when the excess 
 is considerable it must be regarded with suspicion. The 
 late Dr. Parkes was of opinion that in pure and whole- 
 some water the total solids should not exceed 8 grains 
 per gallon, unless it were chalk-water, in which case the 
 total solids should not exceed 14 grains per gallon of 
 calcium carbonate, In " usable" water, he thought 
 that the total solids should not exceed 30 grains per 
 
30 Water Analysis. 
 
 gallon, unless they were chiefly a mixture of sodium 
 chloride and carbonate, in which case they might ran up 
 to 50 grains or even more without apparent bad effects. 
 
 The most important determinations of the chemist 
 are those which relate to organic matters, but there is 
 no method known by which the actual quantity or con- 
 dition of dissolved organic matter can be accurately 
 ascertained. 
 
 Many methods have been tried and abandoned. At 
 present there are three processes employed which give 
 results more or less trustworthy, and with regard to 
 which there has been much controversy among chemists. 
 I shall not attempt to describe these rival processes, but 
 simply explain how the results obtained are stated. 
 
 1. The Ammonia process. Where this is adopted 
 the results are given under the heads of " Albumenoid 
 Ammonia," " Free Ammonia," and " Chlorine," in 
 parts per million.* Professor Wanklyn (the inventor 
 of this method) classifies waters according to the quan- 
 tity of albumenoid ammonia they yield, thus : 
 
 
 Parts per mil- 
 lion of Aibume- 
 noid Ammonia. 
 
 (a) Waters of extraordinary organic purity 
 
 OOO to 0'05 
 
 (b) Safe waters 
 
 O'Oo to (HO 
 
 (c) Dirty waters 
 
 Excd- 0-10 
 
 
 
 * To reduce to parts per 100,000, move the decimal point one to the left. 
 
Organic Matter in Water. 3 1 
 
 2. The Oxygen process. This is a method for deter- 
 mining the oxygen required to oxidize the organic matter. 
 It was employed by the late Dr. Letheby, and since his 
 death has been employed by Dr. Tidy, in the monthly 
 examinations of London waters for the Society of Medical 
 Officers of Health. Dr. Tidy divides water into four 
 classes : * 
 
 
 Oxygen required 
 to oxidize oxidiza- 
 ble matters,in parts 
 per 100,000. 
 
 1 Waters of great organic purity 
 
 not cxcd " 0'05 
 
 2. Waters of medium purity . . 
 
 05 to O15 
 
 3. Waters of doubtful purity 
 
 O15 to 0'2l 
 
 4. Impure waters ... 
 
 exceed in 01 0'21 
 
 
 
 This classification has been proposed as a (f more 
 accurate means of testing results than mere general 
 conformity. " Dr. Tidy has insisted emphatically that 
 " all classifications founded on one single factor in the 
 analysis of a water are to be accepted with great cau- 
 tion," and that chemists should " under no circum- 
 stances decide the value of a water from an incomplete 
 analysis." 
 
 3. The Combustion process of Drs. Frankland and 
 Armstrong. The distinctive feature of this process is 
 
 * See "Journal of Chemical Society," January, 1879, also for May, 
 
 1880. 
 
3 2 Water A nalysis. 
 
 the determination of tliG organic carbon and nitrogen, 
 the chief elements of organic matter. The weight of 
 
 O O 
 
 organic carbon present is taken as an indication of the 
 amonnt of organic matter with which the water is con- 
 taminated; and the origin of the organic matter,, whether 
 animal or vegetable, is inferred from the relative pro- 
 portions in which the two elements are found. The 
 Rivers Pollution Commissioners, in their sixth Report, 
 give the following classification, based upon this pro- 
 cess : 
 
 " Surface-water or river-water which contains in 
 100,000 parts more than 0'2 part of organic carbon, or 
 0'3 part of organic nitrogen, is not desirable for do- 
 mestic supply, and ought, whenever practicable, to be 
 rejected. 
 
 " Spring and deep well-water ought not to contain in 
 100,000 parts more than O'l part of organic carbon, or 
 03 part of organic nitrogen. If the organic carbon 
 reaches 0*15 part in 100,000 parts, water ought to be 
 used only when a better supply is unattainable." 
 
 Professor Frankland has since proposed the following 
 classification, at the same time deprecating hard and fast 
 divisions, and reliance on partial analyses :- 
 
 * See "Chemical News," February 14th, 1370. 
 
Standards of Pitrity. 
 
 33 
 
 
 Upland Surface 
 Water. 
 
 Other than Upland 
 Surface Water. 
 
 Water of Teat organic purity 
 
 not excdsr 0'2 
 
 not excel " O'l 
 
 Do medium purity ... ... 
 
 from 0-2 to O4 
 
 from O'l to O2 
 
 Do., doubtful purity 
 
 0-4 to 0-6 
 
 0-2 to 0-4 
 
 Impure water 
 
 more than 0*6 
 
 more than Q'4 
 
 
 
 
 Proportion of Organic Carbon in 
 parts per 100,000. 
 
 Aii opinion formed with respect to the quality of water 
 from the determination of one only of its constituents may 
 prove to be entirely erroneous, and unless the evidence 
 of organic pollution is sufficiently conclusive to condemn 
 the water absolutely, a full quantitative analysis of all its 
 parts, organic and inorganic, should be obtained. The 
 importance of this, and at the same time the necessity of 
 exercising care and judgment in selecting samples, are 
 shown by the following example of one of the finest and 
 purest mountain streams in the country, recently ana- 
 lysed, under various conditions of flood and drought, by 
 Professor Erankland, for a northern town. 
 
 
 
 Organic Car- 
 bon in parts 
 per 100,000. 
 
 1878. 
 Oct. 10th. 
 
 Stream in flood 
 
 0'750 
 
 12th. 
 1879. 
 March 5th. 
 
 Flood subsided, but rate of flow still high 
 Flood equal to 10th Oct., 1878 
 
 0-282 
 0-377 
 
 , 28th. 
 
 Stream low .. 
 
 0'087 
 
 
 
 
34 Water Analysis. 
 
 It will be observed that by taking Professor Frank - 
 land's standard, without regard to other considerations, 
 this most excellent water would on the 10th of October 
 have been condemned as "impure/' on the 12th would 
 have been classified as of " medium purity/' and on the 
 28th of March as of ( ' great organic purity." 
 
 There is considerable diversity of opinion among che- 
 mists touching the value and significance of the several 
 methods of analysis to which I have referred. They have 
 all been shown to be more or less defective, and to give 
 conflicting results. Some of the methods largely employed 
 by chemists, and relied upon to determine the quality of 
 a water supply, give results which are altogether mislead- 
 ing and untrustworthy. We arc told by one school of 
 chemists that we may unhesitatingly drink water which 
 is condemned by another school as being unfit for human 
 consumption, and the conclusion seems inevitable that in 
 the present unsettled and unsatisfactory state of know- 
 ledge on the subject the guidance of chemical analysis 
 cannot be unreservedly followed. 
 
 One of the chief points in dispute is whether a river 
 into which sewage has been put can with safety be used 
 for a domestic supply after flowing a given distance. The 
 question at issue is to chemists not merely of scientific and 
 sanitary interest ; it has also an important financial as- 
 
Standards of Purity. 35 
 
 pect wliich gives zest to the controversy. There are water- 
 works authorities and manufacturers who are concerned 
 in river supplies, and who require defence against at- 
 tempts to enforce high standards of purity ; and there 
 are on the other side some water purists who push their 
 views further than the teachings of science and experience 
 at present warrant. 
 
 So far as the action of Parliament indicates the state 
 of public feeling, it would seem that the tendency is de- 
 cidedly in favour of raising the standard of purity, to the 
 exclusion for domestic supplies of rivers that have been 
 polluted, even remotely, by sewage. 
 
 In the session of 1878 there were two private water 
 bills before Parliament in connection with which this 
 tendency was strikingly exemplified. A water company 
 which had been supplying the city of Durham from the 
 river Wear since 1847 promoted a bill which was opposed 
 in the House of Lords by the corporation on the ground 
 that the quality of the water was unsatisfactory. Eminent 
 chemists were called in support of the company, and in 
 defence of the Wear. One pronounced the water to be of 
 tc unimpeachable quality." Another said it was cc an ex- 
 ceedingly good water." A third declared it to be "a very 
 excellent water." A fourth said it was ' ' unexception- 
 able/' and that it was (( impossible there could be any 
 
 32 
 
36 Sewage Pollution. 
 
 sewage contamination injurious to health in the samples 
 examined." A fifth described it as a " very pure water." 
 A sixth called it " an exceedingly good water, without 
 the slightest trace of sewage contamination." On the 
 other hand, it was proved that, above the intake of the 
 company, the river received the drainage of several small 
 towns and villages, containing a population of about 
 90,000. The House of Lords Committee refused to pass 
 the bill. 
 
 The second case is that of the Cheltenham Water 
 Company, who sought to obtain powers to extend their 
 supply from the river Severn. The bill was opposed in 
 the House of Commons by the local authorities. 
 
 On behalf of the company, chemical, medical, and 
 engineering evidence was called to establish the whole- 
 someness of the water, and its fitness for distribution in 
 a town. On the other side there was the usual evidence 
 to show that the river, having received sewage above the 
 proposed point of abstraction, was not suitable as a 
 source for domestic supply. The House of Commons 
 Committee decided that the preamble had not been 
 proved, and advised the company to arrange with the 
 corporation for the transfer of the undertaking. 
 
 The mortality returns do not furnish any definite 
 information as to the influence of different classes of 
 
Influence of Water Supply on Mortality. 3 7 
 
 water on the death rate of a community. Nor is this 
 surprising when it is remembered how many other 
 influences affecting health are at work. 
 
 There are not wanting numerous well authenticated 
 instances in which an improvement in the quality of 
 water has been followed by a marked diminution in the 
 prevalence of disease and in the rates of mortality; 
 but in such instances it has almost invariably happened 
 that other sanitary improvements have been carried out 
 at about the same time, so that it has not been possible 
 to assign to any one specific cause the amelioration that 
 has been effected. If two towns .coulcl be found in which 
 the physical and social conditions that affect health were 
 exactly alike, while the water supply in the one was 
 unexceptionable, and in the other admittedly polluted by 
 sewage, a comparison might be made which would per- 
 haps settle the question. 
 
 That the use of water which has been in contact with 
 human excreta is productive of disease and death has 
 been only too often proved, both on a large scale, in 
 populous districts, and on a smaller scale, in isolated 
 families. The diseases known to be communicated thus 
 are chiefly typhoid fever, diarrhoea, and cholera. The 
 poison, infectant, germ, parasite, or whatever the material 
 or organism may be, by which the disease is communi- 
 cated, cannot be detected by the chemist or microscopist, 
 
38 Diseases conveyed through Water. 
 
 by taste, sight, or smell. No chemist can discover in a 
 sample of water the excreta of a typhoid fever or cholera 
 patient. And yet a healthy person drinking water thus 
 polluted would infallibly be attacked by the particular 
 disease. Chemical analysis may pronounce water safe 
 svhich is known to produce disease, and at the same time 
 may condemn water which, so far as experience shows, 
 has never caused inconvenience or sickness to the con- 
 sumer. 
 
 The diseases conveyed through water are believed to 
 lurk in certain bacteria, or low organisms which have 
 not yet been identified. The existence of such organisms 
 is, however, not a mere matter of speculation, for it is 
 generally admitted that at least splenic fever, pig typhoid, 
 cholera das jioules or fowl cholera, and relapsing fever, 
 are produced by bodies of this nature, which cannot be 
 distinguished by chemical analysis. Professor Huxley 
 put the question at issue very tersely a few months ago 
 at a discussion on river-waters in the Chemical Society, 
 by asking the president if there was any known method 
 by which, if a drop of Pasteur's solution were placed in 
 a gallon of water, its constituents could be estimated. 
 The president answered that "it was doubtful;" when 
 Professor Huxley went on to show that every cubic inch 
 of that gallon of water would contain from 50,000 to 
 100,000 bacteria, and one drop of it would be capable 
 
Diseases conveyed through Water. 39 
 
 of exciting a putrefactive fermentation in any substance 
 capable of undergoing that fermentation. " For purposes 
 of health," he added, " the human body may be considered 
 as such a substance, and we may conceive of a water con- 
 taining such organisms, which may be as pure as can be 
 as regards chemical analysis, and yet be, as regards the 
 human body, as deadly as prussic acid." 
 
 Chemical analysis can detect the presence of very mi- 
 nute quantities of organic matter in water, but cannot 
 tell much about its character and condition. The opinion 
 pronounced by the Royal Commission on Water Supply 
 in 1869 still applies: "Where a minute quantity of 
 organic matter escapes destruction, it would seem that 
 chemistry is not yet sufficiently advanced to pronounce 
 authoritatively as to its exact quality and value; and 
 with microscopic living organisms, especially, chemistry 
 is incompetent to deal, and other modes of examination 
 are needed." The Commissioners failed singularly in 
 applying this doctrine, for though they heard twelve 
 chemical and medical witnesses, they did not call a 
 single microscopical witness. 
 
 There is undoubtedly a fruitful field of usefulness open 
 for microscopical investigation in connection with water 
 supply. 
 
 In pure water, the most powerful microscope cannot 
 
40 Microscopical Investigations. 
 
 discover the slightest trace of vegetable or animal life. 
 Unpolluted rain and deep well-waters are as free from 
 visible shapes under the microscope as under the un- 
 aided eye. Polluted waters, on the other hand, often 
 swarm with low organisms. The absence of organized 
 bodies is no proof that a water is wholesome, nor is 
 their presence conclusive evidence that it is unwholesome. 
 It is the province of the biologist to distinguish and 
 classify all the varieties of visible forms that are present, 
 to trace their development, to discover their habitat, and 
 to determine their significance. 
 
 After the cholera epidemic of 1854, the committee 
 appointed to make scientific inquiries thought it (( a 
 necessary supplement to the chemical inquiry " to obtain 
 a microscopical report from Dr. Hassall on the water 
 supply of the metropolis. It is to be regretted that the 
 same necessity has not been felt in subsequent investi- 
 gations; for no one can read the able reports of Dr. 
 Hassall to the General Board of Health, in 1850 and 
 ] 85 7 3 and the Cholera Report of 1854, without recogniz- 
 ing the value and promise of such examinations. The 
 scientific committee above referred to attached "very 
 great importance to the fact, that nearly all the waters 
 consumed in London show a remarkable aptitude to 
 develop low forms of animal and vegetable life." After 
 the epidemic, all the companies drawing their supplies 
 
Microscopical Investigations. 41 
 
 from the Thames removed their intakes to the present 
 stations above Tecldington Lock, in accordance with the 
 Act of 1852. 
 
 When the new works had come into operation the 
 General Board of Health directed chemical and micro- 
 scopical examinations to be made to show the effect of 
 the change. Dr. Hassall reported that a " great improve- 
 ment is undoubtedly manifest in the condition of the 
 present supplies, as shown by the colour and taste of the 
 water, as well as by the diminished number of organic 
 productions contained in them." In his summary of 
 conclusions he stated 
 
 " That the water supplied by the nine Metropolitan 
 Water Companies, under the new Act for the improve- 
 ment of the water supply of the metropolis, still contains 
 considerable numbers of living vegetable and animal 
 productions belonging to different orders, genera, and 
 species, but especially to the orders or tribes Annelida, 
 Entomostracea, Infusoria, Conferva, Desmidca, Diato- 
 macea, and. fungi." 
 
 Since 1857 there has been 110 official microscopical 
 examination of the London supplies. 
 
 Some valuable discoveries have lately been made in 
 regard to the relation of micro-organisms to disease, and 
 investigations are now in progress which seem likely to 
 
4 2 Micro- Organisms. 
 
 lead to results of still greater importance, bearing upon 
 the origin and spread of infective diseases. 
 
 A disease to which wool-sorters are liable has been 
 traced to the Bacillus anthratis, derived from the fleeces 
 of animals which have died of anthrax. Water used for 
 washing fleeces and allowed to flow on to pasture-land 
 has been found to produce fatal attacks of splenic fever 
 in sheep and cattle, the Bacillus anthracis having been 
 discovered in adundance in their blood. 
 
 Among the most recent and suggestive investigations 
 on this subject are those of M. Pasteur, showing the 
 action of a minute form of bacterium in producing a 
 disease called cholera des ponies, which attacked the 
 poultry of Paris during a cholera epidemic ; also of Dr. 
 Buchner of Munich, with respect to the relation between 
 the Bacillus anthracis and the bacillus of hay infusion.* 
 
 Apart altogether from chemical and microscopical ex- 
 aminations, the physical conditions of a source of supply 
 afford a good and, in the majority of cases and in com- 
 petent hands, a safe and sufficient means of determining 
 the suitability of a water for any purpose to which it is 
 
 * Vide " Untcrsuchungen ubcr die Actiologie der Wundinfection- 
 skrankheiten," von Dr. Robert Koch. Leipsig, 1878. Also " Ueber 
 die experimentelle Erzeugung des Milzbrandecontagiums aus den 
 Heupitzen," von Hans Buchner. Mlinchen, 1880. And"Comptes 
 Eendns de I'Academie de Science, Fevrier, Avril, et Mai, 1880." 
 
Selecting a Source of Supply. 43 
 
 proposed to be applied. Given the geological features of 
 a watershed or water-bearing rock ; the number, distri- 
 bution, and occupation of the population on the surface ; 
 the arrangements for the disposal of refuse ; and the cha- 
 racter of the water can, by those who are experienced in 
 such matters, be correctly predicated. A broad view of 
 Nature's operations and a just appreciation of Nature's 
 provision for man's wants may not supersede, but should 
 always accompany, the delicate and sometimes finikin 
 processes of the laboratory. 
 
 In selecting a source of supply for a town or district, 
 attention should not exclusively be confined to the 
 attainment of a perfect standard of purity. The source 
 that approaches most closely to absolute purity is not 
 necessarily the most suitable in all cases. The conditions 
 of the place to be supplied, the character of the industrial 
 operations carried on, the habits of the people, the proxi- 
 mity and sufficiency of other available sources, must all 
 be taken into consideration. It may often happen that 
 a second-rate water will be better for some places than a 
 first-rate water, by reason of being more plentiful or 
 better adapted to the special wants of the community, 
 or less liable to future contamination. But no difficulty 
 should be allowed to interfere with providing a liberal 
 supply of wholesome water for the domestic uses of every 
 
44 Hardness of Water. 
 
 town and district. Freedom from sewage pollution can- 
 not be too strictly insisted upon. At the same time it 
 is as well to remember, in the interests of temperance, 
 that there is probably no supply distributed from public 
 works that can do as much injury to health as the drinks 
 which are generally preferred by the labouring classes. 
 
 The only other analytical determination to which I 
 shall refer is the hardness of water. One degree of 
 hardness,, according to the standard universally adopted 
 by chemists, is equal to one grain of carbonate of lime, 
 or its equivalent of other hardening salts. 
 
 Hardness caused by the presence of carbonates of lime 
 and magnesia is called temporary hardness, because it 
 can be removed by boiling. The carbonate of lime is pre- 
 cipitated, having previously been held in solution by free 
 carbonic acid gas, which the boiling expels. Boiling as 
 generally practised for household purposes has not much 
 effect in diminishing hardness, because the water is either 
 not heated to the boiling-point, or is not boiled for a 
 sufficient length of time to reduce the hardness materially- 
 Hardness due to the presence of sulphates of lime and 
 magnesia is not diminished by boiling, and is therefore 
 termed permanent hardness. 
 
 The use of excessively hard water for domestic and 
 manufacturing purposes is objectionable mainly for the 
 
Hardness of Water. 45 
 
 waste that takes place in washing and culinary opera- 
 tions, and the injury to boilers and cooking utensils. As 
 to the comparative economy of the two kinds of water, 
 there is no doubt that the advantage is considerably on 
 the side of soft water, especially in places where there are 
 extensive manufacturing concerns ; but I do not know 
 of any calculations based upon information systema- 
 tically collected, showing the consumption of soap, tea, 
 &c., and the wear and tear of linen, in a district supplied 
 with hard water, and in a similar or in the same district 
 supplied with soft water. Calculations based on labora- 
 tory experiments and on general statements must always 
 be accepted with reserve. 
 
 A chemical commission on the metropolitan supply in 
 1851 estimated that where soda was avoided a saving of 
 about one-third of the soap used in London for washing 
 linen would be effected by using soft water instead of 
 the ordinary London water, and that the saving in labour 
 would be even more considerable. 
 
 The introduction of soft water of \\ degrees into 
 Glasgow, instead of water of 8 degrees of hardness, was 
 stated by Mr. Bateman, engineer of the Lock Katrine 
 Works, to have resulted in a saving of two shillings per 
 head of the population, to say nothing of diminished 
 wear and tear of clothes in washing. Glasgow manu- 
 facturers, who used soap in large quantities, estimated 
 
46 Hardness of Water. 
 
 that their consumption was reduced one-half by the 
 change in the water supply. An experienced public 
 analyst has recently made an estimate showing that, 
 allowing one gallon per head per diem for washing and 
 other purposes for which soap is employed, and taking 
 yellow soap at 4e?. per lb v a saving of .14,600 per annum 
 for every 100,000 inhabitants supplied would be effected 
 in the article of soap alone by introducing a supply of lake 
 water in the place of red sandstone water of about 18 de- 
 grees (per 100,000) of hardness. He says, "These figures, 
 far from being exaggerated, are really understated. The 
 consumption of water for washing purposes is much 
 greater than one gallon per head per diem; and one 
 sample of soap bought at a respectable shop was found 
 to contain 69 per cent, of moisture, and was so impure 
 as to be destroyed to the extent of 551bs. for every degree 
 of hardness in every 10,000 gallons of water. " 
 
 Every one who has had experience of both hard and 
 soft water for personal ablution, knows how much more 
 pleasant and effective the latter is than the former. 
 With regard to the destruction of boilers and kettles, 
 by incrustations due to deposits from hard water, my 
 experience is that the evil is really serious. 
 
 There are many medical authorities who believe that 
 excessively hard water is productive of skin and calculous 
 diseases. There are others who consider hard water 
 
Softening Processes. 47 
 
 beneficial. No evidence in support of hard or soft water 
 is afforded by the mortality returns. 
 
 Reference has already been made to the effect of boil- 
 ing upon the hardness of water. It appears that in order 
 to obtain the full benefit of the reduction which is capable 
 of being produced by boiling, not only must the heat of 
 the water be raised to the boiling-point, but ebullition 
 must continue for about half an hour. 
 
 The effect of carbonate of soda in softening water is 
 known to every washerwoman. The bicarbonates and 
 sulphates of lime and magnesia, which are held in so- 
 lution in the water, are decomposed much more rapidly 
 in hot water than in cold. The carbonate of soda should 
 therefore be applied when the water is hot. 
 
 Softening by carbonate of soda is much more econo- 
 mical than softening by boiling, but as the soda salts 
 give an unpleasant taste to the water, this method 
 cannot be employed for dietetic purposes. 
 
 The most economical and effective process for remov- 
 ing temporary hardness, that is, hardness due to the 
 presence of carbonate of lime and magnesia, is that 
 known as Dr. Clark's process (from the name of the 
 inventor) . By the addition of a certain proportion of 
 lime or lime-water to the hard water, the carbonates are 
 precipitated and a beautifully soft water is produced. 
 
48 Water. 
 
 To apply this process on a small scale, I cannot do 
 better than quote the directions given in the sixth 
 Report of the Rivers Pollution Commissioners : 
 
 " To soften 700 gallons of the water supplied by the 
 Chelsea, West Middlesex, Southwark, Grand Junction, 
 Lambeth, New River, or East London Company, slake 
 thoroughly 18 ounces of quicklime (chalk lime is best) 
 in a pailful of water, stir up the milk of lime thus pro- 
 duced, and pour it immediately into a cistern containing 
 at least 50 gallons of the water to be softened, taking 
 care to leave in the pail any heavy sediment that may 
 have settled to the bottom in the few seconds that in- 
 tervened between the stirring and pouring. Fill the 
 pail again with water, and stir and pour as before. The 
 remainder of the 700 gallons of water must then - be 
 added, or allowed to run into the cistern from the supply 
 pipe. If the rush of the water thus added does not 
 thoroughly mix the contents of the cistern, this must 
 be accomplished by stirring with a suitable wooden 
 paddle. The water will now appear" very milky, owing 
 to the precipitation of the chalk which it previously 
 contained in solution, together with an equal quantity 
 of chalk, which is formed from the quicklime added. 
 After standing for three hours the water will be suffi- 
 ciently clear to use for washing, but to render it clear 
 
Softening Processes. 49 
 
 enough for drinking, at least twelve hours' settlement 
 is required." 
 
 For the water supplied by the Kent Company about 
 21 ounces of quicklime would be required to soften 700 
 gallons of water. 
 
 The proportion of lime-water required to soften water 
 from the chalk formations is about 1 to 9, but it varies 
 according to the hardness of the water. The following 
 simple test will enable the operator to know when the 
 proper proportion has been found : 
 
 Take a solution of nitrate of silver in twice distilled 
 water, in the proportion of an ounce per pint. Put two 
 or three drops into a white teacup, and add a little of the 
 mixture of lime and hard water. The tint produced 
 should be a very faint yellow. If the colour is stronger, 
 more of the hard water should be added. 
 
 A large proportion of the water used in this country 
 is obtained from the limestone, chalk, and oolite districts, 
 and I have described the application of Dr. Clark's 
 beautiful process somewhat minutely because of its great 
 utility in softening and purifying water from these 
 districts. 
 
 The precipitate left after the softening is whitening, 
 which may either be sold or re-burnt for use. 
 
 A description of works for softening water on a large 
 scale does not come within the scope of this book, but 
 
 4 
 
50 Water. 
 
 such works are in successful operation at Caterham, 
 Canterbury, the Colne Valley Waterworks, and other 
 places. The Rivers Pollution Commissioners recom- 
 mended that the metropolis should be supplied with 
 spring and deep well-water, to be softened with lime 
 before delivery to consumers. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PUKIFICATION OF WATEE. 
 
 Domestic filtration Filtration on the large scale Various forms of 
 house niters Effect of boiling on water. 
 
 T\OMESTIC filtration is mostly a snare and a delusion. 
 People talk and act as if patent filters were endowed 
 with some magical power for the purification of water. 
 The existence of the impurities which are arrested, if a 
 filter is doing useful work, is forgotten or disregarded. 
 The filth collects on the face and in the body of 'the 
 filter, and, if the pores are not entirely clogged, an ac- 
 cumulation of putrescent organic matter takes place, 
 which renders the water more impure, though it may 
 be brighter and clearer, after filtration than it was before 
 filtration. The Rivers Pollution Commissioner reported, 
 with respect to one of the best house filters, that "myriads 
 of minute worms were developed in the animal charcoal 
 and passed out with the water when the filters were used 
 for Thames-water, and when the charcoal was not renewed 
 at sufficiently short intervals/'' 
 
 4 2 
 
52 Water : its Piirification. 
 
 The action of all filters is chiefly mechanical. They 
 are, in fact, strainers, which clear the water of matters 
 in suspension by keeping back solid particles that are 
 too large to pass through the filtering medium. Some 
 filters have also an appreciable chemical action, and re- 
 move a portion of the organic matter which is held in 
 solution; but no method of filtration yet devised can re- 
 move the ova of animalculse or deprive water of its power 
 to carry the seeds of disease. A great many varieties and 
 mixtures of material are employed in the construction of 
 filters. The most common are sand, sponge, cotton bags, 
 vegetable and animal charcoal, coke, various preparations 
 of iron, clay, sawdust, flannel, wool, porous stone, wire 
 gauze, gravel. Of these the most effective are animal 
 charcoal, the so-called magnetic carbide of iron, and 
 spongy iron. Animal charcoal is prepared by subjecting 
 bones to a red heat in retorts from which the air is ex- 
 cluded. The material known as <c spongy iron" is an 
 iron which has been prepared by the reduction of hema- 
 tite ore without fusion, and which is consequently in a 
 porous and finely-divided condition. The Rivers Pollu- 
 tion Commissioners, who tested several kinds of filters, 
 found that ' ' fresh animal charcoal removes not only a 
 large proportion of the organic matter present in water, 
 but also a not inconsiderable amount of mineral saline 
 matters/'' Spongy iron they found to be " a very active 
 
House Filters, 53 
 
 agent not only in removing organic matter from water, 
 but also in materially reducing its hardness, and also 
 otherwise altering its character/' 
 
 Professor Nichols, of Boston, U.S., made an elaborate 
 investigation and report on the nitration of potable water 
 for the Massachusetts State Board of Health. His ex- 
 periments with an animal charcoal filter gave results 
 similar to those arrived at by the Rivers Pollution Com- 
 mission. He also obtained favourable results from a 
 silicated carbon filter, described as being composed of the 
 residue of the distillation of a certain variety of bitumin- 
 ous shale compressed into blocks. With a spongy iron 
 filter he experienced a difficulty in obtaining water reason- 
 ably free from iron, which he attributed to the Cochituate 
 water (with which he experimented) acting, like other 
 soft waters, violently on iron. As the result of his ex- 
 aminations and researches, Professor Nichols was led to 
 the belief that there is no substance on the whole better 
 than animal charcoal for household filtration. 
 
 No filter will continue to give useful results or be fit 
 for use if the filtering material is not regularly renewed 
 or cleansed. The frequency with which this should be 
 done depends on the amount of work the filter has to 
 accomplish. A period of six months is probably as long 
 as a filter in daily use can safely be left without renewal 
 or cleaning. 
 
54 Water : its Purification. 
 
 Water supplied by companies or local authorities ought 
 always to be delivered in a state fit for consumption,, with- 
 out putting consumers to the expense and trouble of 
 household filtration. If filtration is necessary and it is 
 necessary for the majority of surface waters it can be 
 most economically and effectively done on the large scale 
 by the waterworks authority. And in all towns and dis- 
 tricts where there is a public supply, it would be well if 
 those who now use house filters were to apply their energy 
 and influence to secure the distribution of wholesome 
 water from the public mains to all the inhabitants, rather 
 than trust to a system of domestic filtration which, how- 
 ever excellent it may be in theory, has been found in 
 practice to aggravate the evil it is intended to cure. Any 
 improvement effected in the quality of the general water 
 supply would benefit the poor, Avho cannot afford to buy 
 filters, as well as the rich, who buy filters and neglect 
 them. 
 
 In towns such as Liverpool, Glasgow, and Manchester, 
 where water of unimpeachable quality is delivered to the 
 consumers, house filters are not only unnecessary they 
 are mischievous. That they have a large sale in such 
 towns shows how ignorant and thoughtless people are 
 on the subject. 
 
 For houses that are not supplied from public works 
 
House Filters. 
 
 55 
 
 private filtration must often be resorted to, and for the 
 information of those who wish to construct niters for 
 themselves, the directions that follow are given. 
 
 There are at least three conditions to be observed in 
 the construction and management of all filters. First, 
 that the filtering material shall not prejudicially affect 
 the water. Secondly, that the size of the filter shall be 
 adapted to the work it has to do, and that water shall 
 not pass througli too quickly; and thirdly, that the 
 filtering material shall be periodically cleansed or re- 
 newed. 
 
 This is a slate or iron cistern and filter combined. The 
 filtering material is, at the bottom, 6 inches of gravel ; 
 upon that, 6 inches of animal charcoal ; at the top, 6 inches 
 of clean sharp river sand ; on the sand a thin brass or tin 
 plate, or slate slab, perforated, is placed to distribute the 
 water. Instead of animal charcoal, the magnetic carbide 
 
Water: its Purification. 
 
 of iron, or spongy iron, already referred to, may be em- 
 ployed. Failing these, use vegetable charcoal or pounded 
 cinders. 
 
 There are endless forms in which the filtering material 
 may be enclosed. Tabs, flower -pots, iron or mug pipes 
 may be utilized for the purpose. 
 
 A serviceable filter may be made by letting the water 
 pass through aslab of porous stone, or block of compressed 
 charcoal, sliding in a grove, and dividing the cistern into 
 two compartments. 
 
 The following form of filter is adapted for filtering 
 
 rain-water in an underground cistern, or wherever a 
 large quantity of water has to be filtered. The material 
 proposed is 2 feet 6 inches of sand at the top, then 
 6 inches of gravel, and below that a course of bricks 
 
Effect of Boiling. 57 
 
 laid flat on a perforated slab. The tank to be made of 
 brick, lined with cement. 
 
 In sand filters, whenever the surface of the sand be- 
 comes foul, or the action of the filter slow, scrape off 
 about half an inch, and wash it well before restoring 
 it. Once or twice a year wash all the filtering material. 
 Expose the charcoal to the sunlight for a few hours spread 
 out on a tray, or bake it in an oven. If the charcoal is 
 used in the block form, brush it occasionally. 
 
 EFFECT OF BOILING. Reference has already been made 
 to the effect of boiling in reducing the hardness of water. 
 If there are living organisms present in the water, the 
 value of boiling as a protection to health depends upon 
 its power to destroy vitality. If the temperature of 
 the water is raised to a degree at which such organisms 
 cannot exist, the quality of the water is obviously im- 
 proved to the extent that inconvenience would have 
 resulted from sw allowing them unboiled. As to the 
 temperature at which these things can exist, Doctor 
 Parkes refers to some experiments in which bacteria 
 were found moving rapidly at a temperature of 127 
 degrees C. According to M. Toussaint, the Bacillus an- 
 thracis, mentioned on page 42, is killed at a temperature 
 of 55 degrees C. (131 P.). 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MODERN WATERWORKS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Origin of water companies- -Competition in water supply History 
 of London supply and its lessons Duty of local authorities 
 Services rendered by water companiesAdvantages of supply 
 being under control of local bodies, 
 
 A BOUT forty years ago, the local administrative bodies 
 of England began to bestir themselves on the subject 
 of water supply. At that time all the waterworks establish- 
 ments in the country, with a very few exceptions, were 
 in the hands of joint-stock companies. In many instances 
 the works had been first constructed by philanthropic 
 men solely from a desire to provide for a great and 
 pressing public want. In the vast majority of cases 
 the works had been erected simply as speculations by 
 persons who sought a profitable investment for their 
 capital. Thus the supply of water to a town became 
 a trading enterprise, and led to competition that some- 
 times produced disastrous results. The rates and charges 
 for the commodity supplied were usually fixed by the 
 special Acts of Parliament incorporating the companies, 
 
Origin of Water Companies. 59 
 
 but the limits placed were so high that they were seldom 
 reached. In the earlier Acts there were no restric- 
 tions as to the amount of dividend to be paid to the 
 shareholders, nor any provisions to enable consumers 
 to demand a supply. The only protection the public had 
 was their power to set up a rival establishment ; and this 
 alternative presented so many difficulties, and involved 
 so much expense in doubtful parliamentary contests, 
 that it was rarely tried. In the few cases where competi- 
 tion did take place, the result was, at first, fierce rivalry, 
 a double expenditure of capital, two or three sets of pipes 
 in one street, two sets of canvassers touting for customers, 
 two sets of officers and workmen, staff's of plumbers to 
 transfer customers from one set of pipes to another, and 
 breaking up of streets ; then, when the rival companies 
 had by their competition brought themselves to the 
 brink of ruin, they saw the folly of their ways, and agreed 
 either to amalgamate, or to confine their operations to 
 separate districts, so that in the end the public were 
 worse off, and were burdened with heavier charges, than 
 before the competition began. 
 
 As early as 1819 a Committee of the House of Com- 
 mons came to the conclusion that the principle of com- 
 petition was not applicable to water companies, but it 
 was not until long after that proper provisions for the 
 protection of the public were inserted in Waterworks 
 Acts. 
 
6o London Water Supply. 
 
 The history of the supply of London, while it presents 
 many special features, has also some that are common 
 to the supply of other important towns. 
 
 The earliest account of the London water supply de- 
 scribes it as being derived partly from the Thames, whence 
 it was carried in butts and buckets through the lanes 
 that ran down to the river-side, partly from the River 
 of Wells, or Wai-brook, which rose to the north of 
 Moorfields, passed through London Wall between Bish- 
 opgate and Moorgate, and ran through the City; and 
 partly from a number of springs, the overflow from which 
 ran into the Wai-brook and formed its chief source. As 
 the City extended, the brook had to be covered, the springs 
 were exhausted, and it became necessary to go farther. 
 Water was conveyed to conduits, cisterns, or fountains 
 by earthen or leaden pipes from springs to the north and 
 west of the City. Nearly all these conduits were erected 
 from time to time at the expense of individual citizens, 
 generally Lord Mayors and Sheriffs, anxious to distin- 
 guish their term of office by conferring on the inhabitants 
 a boon so highly valued. In 1544 the Corporation of 
 London applied to Parliament for power to convey water 
 from the hills at Hampstead. The works then authorized 
 were not completed until 1590. About that time the 
 corporation obtained power to cut a river for the con- 
 veyance of water from any part of Middlesex or Hertford- 
 
London Water Supply. 61 
 
 shire. Ten years were allowed for completing the works, 
 but nothing was done, and the powers lapsed. 
 
 The water question appears to have received consider- 
 able attention towards the end of the sixteenth century. 
 Among other schemes that attracted much notice and 
 discussion was one to convey water from the springs of 
 Am well and Chadwell in Hertfordshire. In 1606 the 
 corporation obtained power from Parliament to procure 
 a supply from these sources. The Common Council 
 lacked energy and courage to carry out the undertaking, 
 and it would probably have been abandoned but for the 
 public spirit of Hugh Myddelton, a goldsmith of London, 
 but a native of Henllan in Denbighshire, who under- 
 took to execute the work at his own risk and expense, 
 and to whom the necessary powers were transferred 
 by the Common Council in 1609. According to an 
 edition of Stow's " Survey of London," published in 
 1633, the obstacles which Myddelton encountered were 
 of a very formidable character. " For if those enemies 
 of all good endeavours, danger, difficulty, impossibility, 
 contempt, scorne, derision, yea, and desperate despight, 
 could have prevailed, by their accursed and malevolent 
 interposition, either before, at the beginning, in the very 
 birth of the proceeding, or in the least stolne advantage 
 of the whole prosecution, this worke, of so great worth, 
 had never been accomplished." Myddelton bravely faced 
 
62 London Water Supply. 
 
 and finally surmounted every difficulty and opposition, 
 and in 1613 had the joy, in which all London shared, of 
 seeing the New niver completed. In 1619 James I. 
 granted a charter for the incorporation of the New River 
 Company. 
 
 All the works hitherto described have been for supplies 
 by gravitation. In 1582 Peter Morice, a Dutchman, 
 erected a water-wheel at London Bridge, on a lease 
 from the Council, and astonished the good citizens by 
 throwing water over St Magnus's steeple. This was 
 the first pumping machinery used in England. Additional 
 engines were subsequently erected, and the concern de- 
 veloped into the London Bridge Waterworks Company. 
 
 On the completion of Myddelton's noble work, the 
 supply of London was thus described : c ' What with the 
 spring-water coming from the several springheads through 
 the streets of the city to these cisterns, the New River 
 water from Chadwell and Amwell, and the Thames water, 
 raised by several engines or water-houses, there is not 
 a street in London but one or other of these waters runs 
 through it in pipes conveyed under ground ; and from 
 these pipes there is scarce a house whose rent is 15 
 or 20 a year, but hath the convenience of water brought 
 into it by small leaden pipes laid into the great ones. 
 And for the smaller tenements, such as are in courts and 
 alleys, there is generally a cock or pump common to the 
 
London Water Supply. 
 
 inhabitants ; so that I may boldly say, there is never a 
 city in the world so well served with water/'* 
 
 The success of the New River led to several new 
 schemes being brought forward, and to the establishment 
 of several new companies. The next important event 
 in the history of the London supply was the erection of 
 a steam engine by Savory, at York Buildings, under 
 " the governor and company of undertakers for raising 
 Thames-water in York Buildings/' incorporated in 1691 . 
 About half a century before, water had been raised from 
 the Thames at Vauxhall by an engine invented by the 
 Marquis of Worcester. In 1723 the Chelsea Water- 
 works Company was formed. They pumped from the 
 Thames at Chelsea Reach, and had power to use and 
 make ponds or reservoirs in St. James's Park and Hyde 
 Park. In 1785 the Lambeth Company was formed. 
 They pumped from the Thames near Waterloo Bridge. 
 In 1806 the West Middlesex Company was incorporated, 
 to supply the northern district of London. They 
 pumped from the Thames at a point about 9J miles 
 above London Bridge. In 1798 the Grand Junction 
 Canal Company obtained power to construct waterworks 
 to supply Paddington and the adjacent parishes. In 
 1811 the powers thus obtained were transferred to a 
 
 * Stow. Edition 1633. 
 
 J^vr* 
 
64 London Water Supply. 
 
 number of persons who were incorporated as the Grand 
 Junction Water Company. Their supply was at first 
 obtained from the Grand Junction Canal,, fed from the 
 rivers Colne and Brent ; subsequently a supply from the 
 Regent's Canal was added; but in 1820 both these sources 
 were abandoned, and the whole supply was derived from 
 the Thames at Chelsea. In 1807 the East London 
 Company was incorporated to supply water from the 
 river Lea at Old Ford to districts in the east of London, 
 previously supplied by the Shadwell and West Hani 
 Waterworks. In 1822 the Borough Works, at St. Mary 
 Ovary's, and the London Bridge Works were united to 
 form theSouthwark Waterworks. In 1805 the South 
 London Company was established, and erected engines 
 on the Thames at Cumberland Gardens, near Yauxhall 
 Bridge. The Southwark Company and the Vauxhall 
 Company were amalgamated in 1845. In 1809 the Kent 
 Company was formed, to supply a district south-east 
 of the Thames, from the river Ravensbourne (abandoned 
 in 1862 in favour of deep wells in the chalk). 
 
 Thus five new companies were established about the 
 beginning of the present century. Several of these were 
 competing companies, and the rivalry between them was 
 keen and bitter. Each company tried to undersell the 
 others. Canvassers went about trying to persuade people 
 to transfer their support from one company to another. 
 
London Water Siipply. 65 
 
 The inducements commonly offered were ; a reduction in 
 price, greater liberality and regularity in supply, and 
 improvements in pressure. The competition continued 
 with vigour, and not a little acrimony, for many years, 
 and while it lasted the public derived considerable benefit 
 from it. After a great waste of capital and loss of divi- 
 dends, the competing companies saw impending ruin as 
 the end of the struggle, and they came to an agreement 
 that each company should confine its distribution to cer- 
 tain specified limits, and not interfere with its neighbour. 
 The New River and East London Companies were the 
 first to suspend hostilities, in 1815. The other companies 
 to the north of the Thames came to an understanding in 
 1817, and the companies south of the river in 1842. 
 
 The first result of the treaty between the companies 
 was an increase in the charges for water. A great out- 
 cry was raised against this action, and an association 
 was formed, called the " Anti- Water-Monopoly Associa- 
 tion/' to resist the increase. In consequence of this agita- 
 tion a Select Committee was appointed by the House of 
 Commons in 18.21 "to inquire into the past and present 
 state of the supply of water to the metropolis, and the laws 
 relating thereto." The Committee took evidence as to 
 the effects of the mutual compacts agreed upon by the 
 companies on the Middlesex side, and they reported that 
 legislative regulation was required. In the same session 
 
 5 
 
66 London Water Siipply. 
 
 a bill was introduced to appoint referees to decide any 
 questions of dispute that might arise between the public 
 and the companies. The bill failed to pass. 
 
 At this time the quality of the Thames water began 
 to receive attention, and in 1827 a Commission was 
 issued appointing Mr. Telford, the eminent engineer, 
 Dr. Brand e, F.R.S., and Dr. Roget to inquire into the 
 "quality and the salubrity of the water." In their Report 
 the Commissioners made the following remarks in refer- 
 ence to the inquiry by the Select Committee of 1821 : 
 " The disposing of such a necessary of life ought not to 
 be left altogether to the unlimited discretion of companies 
 possessing an exclusive monopoly of that commodity, 
 and the interests of the public require that while they 
 continue to enjoy that monopoly their proceedings 
 should be subject to some effective superintendence and 
 control." With regard to quality, the Commissioners 
 reported that it was susceptible of, and required, improve- 
 ment ; " that it ought to be derived from other sources 
 than those now resorted to, and guarded by such restric- 
 tions as shall at all times insure its cleanliness and 
 purity." 
 
 In 1831 the Government instructed Mr. Telford to 
 report " in what manner the metropolis can be supplied 
 with pure water." Mr. Telford's report was issued in 
 1834. He recommended a scheme for supplying the dis- 
 
London Water Supply. 67 
 
 tricts to the north of the Thames from the river Verulam, 
 and the districts to the south from the river Wandle. 
 Numerous projects for an improved supply were brought 
 forward about this time, and attempts were made to form 
 new companies,, but none of these proposals went beyond 
 the speculative stage. The water companies, having 
 ceased to compete with each other, gave more attention 
 to the improvement of their works. The Chelsea com- 
 pany constructed a filter bed in 1829, and this was the 
 first attempt to improve the Thames-water by artificial 
 filtration. 
 
 I now come to the time when the Health of Towns 
 Commissioners made their inquiry (1844). In regard 
 to London, they found "the defects in the system of 
 distribution and charging frequently more striking " 
 than in other towns. (< Large numbers of the houses 
 of the poorer classes receive no supply." Out of 
 900,000 persons in the New River Company's district, 
 300,000 were " unsupplied," and in the district of the 
 Southwark Company 30,000 had no supply. Large 
 numbers of the inhabitants, especially of the poor, were 
 dependent on shallow wells, and "the practice, almost 
 universal, of retaining all refuse in cesspools beneath 
 houses, has, in many parts of the metropolis, so entirely 
 saturated the soil as to render the water unfit for use." 
 
 The Commissioners thought that the principles of 
 
 52 
 
68 London Water Supply. 
 
 legislation which they had recommended for other large 
 towns were equally applicable to the metropolis. 
 
 In 1848-9 London was visited by an epidemic of 
 cholera. Some medical men attributed its spread to 
 the agency of water, and this led to general uneasiness 
 on the subject. In 1850 the General Board of Health 
 issued an elaborate Report,, in which the question was 
 very fully examined from an engineering, medical, and 
 chemical point of view. The result was that they con- 
 demned unreservedly the use of Thames water taken 
 within reach of London sewage, and condemned the 
 Thames beyond the influence of London sewage, and 
 likewise the Lea and New River, on account of their 
 hardness. During the Board of Health inquiry no 
 fewer than twenty-five new projects for improving the 
 supply to the metropolis were submitted. In 1851 
 another Commission was appointed, to report specially 
 upon the chemical aspect of the question. The Com- 
 missioners were Professor Graham, F.R.S., Dr. W. Allen 
 Miller, M.D., F.R.S., and Dr. Hofmann, F.R.S. They 
 prepared a very able Report, in which, after praising the 
 Thames, with ordinary sand filtration, for its "peculiar 
 and agreeable brightness," they went on to say, "As the 
 main drain of a large and populous district, the Thames 
 becomes at all seasons polluted by the sewage of several 
 considerable towns, and by the surface drainage of 
 
London Water Siippiy. 69 
 
 manured and ploughed land. Even above Kingston a 
 population of three- quarters of a million is found upon 
 the banks of this river and its tributaries. The divert- 
 ing the sewage of the various towns entirely from the 
 Thames would be attended with so much difficulty that 
 the project need not be taken into account. . . And 
 it appears to be only a question of time when the sense 
 of this violation of the river purity will decide the public 
 mind to the entire abandonment of the Thames as a source 
 of supply ; unless, indeed, artificial means of purification 
 be devised in the meantime and applied." To the Lea 
 they referred inmuch the same language. In consequence 
 of these Reports the Government introduced a bill in 1851 
 to affect an amalgamation of the companies, and to en- 
 able the Secretary of State to prescribe the sources from 
 which water should be obtained. This bill was strenu- 
 ously opposed by the companies, and had to be withdrawn. 
 In 1852 an Act was passed " to make provision for secur- 
 ing the supply to the metropolis of pure and wholesome 
 water, and otherwise to make further and better pro- 
 vision in relation to the water supply of the metropolis." 
 These objects it sought to attain by enacting : Firstly. 
 No company to take water from any part of the Thames 
 below Teddington Lock, or from any of its tributaries 
 below the point where the tide flows. Secondly. All 
 water, except the deep well-water, to be effectually filtered 
 
70 London Water Supply. 
 
 before distribution. Thirdly. All reservoirs for filtered 
 water within five miles of St. Paul's to be covered. 
 Fourthly. No company to resort to any new source of 
 supply until an inspector of the Board of Trade shall 
 have reported if the same is capable of supplying good 
 and wholesome water. Fifthly. On any complaint from 
 twenty householders as to quantity and quality, Board 
 of Trade may appoint a person to inquire and report. 
 Sixthly. If complaint well founded, Board of Trade to 
 require company to remove grounds of complaint. 
 Seventhly. After expiration of five years, every company 
 to give a constant supply, at high pressure, of pure and 
 wholesome water, " provided that no company shall be 
 bound to provide a constant supply of water to any 
 district main until four-fifths of the owners or occupiers 
 of the houses on such main shall have required such 
 company to provide such supply, nor even, upon such 
 requisition in case it can be shown by any company 
 objecting that more than one-fifth of the houses are 
 not supplied with pipes, cocks, cisterns, machinery, and 
 arrangements of all kinds for the reception and distri- 
 bution of water according to the prescribed regula- 
 tions." 
 
 The first effect of the Act of 1852 was the removal of 
 the intakes of the Grand Junction, West Middlesex, 
 and Southwark and Yauxhall Companies to Hampton, 
 
London Water Supply. 7 1 
 
 and of the Lambeth and Chelsea Companies to Thames 
 Ditton. 
 
 In 1856 the Board of Health directed Professor 
 Hofmaim and Mr. Lindsey Blyth to report upon the 
 quality of the water from the new intakes. They reported 
 a very considerable diminution in the amount of organic 
 matter as compared with 1851, but expressed no opinion 
 as to the salubrity of the water examined. In the same 
 year the superintending inspectors of the Board were 
 required to report on the alterations effected in the works 
 under the Act, 1852. They reported that the require- 
 ments of the Act, in regard to sources of supply, nitration, 
 and covering of reservoirs, had "in all essential respects 
 been fully and satisfactorily complied with." The in- 
 spectors, having regard to their experiences under the 
 Public Health Act, were led to consider whether it might 
 not be desirable to give early attention to the number 
 of towns situated above the new sources of supply, whose 
 drainage might, sooner or later, "to some extent render 
 nugatory the vast outlay which the companies have been 
 called upon to make." The five years allowed for the 
 introduction of constant service had not then expired. 
 
 In 1857 the Board of Health obtained a Report on a 
 " Microscopical Examination of the Metropolitan Water 
 Supply," by Dr. Hill Hassall. The Report stated that 
 " the metropolis is still supplied with water containing 
 
London Water Supply. 
 
 considerable numbers of living vegetable and animal 
 productions, and -which are not present in the purer 
 waters," as from deep wells in the chalk. 
 
 In 1865 the first Rivers Pollution Commission was 
 appointed. A Report on the Thames and Lea was issued 
 in 1866. Concerning the Thames the Commissioners 
 remarked,, f( The result seems to be that as a water supply 
 the Thames, polluted by the sewage of the inhabitants of 
 the river basin, is open, in kind if not in degree, to the 
 same objections as well-water infiltrated by liquid from an 
 adjoining cesspool. Well-water so tainted may appear to 
 sight, taste, and smell to be harmless, and has been 
 known to have been drunk for a length of time without 
 apparent mischief, but beyond all doubt that same water 
 is liable under perculiar conditions to become poisonous/-' 
 As to the Lea, they reported, cc we have found on inquiry 
 that pollution of the waters by sewage is general." 
 
 In 1867 a Committee of the House of Commons on 
 East London Water Bills reported as follows : ' ' We are 
 satisfied that both the quantity and quality of the water 
 supplied from the Thames were so far satisfactory that 
 there is no ground for disturbing the arrangements made 
 under the Act of 1852, and that any attempt to do so 
 would only end in entailing a waste of capital and an 
 unnecessary charge upon the owners and occupiers of 
 property in the metropolis.^ 
 
London Water Supply. 73 
 
 In 1867 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire 
 generally into the subject of water supply, and to report 
 which sources " are best suited for the supply of the 
 metropolis and its suburbs." The Commissioners reported 
 (1869) "That there is no evidence to lead us to believe 
 that the waters now supplied by the companies is not 
 generally good and wholesome/' and "that when efficient 
 measures are adopted for excluding the sewage and other 
 pollutions from the Thames and the Lea, and their tribu- 
 taries, and for insuring perfect filtration, water taken from 
 the present sources will be perfectly wholesome and of 
 suitable quality for the supply of the metropolis. That 
 the constant service system ought to be promptly intro- 
 duced to the furthest extent possible in the metropolis. 
 That the future control of the water supply should be 
 entrusted to a responsible public body, with powers 
 conferred upon them for the purchase and extension of 
 existing works." 
 
 In 1871 the Government introduced a bill for the 
 compulsory purchase of the water companies. This bill 
 met with the usual fate of measures to deal effectually 
 with the London water question, it had to be with- 
 drawn. A bill (No. 2) was introduced in the same 
 session, the object of which was thus described by the 
 Select Committee to whom it was referred : To secure 
 (1) distribution of water on a system of constant supply. 
 
74 London Water Supply. 
 
 (2) Good quality of the water. (3) An audit of the 
 oompanies' accounts. 
 
 The Metropolis Water Act, 1871, sought to accomplish 
 what the Act of 185.2 had failed to do in regard to con- 
 stant service by empowering the local authorities of the 
 metropolis (subject to an appeal to the Board of Trade) 
 to make the demand for constant service instead of the 
 inhabitants. In other respects the conditions remained 
 much the same. 
 
 In 1874 the Rivers Pollution Commissioners issued 
 their Report on the " domestic water supply of Great 
 Britain/' in which they discussed at great length the me- 
 tropolitan supply. They made the following recommen- 
 dations : " That the Thames should as early as possible be 
 abandoned as a source of water for domestic use, and that 
 the sanction of your Majesty's Government be in future 
 withheld from all schemes involving the expenditure of 
 more capital for the supply of Thames water to London." 
 " That the Lea should also be abandoned as a source of 
 potable water/' but " this measure is less urgent than the 
 relinquishment of Thames water." 
 
 The next Parliamentary inquiry relating to the London 
 water question was that of a Special Committee on the 
 Metropolitan Fire Brigade, which sat in 187G-7. They 
 recommended " That the water systems now belonging 
 to the various companies should be consolidated in the 
 
London Water Supply. 75 
 
 Jiands of a public authority, which, in dealing with the 
 questions of constant supply, pressure, and pipeage, should 
 be bound to have regard not only to the convenience of 
 customers, but also to the requirements for the extinction 
 of fire." 
 
 In 1878 the Metropolitan Board of Works promoted 
 two water bills ; the first, For the acquisition of the water 
 companies' undertakings ; the second, For providing a 
 new supply for potable and fire-extinquishing purposes. 
 Neither of these measures got beyond the stage of a first 
 reading. The introduction and abandonment of the bill 
 introduced this year by Government for the purchase and 
 transfer to a public authority of the water undertakings 
 is within the memory of all. The Select Committee sub- 
 sequently appointed to consider the proposed terms of 
 purchase arrived at conclusions similar in effect to those 
 of the Royal Commission of 1844. 
 
 The history of the London water supply corresponds 
 up to a certain point with that of many towns, and fur- 
 nishes lessons that are valuable to all. First, there was 
 a period when the inhabitants were dependent on shallow 
 wells, on water drawn by hand from the Thames, and on 
 the munificence and public spirit of individual citizens. 
 Then came a period when the growth of the city demanded 
 
76 London Water Supply. 
 
 more extensive provision, and the adoption of more com- 
 prehensive measures. The city council were not suffi- 
 ciently advanced in their conception of the functions of 
 a local administrative body, and had not sufficient en- 
 terprise to carry out so large an undertaking. Hugh 
 Myddelton came forward to perform the task from which 
 the council shrank. Thenceforth a responsibility which 
 ought to have devolved on the citizens as a corporate body 
 was left to speculators. An era of competition began. 
 Rivalry was carried to the verge of ruin. Then peace was 
 declared, and a monopoly established by an agreement in 
 which the wishes and interests of those chiefly concerned 
 were never consulted. Then followed a period of barren 
 public agitation and of bubble projects. After this an 
 epidemic of cholera aroused attention. Medical men pro- 
 nounced water to be a carrier of the disease, and people 
 who learnt that their supply was drawn from a river at a 
 point within a few yards of a sewer-outlet were naturally 
 alarmed. Government was compelled to interfere, and 
 after another futile attempt to cope with the difficulty by 
 putting an end to a bad system, they gave a new lease to 
 monopoly. Then we come to a period in which sanitary 
 science has been claiming more and more attention, and 
 new and higher standards of purity are proclaimed ; when 
 the evils of a defective system have become intolerable, 
 and general uneasiness prevails regarding the wholesome- 
 
Control of Waterworks. 77 
 
 ness of water derived from a river which has received the 
 filth of a large population. 
 
 That it is one of the first duties of a local administrative 
 body to provide an adequate supply of water for the in- 
 habitants of their district, is a proposition which is now 
 almost universally established; and Parliament has since 
 1846 acted on the principle that it is desirable to have 
 public waterworks under the control of local authorities, 
 to be managed by them for the benefit of the ratepayers. 
 Local authorities have obvious advantages over joint- 
 stock companies, in connection with the breaking up of 
 streets for pipe-laying, the collection of rates, the enforce- 
 ment of regulations, in matters of policy, and in being 
 able to borrow money at low rates of interest ; but the 
 services of water companies ought not to be overlooked. 
 We should not forget how much the country is indebted 
 to private enterprise, often stimulated quite as much by 
 a desire to render useful service as by an expectation of 
 profit, for many valuable works that are scattered over the 
 country. Nor should we forget the numerous improve- 
 ments that have been effected, by and through water 
 companies, in machinery and appliances of various kinds, 
 and in methods of distribution ; and the examples they 
 have furnished of economic working and judicious ma- 
 nagement. Especially is it worthy of recollection that it 
 
78 Control of Waterworks. 
 
 is to a water company, acting under the advice of Mr. 
 Hawksley their engineer, that we owe the first introduction 
 of constant service at high pressure. There are many 
 advantages which a company possesses over an elective 
 body, in unity and continuity of purpose and action, 
 in conducting negotiations, in personal supervision, in 
 freedom from influences, restraints, and political ties, 
 which often embarrass and determine the conduct of 
 public men. Some of the best waterworks in the 
 country are in the hands of private companies, who are 
 supplying their districts with wholesome water on 
 reasonable and even liberal terms. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, the balance of advantages is 
 decidedly in favour of waterworks being in the hands of 
 local administrative bodies, directly responsible to, and 
 representative of, the consumers, and charged to see, not 
 that a maximum dividend is obtained, but that there shall 
 be no manner of doubt or mistake as to the purity of the 
 water, and its sufficiency for all the domestic and trade 
 requirements of the poorer as well as of the wealthier 
 classes, and for all public and sanitary purposes. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 DISTRIBUTION OF WATER. 
 
 Constant and intermittent systems- -Evils of intermittent system 
 Consumption of water under both systems, and in various classes 
 of property Liverpool experience Proposed supply of houses 
 through meters Objections to unnecessary restrictions Correct 
 principles of distribution. 
 
 A CONSTANT supply of water is defined by the Water- 
 
 works Clauses Act as a supply ec constantly laid on 
 
 at such a pressure as will make the water reach the top 
 
 storey of the highest houses within the limits " of the 
 
 special Act. 
 
 In districts where water is supplied according to this 
 system the consumer can obtain water from a tap in 
 direct communication with a street main at any time, 
 except when the main itself is shut off for repairs, alter- 
 ations, or extensions. 
 
 Where the service is intermittent the water is generally 
 turned into the distributing mains every day for a length 
 of time, varying from one to eighteen hours. 
 
8o Water : its Distribution. 
 
 The evils attending the intermittent system are many 
 and serious. 
 
 (a,) While the supply is shut off, water can only be 
 obtained from cisterns, butts, and other vessels, in which 
 it has been stored while the mains are charged. The 
 erection and maintenance of these receptacles involves 
 considerable expenditure of money, and the water stored 
 is often polluted by floating particles from the atmo- 
 sphere, and by the absorption of noxious gases. With 
 a constant supply, storage cisterns are only necessary for 
 boiler supplies and trade purposes. 
 
 (b.) The impurity of cistern-water leads to the fre- 
 quent use of domestic filters, which are seldom properly 
 attended to, and therefore only serve to aggravate the 
 evil they are intended to remedy. 
 
 (c.) The poorer classes, who are not adequately pro- 
 vided with cisterns, are compelled to use kettles, pans, 
 jugs, and other household utensils, which are generally 
 exposed to the vitiated air of overcrowded rooms, and 
 consequently cannot preserve water in a state fit for 
 consumption. 
 
 (d.) When the water is turned off, the mains are more 
 or less emptied, and a vacuum or partial vacuum is 
 formed in them. The consequence is that foul gases 
 
Evils of Intermittent System. Si 
 
 and even liquid sewage may get into the mains, through 
 defective pipes and open taps. 
 
 (e.) Dwelling-houses, and especially the houses of 
 the poor, become damp and unhealthy, owing to leakages 
 soaking into the foundations from faulty pipes. Such 
 leakages would not be allowed to continue under a well- 
 managed constant supply system. 
 
 (f.) Except during the hours of distribution, and 
 unless special fire mains are provided, no water can be 
 obtained to extinguish fires until a turncock or fireman 
 has opened a valve communicating with a charged main 
 or reservoir. This operation causes delay at the most 
 critical time in the progress of a fire. 
 
 Further, 'when the service-valve has been opened, the 
 waste of water through open taps and imperfect pipes in 
 the neighbourhood is so great that the pressure is too 
 feeble to be available for putting out a fire without the 
 aid of a pump. The value of an adequate and constant 
 supply of water as a means of extinguishing fires has been 
 shown by the great reduction of insurance rates in Man- 
 chester, Liverpool, and other places, on the substitution 
 of a constant for an intermittent service. 
 
 (g.) While the useful consumption of water is restricted, 
 the amount of waste is greater under an intermittent 
 system than under a properly regulated constant system. 
 
82 Water: its Distribution. 
 
 Where steam power is employed for pumping, as in Lon- 
 don, the cost of procuring the water increases in propor- 
 tion to the waste. The average consumption in London 
 during the year 1879 was 32 J gallons per head per day. 
 Fully one-half of this water was wasted. Not that the 
 whole of the waste could be stopped by the introduction 
 of a well-managed constant supply, but there would not 
 be much difficulty in effecting a reduction to the extent 
 of one-third of the present consumption. 
 
 Under the intermittent system a much larger staff 
 of turncocks has to be employed than under the constant 
 system. 
 
 ft.J Where only a short or irregular intermittent ser- 
 vice is given, the pressure from the mains cannot be used 
 for motive power. 
 
 The statement that more water is consumed when a 
 supply is turned on for only a few hours daily than when 
 it is constantly on may require further explanation. 
 
 If we suppose the case of water flowing from a tap under 
 an invariable head, the quantity used would obviously 
 be in proportion to the time during which the tap was 
 open. There are places in which the pipes and fittings 
 are so defective that the conditions are almost analogous 
 
Intermittent v. Constant System. 8. 
 
 to the open tap case. But where a constant supply is 
 under proper control, and where judicious regulations for 
 the prevention of waste are enforced, the consumption of 
 water is less and often very considerably less than in 
 places where the supply is intermittent. Perhaps this im- 
 
 Gallons 
 
 per Midnight. Noon. Midnight, 
 
 hour. 12 1234567 89 10 ii 12 1234 56798 01 n 12 
 
 3000 
 
 portant point will be made more clear by an illustration 
 from a district comprising several streets in the middle 
 of a town in which the supply passed through the three 
 stages of intermittent, wasteful constant, and economical 
 constant service. The annexed diagram shows the 
 number of gallons flowing into the district each hour 
 under the several conditions named. The thick black 
 
 62 
 
84 Water : its Distribution. 
 
 line represents the intermittent supply; the thin black 
 represents the wasteful constant supply ; the dotted line 
 represents the economic constant supply. It will be 
 observed that during the intermittent service period 
 the water was turned on at 5.50 a.m., and shut off at 
 5.30 p.m. 
 
 The total consumption in this particular case was : 
 
 Intermittent supply ... 18'8 gallons per head per day. 
 Wasteful constant supply.. 29'3 do. 
 
 Economic constant supply 12'-i do. 
 
 During the intermittent service to which the diagram 
 relates, the pipes and fittings were periodically examined 
 by inspectors going from house to house, and serving 
 notices to repair all leakages which they discovered. It 
 is, therefore, not a case where the waste was due to ex- 
 ceptional neglect; nor is it to be regarded as being, in the 
 relation between the columns, or indeed in any sense, a 
 representative case. The consumption per hour, in any 
 district or town, increases as the total number of hours 
 supply per day decreases; and the inconvenience and 
 danger to which consumers are exposed increase and de- 
 crease in precisely the same order and proportion. 
 
 An interesting and instructive example, on a large 
 scale, of the relation between the length of time during 
 which water is turned on, and the total daily consumption, 
 
Consumption of Water. 
 
 is afforded in the case of Liverpool. From the year 1858 
 Liverpool had a constant service until the summer of 
 1865, when, in consequence of an unusual drought, it 
 became necessary to restrict the supply. At first the 
 length of the daily service was reduced to seven hours. 
 The duration of the supply was therefore diminished to the 
 extent of 70 per cent. ; but the diminution in the total 
 daily consumption, resulting from the change, was only 
 5 per cent. And this notwithstanding that considerable 
 alarm prevailed in the city from the fear of a water famine, 
 and notwithstanding appeals made to the inhabitants to 
 exercise every possible economy. The supply was after- 
 wards restricted to four hours per day, and this further 
 restriction produced a diminution of 28 per cent. 
 Throughout the year 1866 the intermittent service was 
 continued, and the average consumption per head was 
 21 per cent, less than obtained in 1864 with a constant 
 service. 
 
 Year. 
 
 No. of hours 
 Water turned 
 
 Average No. of 
 galls, consumed 
 
 Average No. of 
 galls, consumed 
 
 
 on daily. 
 
 per head per day. 
 
 pr.hour of supply 
 
 1864 
 
 24 
 
 30-42 
 
 1-26 
 
 1865 
 
 Period of 
 
 transition. 
 
 
 1866 
 
 10 
 
 23-85 
 
 2-38 
 
 1867 
 
 14| 
 
 28-24 
 
 1-98 
 
 1868 
 
 Hi 
 
 25-90 
 
 2-30 
 
 1869 
 
 11 
 
 27-51 
 
 2-50 
 
 1870 
 
 10 
 
 27-94 
 
 2-79 
 
 1871 
 
 9J 
 
 29-35 
 
 3-09 
 
86 Water : its Distribution. 
 
 The preceding table gives the rate of supply from year 
 to year. 
 
 The gradual increase of waste under the intermittent 
 system is very clearly shown. Between 1866 and 
 1871 the total consumption per head per diem increased 
 23 per cent., and the rate per hour increased 30 per 
 cent. Throughout this period a systematic house-to- 
 house inspection was maintained. In 1873 special 
 operations for the prevention of waste and restoration 
 of constant service were commenced, and by the end of 
 1875 a constant supply had been restored to the whole 
 of the city. The rate of consumption under the constant 
 system is now 22 \ gallons per head per day. This 
 change has been accomplished, and this reduction ef- 
 fected, without any sweeping interdict of old and faulty 
 fittings. 
 
 The average volume of water required, per head of the 
 population, to give an adequate supply to a town, 
 depends upon local conditions, in regard to which no 
 general rule can be laid down. The rate varies from 
 10 to 40 gallons per head per day, of which a large pro- 
 portion is waste, which no regulations or supervision 
 can wholly suppress. 
 
 The quantity used in different classes of property in 
 the same town also varies considerablv. In the annexed 
 
Consumption of Water. 
 
 table I give a few examples of the consumption for 
 domestic and miscellaneous purposes in various classes 
 of property in a large town, where water-closets are in 
 general use, and the supply is constant. 
 
 District containing lowest class of old cottage pro- 
 perty, chiefly supplied by outside self-closing 
 standpipes 2,130 
 
 District containing alow class of old houses, occu- 
 pied by labouring population, mostly supplied 
 by a separate tap in each dwelling 5,800 
 
 District of old houses, small and middle-class, with 
 numerous shops 6,100 llf 
 
 Another ditto 5,300 
 
 District containing new cottage property, chiefly 
 occupied by clerks, artizans, and small shop- 
 keepers 7,280 12 
 
 Ditto 2,300 
 
 Ditto 3,900 I0i 
 
 District containing average middle-class and small 
 cottage properties . 5,400 17 
 
 District containing best class of town houses (out 
 
 of London) 2,100 
 
 Ditto 2,000 21 
 
 Suburban district containing large houses with 
 
 gardens 3,450 30 
 
 Ditto 990 501 
 
 Populatio: 
 
 of 
 District. 
 
 Total con- 
 sumption 
 per head 
 per day. 
 galls. 
 
 The consumption in the districts comprised in this 
 table was obtained by measuring the water flowing into 
 each district through the distributing main ; the figures 
 
88 Water : its Distribution. 
 
 therefore include waste. Trade supplies through meters 
 are not included. 
 
 In court houses occupied by the labouring classes the 
 consumption is about 4J gallons per head per day when 
 the supply is drawn from an outside standpipe, and from 
 5 to 15 gallons per head per day when there is a separate 
 tap in every house. These figures include water for water- 
 closets common to all the inhabitants of the courts. 
 In large houses, where baths are freely used, the con- 
 sumption often reaches 70 gallons per head per day. 
 These rates per head are taken from actual measurement 
 of the water flowing through the house-service pipes. 
 
 The quantity used for manufacturing and other trade 
 purposes varies so considerably, and there is so much 
 diversity of practice with regard to the employment of 
 meters and charging by assessment, that no useful com- 
 parison can be made between the rate in any t\vo towns 
 or districts without some knowledge of the local cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 A total rate of 25 gallons per head per day is a liberal 
 allowance for all the domestic, trade, sanitary, and public 
 purposes (including waste) of a town in which there are 
 considerable, but not exceptional, manufacturing indus- 
 tries, and in which water-closets are not in general use. 
 
Consumption of Water. 
 
 In water-closet towns, 30 gallons per head is a liberal 
 quantity to allow for all purposes. 
 
 The following are some examples of the present rates 
 per head per day in various towns, for all purposes : 
 
 EXAMPLES 
 
 OP THE PRESENT CONSUMPTION OP WATER IN VARIOUS TOWNS 
 IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND IN AMERICA. 
 
 I. IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 INTERMITTENT SYSTEM. 
 
 NAME OF TOWN OR DISTRICT. 
 
 Estimated 
 Population 
 supplied 
 
 in 1880. 
 
 Average consumption in 
 gallons per head per day, 
 for all purposes. 
 
 Domes- 
 tic. 
 
 Trade, 
 &c. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Barnet 
 
 8,720* 
 52,535* 
 59,000 
 130,000 
 0,500* 
 4,289,541 
 34,482 
 23,100 
 
 17 
 
 2 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 29.V 
 29^ 
 20 
 321 
 50 
 19 
 
 Bath 
 
 Birkenliead . 
 
 Brighton (partly constant) 
 
 Ealin " 
 
 London 
 Oxford 
 
 Tranmerc 
 
 
 CONSTANT SYSTEM. 
 
 Aberdeen 
 
 100,000 
 
 
 
 45 
 
 Ashton-under-Lyne 
 
 50,000 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 Barnard Castle 
 
 4,200* 
 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 Birmingham 
 
 500,000 
 
 
 -[ 
 
 20 
 
 Blackburn 
 
 100,000 
 
 
 1 
 
 tOzo 
 25 
 
 Bolton 
 
 200,000 
 
 __ 
 
 __ 
 
 25 
 
 Bradf ord 
 
 183,000 
 
 24 
 
 1G 
 
 40 
 
 Brecon 
 
 5,845* 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 Bury . 
 
 100,210 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
9 o 
 
 Water : its Distribution. 
 
 CONSTANT SYSTEM continued. 
 
 NAME OF TOWN OR DISTRICT. 
 
 Estimated 
 Population 
 supplied 
 in 1880. 
 
 Average consumption in 
 gallons per head per day, 
 for all purposes. 
 
 Domes- : Trade, 
 tic. ; &c. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Carlisle 
 
 35,000 
 
 18,000 
 5,115' 
 9,031* 
 246,300 
 171,000 
 12,000* 
 304,000 
 760,000 
 140,000 
 150,000 
 27,000 
 312,000 
 703,000 
 
 421 
 
 25 
 15 
 
 13 
 
 Hi 
 
 HI 
 
 18 
 
 n 
 
 ~9i 
 
 7i 
 
 7 
 
 n 
 
 16i 
 
 3 
 
 20i 
 
 12* 
 26 
 12 
 38 
 35 
 15 
 40 
 50 
 26 
 32f 
 341 
 23| 
 22^ 
 20 
 16 
 18| 
 28 
 49 
 20 
 25 
 18 
 25 
 31 
 21 
 264 
 23 
 
 Chorley 
 
 Coclcerrnouth 
 
 Dawdon 
 
 Dublin 
 
 Dundee . 
 
 Ebbw Vale 
 
 Edinburgh . .... 
 
 Glasgow 
 
 Halifax 
 
 Hull 
 
 Kirkcaldv and Dysart 
 
 Leeds 
 
 Liverpool 
 
 Manchester 
 
 900,000 
 70,000 
 180,970 
 27,000 
 80,000 
 100,000 
 6,80;,* 
 300,000 
 21,204 
 60,000 
 96,000 
 33 000 
 
 Norwich 
 
 Nottiu 'han. 
 
 Perth 
 
 Plj'rnouth ... 
 
 Preston 
 
 Plipon . . 
 
 Sheffield 
 
 Southport 
 
 St. Helen's 
 
 Wolverhampton 
 
 Worcester 
 
 York 
 
 60,000 
 
 
 The examples marked thus * are taken from the " Urban 
 Water Supply" Return, Session 1879, and the 
 population given is that of 1871. 
 
Consumption of Water. 
 
 II. IN AMERICA. 
 
 CITY. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Total con- 
 sumpt'on in 
 imp. galls, per 
 head per day. 
 
 Boston 
 
 1877 
 
 390,000 
 
 02 i- 
 
 Brooklyn . . 
 
 1877 
 
 485,000 
 
 52^ 
 
 C<jnit>rid'e 
 
 1877 
 
 48,000 
 
 46 
 
 Cincinnati 
 
 1877 
 
 280,000 
 
 474 
 
 Chicago .. 
 
 1877 
 
 440,000 
 
 99 
 
 Ditto 
 
 1878 
 
 
 10H 
 
 Cleveland 
 
 1877 
 
 136,000 
 
 46A 
 
 Milwfiukie 
 
 1877 
 
 130,000 
 
 44 
 
 Montreal 
 
 1877 
 
 130,000 
 
 57 
 
 New York 
 
 18SO 
 
 1,208,000 
 
 G5 
 
 ' Philadelphia ... . 
 
 1877 
 
 817,000 
 
 48 i 
 
 Providence 
 
 1877 
 
 100,000 
 
 21 
 
 Rochester . . . 
 
 1877 
 
 82,000 
 
 29 
 
 St. Louis 
 
 1877 
 
 400,000 
 
 46^ 
 
 Toronto .. 
 
 1877 
 
 75,000 
 
 64 
 
 Washington 
 
 1878 
 
 143,518 
 
 138 
 
 
 
 
 
 A daily average of the consumption during a year 
 does not show the full extent of the demands which 
 waterworks must be adapted to meet. The consumption 
 varies greatly from day to day and from week to week, 
 according to the domestic and industrial habits of the 
 consumers, and according to the state of the weather. 
 In hot summer weather the consumption is about 20 per 
 cent, more than the average of the year. This increase 
 arises from street- sprinkling, garden-watering, use of 
 baths, fountains, and a more lavish employment of water 
 in every direction. A severe frost taxes the resources of 
 waterworks more heavily than a high temperature. The 
 
92 Water: its Distribution. 
 
 increased consumption caused by frost is often from 30 
 to 40 per cent, above the average. Taps left open to 
 prevent freezing in the pipes, and the bursting of pipes 
 by the action of frost, account for this. 
 
 It has frequently been proposed, and in the United 
 States of America an attempt has lately been made, to 
 control and check waste by applying a meter to every 
 house, charging by measure for the water used for 
 domestic purposes. There are numerous objections to 
 this method of supply, but perhaps the chief objection 
 is that its adoption would certainly tend to restrict un- 
 duly the legitimate and necessary use of water. It need 
 scarcely be said that social improvement depends to a 
 great extent upon, or must, at least, be concurrent 
 with, a more liberal use of water, and the promotion of 
 habits of cleanliness. Any arrangement which enhances 
 the price, or in any way checks or discourages the free 
 application of water to useful piirposes, is an obstacle to 
 social progress. 
 
 The cost of the house-meter system is also a serious 
 objection to its introduction. A good water meter suit- 
 able for a domestic supply cannot be bought for less than 
 from 3 to 5. If we take into account the amount 
 of capital which would have to be expended in the 
 purchase of meters, the cost of fixing them and making 
 alterations in existing arrangements, the reproduction 
 
House Meter System. 93 
 
 fund required to replace the meters when worn out, and 
 the cost of inspection, repairs, and bookkeeping, we shall 
 find that the expenditure per house would be nearly 
 equal to an average annual water rate. 
 
 Then there is the further consideration that this ex- 
 pense, and all the restriction, annoyance, and interference 
 involved in the system, are totally unnecessary for the 
 attainment of the object in view. By the aid of modern 
 appliances waste can be very easily detected, and can, 
 without extravagant expenditure or vexatious surveil- 
 lance, be kept within reasonable limits. 
 
 It is highly important that this should be clearly 
 understood for the information and guidance of those 
 who are suffering the inconvenience of a restricted 
 supply, that they may exert their influence in the direc- 
 tion of improvement; and also to show how necessary it 
 is that every consumer should co-operate with the water- 
 works authorities in preventing undue waste, and in 
 carrying out such regulations as experience has proved 
 to be effective in maintaining an economic constant 
 supply. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WATER RENTS, RATES, AND CHARGES. 
 
 Domestic water rents How levied Extra charges London rates 
 Charges for sanitary supplies. 
 
 fFHE rates charged for domestic supplies are generally 
 lower in places supplied by local authorities than 
 in places supplied by private companies. A table is 
 appended containing numerous examples of the amounts 
 actually charged in different parts of the country, and 
 under various kinds of management. There are three 
 points in regard to which caution is needed in compar- 
 ing rates as specified .in Acts of Parliament, or as set 
 forth in scales of charges. 
 
 The first is as to whether the domestic water rate, or 
 rent, is levied upon the net annual value, or upon the 
 gross annual value ; upon the poor rate assessment, upon 
 the rack-rent, or upon the full rent. The difference may 
 be very considerable, as the deductions made from the 
 rent in arriving at the rateable value are much greater in 
 some places than in others. To illustrate this, I will 
 
Water Rates. 95 
 
 assume that in three towns the domestic water rate is 
 Is. in the ]. : the actual water rate charged upon a 
 house let at a rental of j8LOO per annum may differ ill 
 the three towns thus : 
 
 
 Amount ot 
 Water Rate 
 per annum. 
 
 In 
 
 In 
 
 In 
 
 a, rent 
 &, rent 
 annual 
 c, rent 
 annual 
 
 100, domestic water rate charged on rent. 
 100, domestic water rate charged on net 
 value, deducting 10 per cent, off rent 
 100, domestic water rate charged on net 
 value, deducting 30 per cent, off rent 
 
 5 
 4 10 
 3 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The second point to be observed is with respect to extra 
 charges. There are waterworks authorities whose do- 
 mestic water rates appear to be very low, but who more 
 than compensate for the moderation of the rate by im- 
 posing special charges for water-closets, baths, gardens 
 carriages, and other miscellaneous purposes. A defi- 
 nition of what is included in a "domestic supply " is to be 
 found in the special Act of every waterworks undertaking, 
 and for any use of water that is not strictly " domestic," 
 as denned by the Act, the undertakers may make any 
 demand they choose. In the case of London, there is a 
 further source of misconception, in the shape of an extra 
 charge varying from 10 to 25 per cent, upon the statu- 
 tory rates for " high service ; " meaning a delivery of 
 water at elevations varying from 10 to 20 feet above the 
 
9 6 
 
 Water Rates. 
 
 adjoining pavement. To show clearly the effect of these 
 extra charges, I give a few examples of rates at present 
 levied for houses let at 40 and 150 per annum, the 
 water being delivered into cisterns at the tops of the 
 houses. 
 
 
 
 ) House at 
 House at jannual rent of 
 annual rent of ^150, with two 
 40, with one water- closets, 
 water-closet two baths, car- 
 and one bath, riage and two 
 horses. 
 
 Liverpool 
 
 Domestic rent, 6^7., 
 Public rate, Gd. in 
 on rateable va- 
 lue 
 
 }* <? 
 
 f 1 16 
 
 ) 
 
 i 5 r, 
 
 U 
 
 i 
 
 | 2 4 
 
 i 
 
 [ 1 6 8 
 
 s. <f. 
 6 15 
 4 15 3 
 
 12 7 6 
 
 7 12 
 500 
 
 Suburbs of ditto 
 
 Domestic rent, 9d. 
 
 5 per cent en an- 
 nual value, and 25 
 per cent, extra for 
 high pressure 
 4 per cent, on an- 
 nual value 
 Domestic rent, 8d. 
 in on full an- 
 nual value 
 
 London (East London 
 Co.'s district) 
 
 Ditto (Chelsea Company) 
 Glasgow 
 
 
 Both in Liverpool and in the East London Company's 
 district the amount of water rate payable in respect of a 
 house is 5 per cent, on the annual value. But one is the 
 net and the other the gross annual value, and by the 
 addition of special charges in the one case, which are 
 not made in the other, the tenant of a London house at 
 a rental of 40 pays 33 per cent, more than the tenant 
 
Water Rates. 97 
 
 of a similar house in Liverpool, omitting from the calcu- 
 lation the extra charge for high service ; including the 
 high service, the London occupier pays 66 per cent, more 
 than the Liverpool occupier. Dealing in the same way 
 with a house at a rental of 150, with the additions 
 named in the table, the excess paid in London without 
 high service is 50 per cent., and with high service 83 per 
 cent. Beyond this the charge in Liverpool includes 
 payment for water for sanitary and other public purposes, 
 which the London charge does not include. In Glasgow 
 the difference, as against London, is still greater. 
 
 The third point, to which attention is to be directed 
 in comparing the water rates of different towns, is the 
 extent to which the yield of those rates covers the ex- 
 penditure incurred in connection with the waterworks. 
 Supplies for public sanitary purposes are often paid for 
 out of general district rates, or by special water rates. 
 Deficiencies in the water account are also sometimes 
 charged to a district rate. In some instances, the public 
 water rate and the domestic water rent are treated as one 
 account, and not separately applied. Where the water- 
 works are in the hands of companies, the local authorities 
 pay to the companies for water applied to public purposes, 
 the sum paid forming part of the local taxation. 
 
andermentioned 
 ues. 
 
 & 
 
 S3 
 
 ^vovo OOOOOOOOO OVO OVO O 
 
 00 VOOVOVO OOVOOO^O 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 ^ O O O * O'O O O O O O O ~O O * TJ-VO O O oo oo -^- * o>vo vo G O O O O * 
 
 S? roro^vo^OO^O DO" "" MH 
 
 ' Annual Charges for Houses of the 
 l f e Rents, or Rateable Val 
 
 4 
 
 ^'VOVOOOOOOOOOOOOVOOOOVOOOOO CO <!- O Cvvo vo OOOOO^O 
 S? . H 
 
 o 
 
 ^' vo vo vo TI-VO O 
 
 ovoooovoooo-aoo-a'voovovo ooooo-t-o-rj 
 
 *j H HHMM MH 
 
 4 
 
 o i5 aj 
 
 v^OOHMMHHHOOi-iOOOHOOOOOH'^OO'^Oi-iOO HOwOHOO^ 
 
 
 
 S3 
 jj 
 
 ^vovo 000 Tl-OCO OVO OVO ^_ y ^OO_u <N ro O -0_y 
 
 ^ . .". ". 
 
 1^ s -]jt8 
 
 it" 
 
 lafl iefl 1 fcl il 
 
 
 III gj iiii^i 
 
 Basis of Charge. 
 
 o ' 
 
 : : : ^^ *v 
 
 ^ ^ V T'T / i 
 
 
 : : : : : 
 
 Rent.... 
 
 Pi 
 
 Rent 
 Annual Value 
 Rent 
 Rateable Value.. 
 Rent 
 
 j 
 
 
 f 
 
 c 
 
 Rateable Value .. 
 Rack Rental 
 
 Rent 
 
 
 \g I | i J 
 
 : : 13 '-13 
 : 2 : *J > ^ > 
 
 
 : c : g o S 
 
 j|| | Jljl 
 
 4) 
 
 ^^ : : : 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 Mil 
 
 100 o 1 
 O O J C 
 
 
 jl I ^ 1 M 
 
 III* & ?! a && 
 
 c : : : : 
 | I']] 
 
 
 o o o o o c 
 
 
 Name of Town 
 or 
 District. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 : : : : ^ : : v^r-* 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 : : M : : 
 
 $\ \ 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 jM J 4 
 
 S3 'Is 
 
 PQ M U C 
 
 a 
 
 ^1 ^ '''' ^ 
 
 'oJ d 6 " 6 3 3 ^ .^ 
 HOfiP 33 Q B W iJ J 
 
 ill 
 
 
 
^ OOOOOVOOOOOOOOOOOOOVO OO 600 OO HVOVOOO O O OOOOOvoo 
 O CO 00 CO O i^oo COOCOCOOOOOOOCNNN OO N N o OO tv. N N o O : : m O ONCOOONO 
 
 
 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO OO^ OO MOmOOOOO O vo O O O -* 
 ^vo vovoOOvOvoOvovOVOvoinOCONCJO O ^* OOfO 0*0 C)ino>OcONNN OO tx O N O PO 
 
 OOOOOVOOOOOOOOOOOOOVO 00 O T|- OO OfOmOOOOO O 00 C 
 
 NOOONOOOnOOOfOOONOO^-SNOJ OOM.SoM NNOHNOON N roororoOHM 
 
 OVO O OOOOOOvo-^ 
 
 * : : : otx : : : : -NOOVOOONI 
 
 oo 0001300 -*vo voooooo o OVOOOQVOO 
 s oo oooooiToo oot^^-o foco co t^ o N -*oo N o M o 
 
 MH M H H M M M H 
 
 f 
 
 o oo o o 00000^,00 o o -<t- ._, o o oomooooooovoooo-^o 
 <o|jjom||O::jo|O-^-oomdOO <o o m O -* O mo N o vo oo O oo ro moo o oo o 
 
 O OO O O OOOOO O OO OOOO 
 P-c " 
 
 OO OOOrnOOOOO OVOVOOOONO 
 3 o oo H invo mw-^rj-^ O -^roro-^-O-fc 
 f " 
 
 B j ! j.8 i i U 1 j ; 
 
 
 
 
 ! ! 1 ': ': : ': ': ': 
 
 : g :::>:::>::::::::: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 il !^| ;il | Si 
 
 1 ^1 
 
 
 
 fci \$ 1 i ! 
 
 v : ^^-' ^^^'g 
 
 3 E 
 
 > % 
 
 1 J 
 
 6 6 d g g 
 
 o P p q rt OH 
 
 
 
 
 : : : m : v 
 
 
 
 
 : : ' 5 : -3 
 
 
 
 
 "3 : ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 rH ! t 'p5 ^; - 'J 
 
 : c i 
 
 
 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ ; 3 
 
 P 1 c n *" m ns 
 m D i> m ti : w 
 
 i, i 
 
 
 
 3 : & & 3 S- i <3 
 
 jj ^ 4j' rX "> <$ 4j5'" 
 
 C *-> C O rJ4-t 3oCn'-*-* 
 
 4J Ctf W rt inCj (UO 1 *' 1 ' 
 
 &<< < o P< PH PH& ;^; 
 
 " . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 *s 9' ** 5 tt o s o o s ft 
 
 jaSs.ajKacS o'go ^u s 
 
 UG-r.^S!H 01 J U CJ 
 
 i i| 1 
 
 o' o SJ : 
 
 
 
 111 j ||| & | | 
 
 o 
 Q 
 
 rt o o p, oSS*D<o:: 
 
 P^ J P 03 J c3 UP 
 
 
 I ig i 
 
 : =. 
 
 : ^^ : : : : 
 
 rt : . -3 i-T ' _ri : 
 S |S ^ : I'M : 
 a : J 2 '' | ! >, 
 
 ll 
 
 a : g a 
 
 c . f- S 
 o o o o o " c 
 
 i-l ft fi Q i~l 2P 
 
 Do., outside City 
 Nottingham 
 Do., out townsh 
 Do 
 Do. ... 
 
 Perth, in origins 
 Do. 
 
 Do. . outside orisr 
 
 C -j ; O-< 0> ; i] 
 
 *3 : : " 6 " ' ' T 
 
 5 '3 : ij g "g JJ : J '3 : '5 
 
 c^S y^ ^ tr 1 ^ 'rt^^jo^ 
 
ioo Water J or Public Purposes. 
 
 The amount paid to a company by a local authority, 
 for sanitary supplies, is generally made subject to agree- 
 ment, but there are some cases in which the terms have 
 been fixed by Act of Parliament. The following are 
 examples : 
 
 Date of 
 Act. 
 
 Town. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 1847 
 1853 
 1854 
 1854 
 
 1861 
 
 1860 
 1860 
 1861 
 
 1865 
 
 1868 
 1868 
 1869 
 
 1869 
 
 1870 
 1870 
 
 1859 
 
 Leicester 
 
 Bury 
 
 Nottingham 
 
 Southport 
 
 Wolverhampton ... 
 
 Brompton District 
 
 Maidstone 
 
 Northampton 
 
 Gainsborough 
 
 Slough 
 
 Windsor and Eton 
 Harrowgate 
 
 Bishop's Stortford. 
 
 Chiltern Hills 
 
 Littlehampton 
 
 Norwich 
 
 ( Not exceeding one-half amount charged 
 ( to any private consumer 
 
 Not exceeding id. per 1,000 galls* 
 I Lowest rate charged to any private 
 I consumer 
 
 Not exceeding od. per 1,000 galls. 
 | 400 per annum. (If profits of undcr- 
 
 < taking enable company to declare div. 
 ' of 6 per cent., charge to cease.) 
 
 At \%d. per ton, but if hydrants fixed 
 and repaired by company, charge to be 
 2d. per ton. Equal to about 6d. and 9d. 
 [per 1,000 galls. 
 
 id. per 1,000 galls. Local Board to pay 
 expense of pipes, hydrants, &c. Sub- 
 ject to slight reduction when company 
 declares higher dividend than 5| per 
 cent. 
 
 Not exceeding Qd. per 1,000 galls. 
 
 9d. per 1,000 galls. 
 
 (Flushing free. Watering streets 50 
 ( per annum. 
 
 Not exceeding Is. per 1,000 galls. 
 
 Not exceeding Qd. per 1,000 galls. 
 /Up to 7,000,000 galls., at Id. per 1,000 
 
 galls. 
 1 Over 7,000,000 galls., at Qd. per 1,000 
 
 < galls. 
 
 / OT cleansing purposes, to 50,000 galls. 
 I at IQd. Over 50,000 galls., at Is. per 
 ^ 1,000 galls. 
 
 In some of these towns the waterworks are now in the possession of 
 the public authorities. 
 
UNIVERMTY 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WATEE APPLIANCES FOE DOMESTIC SUPPLIES. 
 
 Control over pipes and fittings Construction and management of 
 cisterns Overflow-pipes Examples of defective and dangerous 
 work Water direct from mains Water-closets Faulty closets 
 Entrance of sewer gases Drawing-cocks Stop-cocks Ball- 
 cocks Iron and lead pipes How to lay new pipes How to dis- 
 cover underground leakages Pipes in bad soil Baths Hot 
 water apparatus - -Outside stop-cocks How to choose water fit- 
 tings Waste - preventers No water Water-traps and their 
 defects Experiments on passage of gases through water Effect 
 of frost How to thaw frozen pipes. 
 
 HpHE first step to be taken in order to insure an effective 
 control over the sanitary and water appliances of a 
 house or other building is to obtain by a personal examin- 
 ation, assisted if necessary by a practical plumber, a 
 thorough knowledge of the position and state of every 
 pipe, cistern, tap, and trap, inside and outside of, or in 
 any way connected with, the premises. The information 
 thus obtained should be marked upon a plan. 
 
 Having got this preliminary knowledge, the directions 
 given in the following pages can be intelligently carried 
 out, and the principles laid down properly applied. 
 
1 02 Water- Cisterns. 
 
 Let it always be remembered that upon due attention 
 to these matters, the health and the life of every mem- 
 ber of a household may depend. 
 
 CISTERNS. 
 
 As to construction. Cisterns to store water for potable 
 purposes should be of slate, iron, stone, glass, or brick 
 with a lining of Portland cement. The use of lead-lined 
 cisterns for storing drinking-water should be avoided. 
 Although water seldom acts on tarnished lead, there are 
 some conditions favourable to its action, and on the whole 
 it is better not to employ this material for cisterns from 
 which water is to be drawn for dietetic purposes. If 
 existing lead cisterns are repaired or relined, the new 
 bright lead should be exposed to water for a few days 
 before the cisterns are again brought into use. Water 
 which does not affect tarnished lead often acts violently 
 upon bright lead. Zinc is also acted on by water, and 
 may produce metallic poisoning if used for cisterns. 
 Timber cisterns without any lining, and galvanized iron 
 cisterns, are objectionable, and they are not durable. 
 
 If iron cisterns are used, they should receive a coat of 
 boiled linseed oil, carefully applied, before they leave 
 the ironfounders' premises, and before they are painted 
 A wash of Portland cement affords an excellent protection 
 
Water- Cisterns. 103 
 
 for iron, if skilfully put on. The iron should receive three 
 coats, and the wash should be renewed every year. 
 Every cistern should have a substantial, well-fitting lid. 
 Neglect of this provision is a prolific source of discom- 
 fort and disease. Any noxious gases which may come 
 into contact with the water are very readily absorbed by 
 it. Floating particles of organic matter, and other ob- 
 jectionable and deleterious substances with which the 
 atmosphere of towns is charged, enter the cisterns ; very 
 frequently animals, such as cats, rats, mice, and birds, 
 fall in, and remain there until they reach an advanced 
 stage of decomposition. When the water becomes offen- 
 sive, a plumber is sent for or complaint is made to the 
 water officials, and when an examination is made, the 
 cause of the complaint is discovered. Cisterns should 
 be easy of access. As a rule they are exceedingly diffi- 
 cult of access, and in other respects are placed in most 
 unsuitable positions ; and they are treated as mysteries 
 which only plumbers can be expected to understand. It 
 often happens that their very existence is unknown to 
 the tenants of the houses to which they belong. All this 
 is the very reverse of what it ought to be. Cisterns should 
 be placed where they can be seen and examined without 
 difficulty. If fixed in an upper room, they should not 
 (unless well covered) be put under a skylight. The cis- 
 tern-room should be well ventilated. In every house- 
 
1 04 Water- Cisterns. 
 
 hold there should be a periodical inspection and cleaning 
 of the cisterns. 
 
 One of the greatest evils in connection with cisterns 
 is the dangerous and disgusting practice of joining over- 
 flow pipes to water-closet drain-pipes. These overflow 
 pipes frequently form channels of communication be- 
 tween the sewers and the cisterns ; and the sewer gases 
 pass freely to the water. The community has suffered 
 enormously from deterioration of health caused by the 
 use of water contaminated in this way by exhalations 
 from drains and sewers. 
 
 The accompanying section represents a case that came 
 under my observation, where all the members of a family 
 had for many months suffered from serious illness, before 
 the cause was discovered and remedied. A is a cistern 
 with a cover firmly screwed on ; B is the overflow-pipe, 
 passing through the bottom of the cistern to the outlet 
 of the water-closet siphon ; c is a trap intended to seal 
 the overflow-pipe, and prevent the ascent of sewer gas. 
 When the cover was removed to examine the cistern, the 
 stench was almost intolerable : the trap contained no 
 water, and the overflow was therefore simply a commu- 
 nication-pipe between the sewers and the interior of the 
 cistern. This illustration represents a large class of cases. 
 
 There is a still more numerous class of cases in which 
 the overflows are laid to the trap of the siphon, or to 
 
Water- Cisterns, 
 
 105 
 
 the inlet side at D or E. These, though much less objec- 
 tionable than the former, are equally to be condemned. 
 
 No connection should, upon any consideration, be 
 allowed between cisterns and drain-pipes or water-closet 
 
ic6 
 
 Water-Cisterm, 
 
 flush-pipes ; wherever such connections exist, they should 
 at once be cut off. 
 
 The following illustration represents another class of 
 cases, where danger arises from allowing water-closets 
 to be supplied from cisterns which also supply water for 
 drinking. 
 
Wa ter- Cisterns. i o 7 
 
 A is a small lead service-box, fixed in a large cistern 
 to supply an after-flush to the pan-closet ; B is an air- 
 pipe leading from the service-box to a point in the cistern 
 over the top water line. The illustration represents an 
 instance which came under my notice,, in which the water 
 used for drinking was polluted by foul gases passing 
 through the air-pipe. These air-pipes are very frequently 
 used as waste-pipes. In the drawing I have shown a 
 separate waste-pipe, branched into the flushing-pipe. 
 The offensive character of the above arrangement will 
 be obvious to every one. The dotted lines show what 
 alteration is required. The condemned connections to 
 be cut off. The air-pipe to be carried through the 
 cover of the cistern and through the roof of the house. 
 The overflow or waste-pipe to be laid to the outside of 
 the building. But better still would it be not to permit 
 water-closets to be supplied, under any circumstances, 
 from receptacles for potable water. 
 
 The next illustration is taken from an American sani- 
 tary journal, and represents a cistern in a well-known 
 New York hospital. The cistern was constructed of 
 wrought iron, the overflow-pipe was branched into the 
 soil-pipe, and the joint so badly made that the sewer gases 
 escaped from it, as well as having free course into the 
 cistern : the air-pipe was added because a difficulty was 
 
io8 
 
 Water- Cisterns. 
 
 experienced in getting water down the draw-off-pipe. 
 When this disgraceful state of things was discovered 
 
 there were fifteen children sick with scarlet fever in an 
 adjoining room ! There is a combination of blundering 
 about this piece of work that can only be fully appreciated 
 by a mechanic. 
 
 Where cisterns are placed in an exposed position, and 
 therefore liable to be affected by frost, they should be 
 carefully protected from the influence of the weather by 
 an exterior lining of brickwork or felt. Sawdust held in 
 by timber may be used, if care is taken to preserve it from 
 wet. 
 
Water from the Main. 109 
 
 TAPS IN DIRECT COMMUNICATION WITH THE MAIN. 
 
 Wherever water is distributed under the constant supply 
 system cisterns are not necessary, except for water-closets 
 and hot water apparatus, or to provide a reserve when 
 water is turned off from the mains for repairs. Where 
 cisterns are used there should always be a tap attached 
 to a pipe leading direct from the main. By this means 
 the water is obtained in the best possible condition. It 
 the water is temporarily discoloured, owing to the dis- 
 turbance of iron rust in the mains, the tap should be left 
 open until the water becomes clear before drawing any 
 for use. 
 
 WATEE-CLOSETS. 
 
 There are so many different kinds of water-closets 
 made that it would be impossible within the limits of this 
 book to describe them and discuss their merits and de- 
 fects. The principal points to be observed in the con- 
 struction of a water-closet are : 
 
 1 , The form of the basin should be such as to pre- 
 vent as far as possible the accumulation of filth on its 
 sides. The basins known as (< long-hoppers" do not com- 
 ply with this condition, and are therefore objectionable. 
 The force of the objection will be apparent on comparing 
 the following sketches : 
 
no Water- Closets. 
 
 2. The arrangement for flushing the basin and remov- 
 ing its contents should be such as to effectually cleanse 
 the basin and carry the soil to the sewer. To accomplish 
 this the flushing-pipe should not be of less diameter than 
 1 J inch (internal), and it should be fed from a flushing- 
 cistern capable of giving at least two gallons at each flush. 
 The distance from the closet seat to the underside of the 
 cistern should be not less than 4 feet 6 inches. The 
 manner in which the flushing-pipe is connected to the 
 closet-basin has a great deal to do with the efficiency of 
 the flushing but this is a matter of too technical a cha- 
 racter to be dealt with here. 
 
 3. There should be no possibility of sewer gases, or 
 other filth, collecting between the basin and the trap, as 
 in pan-closets. The pan-closet is one of the most objec- 
 tionable forms in use. 
 
 4. The trap should be effective, and not allow sewer 
 gases to escape when the basin is flushed. On this point 
 see remarks on traps, at page 129. 
 
Water-Clostts. 
 
 I TI 
 
 5. The soil-pipes should be carried up, without any 
 diminution of diameter, to the outside of the premises 
 above the roof, and at a safe distance from any window. 
 
 6. The arrangement for supplying water to the closet 
 should render impossible any contamination of the water 
 used for drinking or culinary purposes. This contami- 
 nation may be communicated in several ways, and in 
 order to determine whether there is danger in any given 
 case, attention must be paid to the following facts : 
 
 (a.) That sewer gases will pass through water; and 
 that a water-trap, if not deep enough and its contents 
 frequently renewed, is not a sufficient protection. 
 
 (b.) That when the supply-pipes . are empty, in con- 
 sequence of the water being turned off at the main, a 
 partial vacuum is formed; and if the apparatus by Avhich 
 the water closet is supplied is defective, or is so fixed and 
 constructed as to leave an open passage between the closet 
 and the street water-main, noxious gases, or any foul 
 stuff that may be in the closet-basin, will be forced by the 
 atmosphere into the empty water-pipes, to mix with the 
 water for general distribution, when the supply is again 
 turned on. 
 
 The example given here represents a form of water- 
 closet which is, unfortunately, very common in some 
 towns. A is the leading pipe from the main ; B the com- 
 munication-pipe leading to the water-closet, and some- 
 
112 
 
 Water-Closets, 
 
 times actually dipping into it, as indicated by the dotted 
 lines ; c a stop-cock by which the supply of water is con- 
 trolled. If the street-main is shut off, say for the in- 
 sertion of a ferrule by the waterworks men, a partial 
 
 vacuum takes place in A and B : let the stop-cock c now 
 be opened, and B becomes a channel through which any 
 filth, liquid, or gases that may be in the closet-basin 
 are greedily taken into the main. Those who have had 
 
Water-Closes. 1 1 3 
 
 opportunities to become acquainted with the habits of 
 the lower classes know how frequently their closet-basins 
 are full of filth. If instead of being in direct communi- 
 cation with the street-main, the closet is fed from a 
 storage cistern, the same effect may, to a limited extent, 
 take place if the cistern is at any time empty. 
 
 People sometimes imagine that a small flow of water 
 trickling continually down a closet promotes cleanliness 
 and prevents smells ; this is a delusion. The water is 
 simply wasted. Others make a practice of fastening 
 the handle of their closet occasionally, so as to allow 
 water to flow through, "to keep away bad smells; " this 
 is an equally mistaken and more objectionable practice, 
 and those who indulge in it render themselves liable to 
 a penalty of 5 for wasting water. What is wanted 
 effectually to flush a closet soil-pipe is to let down quickly 
 a sufficient volume of water to carry before it every im- 
 purity. An anecdote is told of a domestic servant from 
 Glasgow who, having taken a situation in another town, 
 went to her mistress when she was about to leave for a 
 summer holiday, and asked, ' ' Please 'm, shall I fasten 
 the handle up?^ The lady did not understand the 
 question. In explanation, the girl said that in Glasgow, 
 when shutting up the house for summer holidays, it was 
 always the custom to prop up the handle of the closet, 
 
Water-Taps. 
 
 "to keep the drains sweet/' until the family returned, 
 If this story is true it explains the extravagant con- 
 sumption of water in that city. 
 
 BALL-TAPS. 
 
 There are numerous kinds of ball-taps which are 
 almost equally simple, strong, and easily repaired. The 
 sketch represents one of these. The ball is made of 
 
 copper in two halves, which are united by solder. Some 
 waters act violently upon solder, and the balls are soon 
 water-logged. In such cases the balls should be coated 
 at the joining of the two halves with knotting, or, which 
 is better, a float may be made of a different form, with 
 no solder joint near the water-line, and with the lever 
 fastened to the top of the float, instead of to the centre. 
 
Water^Closet Cisterns. 
 
 CISTERNS FOE WATER-CLOSETS AND 
 URINALS. 
 
 The simplest and most effective form of regulating 
 apparatus at present in use for flushing water-closets 
 and urinals is that known as the Double-valve Cistern. 
 
 The principle on which this cistern is constructed is 
 that of preventing water flowing in and out at the same 
 time, thus making it impossible to send a continuous run 
 through the closet. As will be seen from the sketch, 
 
 8-- 2 
 
1 1 6 Water-Closet Cisterns. 
 
 there are two compartments connected by an opening on 
 which is placed a valve controlled by a lever, to one end 
 of which the pull is attached, while, suspended from the 
 same lever, and descending to the lower division, is a 
 second valve, which governs the outlet to the closet 
 flushing-pipe. When the handle is pulled the upper 
 valve falls on to its seat, the outlet-valve is raised, and 
 the contents of the flushing chamber discharged. No 
 water can pass from the upper part into the lower when 
 the outlet-valve is open, and a second flush cannot be 
 obtained until the handle has been released, when the 
 outlet-valve descends to its seat and the inlet-valve is 
 opened. The water then passes freely into the flushing- 
 chamber, and in doing so allows the ball to fall so that 
 the cock opens and the cistern is again filled. 
 
 The valve washers are made of india-rubber or leather 
 (I prefer leather), and are easily renewed. The valves 
 should be regulated so that the outlet cannot be raised 
 until the inlet- valve has been safely seated. 
 
 TAPS. 
 
 Taps used for controlling the discharge of water from 
 a pipe, or direct from a cistern or boiler, are called 
 drawing, or draw-off taps, or cocks. Taps fixed on a 
 line of pipe, to regulate and control the flow through 
 
Water- Taps. 1 1 7 
 
 it, are termed stop-taps, or stop-cocks. Taps actuated 
 by a ball, or other float, are called ball-taps or ball- 
 cocks. 
 
 Classifying draw-off and stop -taps according to the 
 principles involved in their construction, they may be 
 divided into plug-taps, screw- down taps, and self-closing 
 
 PLUG-TAPS. The objections to a plug-tap are two : 
 
 1. It closes so quickly that a strain is put upon the 
 pipe, which gradually weakens, and finally bursts it by 
 the sudden stoppage of the flow. 
 
 Water is a non-elastic body, and when a column 
 flowing through a pipe is suddenly arrested, a concussion 
 takes place which is often heard and felt for a con- 
 siderable distance. The greater the velocity of the water 
 in the pipe the more violent will be the rebound. 
 
 2. A defective plug-tap cannot be repaired without 
 employing a mechanic. If a plumber is called in to 
 grind the plug of a tap, his charge will probably amount 
 
n8 Water-Taps. 
 
 to the cost of a new tap. Plug-taps are useful as draw- 
 ing-off taps from boilers, and as cistern stop-taps. 
 
 SELF-CLOSING OR SPRING-TAPS. These taps have the 
 same defect as plug-taps in arresting the water too sud- 
 denly, and thus injuring the pipes to which they are 
 connected. Air-vessels are usually attached to pipes 
 on which self-closing taps are fixed, so as to lessen or 
 prevent the concussion, but they are seldom effective. 
 
 SCREW-DOWN TAPS. A screw-down tap closes slowly. 
 The velocity of the water is gradually retarded, and the 
 
 flow is finally stopped without producing any concussive 
 strain on the pipe. It is very easily repaired, and, if 
 made of good metal, is very durable. The washer can be 
 changed by any person of ordinary intelligence. For cold 
 water, the washers are made of leather. For hot water, 
 specially prepared washers can be bought from any 
 dealer in taps. It frequently happens that persons who 
 have been accustomed to use plug-taps do not under- 
 stand how to open and close screw-down taps. A Local 
 
Water- Taps. 1 1 9 
 
 Board engineer recently had occasion to call at a cottage 
 in his district, and was asked to look at the tap. " It 
 has been here/' said the woman, {( about a year, and 
 scarcely any water will come out of it, and it's always 
 leaking." The tap proved to be one of the screw- 
 down kind, and the cause of the leakage was simply that 
 it had never been properly opened or shut. It had been 
 treated as a plug-tap. 
 
 Although considerable waste takes place from the 
 imperfect shutting of screw-down taps, experience shows 
 that the total waste of water from a number of screw- 
 down taps is less than from, an equal number of plug- 
 taps. 
 
 Servants should be warned never to leave a tap open 
 if on turning it they find that there is no water in the 
 pipe. Carelessness on this point frequently leads to 
 considerable damage to property by flooding. In towns 
 supplied on the intermittent system it is a very common 
 practice to leave taps open until the water is turned on. 
 This practice occasions great waste. 
 
 PIPES. 
 
 There is a great deal of prejudice against the use of 
 lead water-pipes. This prejudice arises from the belief 
 
120 Water -Pipes. 
 
 that the action of water, especially soft water, upon the 
 lead may cause lead-poisoning. Soft waters do not 
 necessarily act upon lead. Waters that act violently on 
 bright lead act only slightly or not at all on tarnished 
 lead, and as lead quickly becomes tarnished on exposure 
 to the atmosphere, there is practically little risk in using 
 lead pipes. After water flows for a short time through a 
 pipe the interior is coated with a film which prevents any 
 injurious effect. The chief objection to wrought-iroii 
 pipes is, that with soft water they are choked by rust in 
 a few years. Where there is any apprehension of lead- 
 poisoning, iron pipes coated by Dr. Angus Smith's pro- 
 cess, or treated by Professor BarfFs method, or lead pipe 
 with a lining of tin may be employed. In ordering a 
 tin-lined pipe, care must be taken that the tin forms an 
 independent tube within the lead, and that the outer cas- 
 ing of lead is of sufficient thickness to resist the maximum 
 internal pressure which the pipe will have to bear, inde- 
 pendently of the tin-lining, also that the tin is of uniform 
 thickness throughout the pipe. Unless these conditions 
 are observed, the tin-encased lead pipe will prove a most 
 unsatisfactory investment. 
 
 Galvanized and enamelled iron pipes I cannot recom- 
 mend, for conveying soft water. 
 
 When pipes are being laid in a house for the first time. 
 
Water-Pipes. 1 2 1 
 
 every one who has any authority over the work, whether 
 architect, owner, or tenant, should resolutely prohibit 
 the dangerous and costly practice of embedding the pipes 
 in the plaster-work of the walls, or any other form of 
 covering which makes it difficult to get at the pipes for 
 examination and repairs. All internal pipes, both soil- 
 pipes and water-pipes, should either be exposed and 
 neatly painted, or laid in timber casings, constructed in 
 such a manner that they can be easily opened. 
 
 
 
 In spite of the numerous instances in the experience 
 of every plumber, in which property is destroyed and 
 life endangered in consequence of pipes being laid be- 
 hind plaster- work and in inaccessible places, architects 
 continue to specify work in this objectionable way, and 
 they will make no change until compelled to do so by 
 those who employ them. 
 
 Lead pipes should not be laid in ground containing 
 cinders or chemical refuse from buildings, or lime in any 
 
122 Water-Pipes. 
 
 form. If pipes are so laid,, they will probably require 
 renewing in two or three years. 
 
 Where it becomes unavoidable to lay pipes through 
 ground of the kind described, they should be laid in a 
 wooden trough, V shaped, and covered with asphalte. 
 Troughs of this shape, specially made for the purpose, 
 can be had. Failing this, the method of laying may be 
 adopted as shown on page 121. 
 
 UNDEBGEOUND LEAKAGES. 
 
 Recent investigations with respect to waste of water 
 have shown that there are immense numbers of leakages 
 from private pipes under houses, yards, gardens, and 
 passages, the existence of which leakages is not known 
 and is not suspected by the occupants of the premises. 
 Such leakages not only endanger the foundations of the 
 houses, but they imperil the lives of the inhabitants by 
 making the subsoil damp and unhealthy. 
 
 Householders can generally ascertain if there are de- 
 fective underground pipes about their premises by the 
 following simple proceeding: Shut off all the drawing - 
 taps in the house, and tie up the cistern ball-cocks so 
 that no water can escape from them. Take a wooden rod 
 nothing is better than a Malacca cane or a common 
 poker, and place one end on an exposed part of the pipe 
 
Hidden Waste Baths. 123 
 
 or on a tap, and apply the other end to the ear. Let this 
 be done in various parts of the house. If there is any 
 defect, a peculiar hissing sound will be heard. If any 
 difficulty is experienced in distinguishing this sound, 
 familiarity with it may be acquired by slightly opening 
 a tap near a point where the rod is applied. Care must 
 be taken that all the stop-cocks are open. 
 
 PEIVATE BATHS. 
 
 All arrangements such as three-way cocks, by which 
 hot and cold water are brought in and waste water is 
 taken out by the same passage, are objectionable. Or- 
 dinary screw-down valves answer every requirement for 
 filling baths. The inlet should always be at the top of 
 the bath, and entirely separate from, and unconnected 
 with, the outlet. For the outlet a well-ground brass plug 
 is simple and effective. The common practice of con- 
 necting waste-pipes from baths to water-closet traps or 
 soil-pipes is very objectionable. 
 
 HOT WATER APPARATUS . 
 
 The subject of hot water apparatus is of too technical 
 a character to be dealt with in a work intended only for 
 popular use. As in works on health readers are advised 
 if certain symptoms appear to consult a physician, so in 
 
1 24 Hot Water Appliances. 
 
 reference to heating apparatus my advice is, if there is 
 anything wrong, consult an engineer or plumber. But 
 there are one or two points in regard to which some in- 
 formation may be given. First, as to the principle on 
 which heating appliances in private houses are arranged. 
 The water is generally heated in a boiler at the back of 
 the kitchen fireplace. If the hot water is distributed 
 through pipes, the boiler is fed from a cistern at the top 
 of the house. This cistern is fixed near to the principal 
 storage cistern, and is supplied from it through a pipe, 
 on which a check-valve is placed to prevent the hot water 
 mixing with the cold. From the hot water cistern a pipe 
 is brought down to near the bottom of the boiler, and 
 from the top of the boiler a pipe ascends to the cistern. 
 In this way a constant circulation is maintained. The 
 hot water supplies are taken from the ascending pipe. 
 Occasionally the contents of the hot and cold water cis- 
 terns get mixed, and tepid water is served instead of 
 cold. When this occurs the check-valve will probably 
 be found defective. How can the bursting of domestic 
 boilers be prevented ? This is a question often asked. 
 Perhaps it may be as well to explain, for the information 
 of those who are ignorant of this elementary fact, that 
 the danger of a boiler bursting arises either from an ob- 
 struction to the circulation or from the introduction of 
 cold water into a hot empty boiler. The circulation may 
 
Hot Water Appliances. 
 
 125 
 
 be and often is impeded by the freezing of the water 
 in the pipes during a severe winter. The steam or hot 
 water cannot escape, and the boiler bursts. This may 
 be prevented by the application of a small safety-valve 
 or by a relief ^pipe. 
 
 It would be an useful addition to every domestic boiler 
 if a glass gauge were placed in front of the fireplace 
 to show the depth of water in the boiler. Allusion has 
 already been made to the incrustation and consequent 
 bursting of boilers in districts supplied with hard water. 
 This may to a great extent be obviated by frequently 
 emptying and washing out the boilers, carefully remov- 
 ing the scale found on the bottom and sides. 
 
 STOP-TAPS. 
 
 Every house ought to be provided with a stop -tap, 
 either outside of or immediately within the curtilage of 
 
1 2 6 Testing Fittings Waste-Preventers, 
 
 the property, so that the water may be shut off during 
 repairs, and when the house is unoccupied, and every 
 night during frost. It is also desirable to place a stop- 
 tap on every pipe leading from a cistern, so that repairs 
 may be effected on that particular line of pipe without 
 emptying the cistern. 
 
 QUALITY OF WATEE FITTINGS. 
 
 The system of testing and stamping fittings, which 
 has been established in Manchester, Liverpool, and other 
 towns, by the waterworks authorites, gives to the inhabi- 
 tants of those towns a sufficient guarantee for the quality 
 of the fittings they buy. Where there is no official in- 
 spection, purchasers will find their best protection in 
 dealing with manufacturers of established reputation, 
 and in aiming to secure, in the articles they require, 
 simplicity, durability, and ease of repair. All cocks 
 should be made of hard brass or gun-metal. 
 
 WASTE-PEEVENTEES. 
 
 The last few years have witnessed the invention of 
 a multitude of appliances, many of them very ingeni- 
 ous, known as waste-preventers. They may all be in- 
 cluded in one of two classes. 1. Restrictions in com- 
 
Waste-Preventers. 127 
 
 munication-pipes, such as a metal disc containing a small 
 hole, designed to prevent more than a given volume of 
 water passing through a pipe into a house in any one 
 day. 2. Taps so contrived that on being opened they 
 allow only one or two gallons to flow through, and then 
 close. 
 
 There may be exceptional cases in which some of these 
 contrivances may prove useful, but their general use is 
 certainly not advisable, and not necessary. They are 
 chiefly to be met with in London, and I believe that 
 their introduction is due to engineers whose experience 
 is confined to a wasteful intermittent service, and who 
 imagine that if a constant supply is given through ordi- 
 nary taps, a large proportion of them will always be left 
 open. 
 
 NO WATEE. 
 
 This is a very common form of complaint to water- 
 works officers. " There is no water at No. Blank 
 Street." When the complaint is investigated, the want 
 of water is traced, in the majority of instances, to some 
 defect in the house appliances. A ball-cock is dis- 
 arranged, or a stop-cock has been inadvertently closed, 
 or a waste is taking place which prevents the water from 
 rising to the cistern. It would therefore be well, before 
 making a complaint, to ascertain that the ball-cock is 
 
128 Water -Traps. 
 
 working properly, the stop-cock open, and that the 
 deficiency experienced at one point is not due to waste 
 at another. 
 
 Defective ball-cocks and neglected cisterns explain 
 most of the complaints that reach water offices with 
 respect to " no water " and ' ' dirty water." 
 
 WATEK-TKAP3. 
 
 Reference has already been made to traps connected 
 with water-closets, baths, and other appliances. The 
 subject is rather one of house drainage than of water 
 supply, and I shall confine my remarks to that branch 
 in which the agency of water is relied upon as a seal. 
 Water is almost universally used, in preference to any 
 mechanical contrivance, to prevent the return of noxious 
 gases through waste-pipes, overflow-pipes, and soil-pipes, 
 that are connected with drains and sewers. There are 
 endless varieties of traps, but they are all based on the 
 principle of a tube bent so as to retain water. In some 
 houses there are several dozens of these water barriers, 
 upon the efficiency of every separate one of which the occu- 
 pants of the house depend for protection against sewer 
 poisoning. In the construction and management of water- 
 traps there are three facts to be always kept in view : 
 
 1, That sewer gases will pass through water. 
 
Water- Traps. 
 
 129 
 
 Some interesting experiments on the passage of gases 
 through traps were made a few years ago by Dr. A. 
 Fergus of Glasgow. At the outlet end of a trap (a bent 
 tube) he placed a small vessel containing the test solutions 
 A, and at B the test papers were suspended. He found 
 that ammonia passed through the water in from fifteen 
 to thirty minutes; sulphurous acid in an hour; sul- 
 phuretted hydrogen in three to four hours ; chlorine in 
 four hours ; carbonic acid in three hours. He afterwards 
 fixed a ventilating pipe, as indicated by the dotted lines, 
 and obtained similar results, but the reaction was a little 
 slower in showing itself. 
 
 2. That traps may be emptied by evaporation. If 
 traps are placed where the water is not frequently 
 renewed, or if a house is long unoccupied, danger n:ay 
 arise from this cause. 
 
 3. That if two or more traps are connected with the 
 same line of pipe the flushing of one may empty the 
 
 9 
 
1 30 Action of Frost. 
 
 others. There have been cases in which foul smells from 
 wash-basins and sinks have been long complained of, and 
 considerable expense has been incurred in seeking reme- 
 dies, before the cause has been traced to the emptying 
 of the traps by siphoning. To prevent this action, every 
 trap should be properly ventilated. Waste-pipes from 
 baths, lavatory-basins, butlers' pantries and housemaids' 
 sinks should be brought to the outside separately, and 
 not joined to soil-pipes. 
 
 EFFECTS OF FEOST. 
 
 In England it is seldom that frost penetrates to a 
 greater depth than 2^ feet below the surface of the ground, 
 and it is the practice of waterworks engineers to lay their 
 pipes at about that depth. This applies only to public 
 pipes, but in many towns the same rule now extends to 
 private pipes laid underground, and no pipes or fittings 
 are allowed to be laid above ground without adequate 
 protection against frost. To protect pipes in exposed 
 situations a covering of felt or sawdust, or other non-con- 
 ducting material, must be employed. The protection of 
 cisterns is referred to at page 108. The bursting of cis- 
 terns may be prevented by putting in a block of wood, or 
 a weighted hollow india-rubber ball, or other elastic body. 
 If pipes are laid against an external wall they should be 
 
Action of Frost. 1 3 1 
 
 fastened to a board, and not allowed to come into direct 
 contact with the wall. 
 
 The poorer classes are the first and chief sufferers from 
 the freezing of water in pipes. Outside-cocks, uncovered 
 pipes in courts and yards, soon feel the effects of a low 
 temperature. Taps and pipes of inferior quality are less 
 capable of resisting the attacks of frost than strong pipes 
 and well-made taps. With a continuance of frost every 
 class suffers, and explosions of kitchen boilers are fre- 
 quent. When a thaw sets in the ice-bound pipes become 
 free, and wherever a hole has been made by the expansion 
 in freezing a leakage takes place. Houses are flooded, 
 water-offices besieged, and plumbers reap a rich harvest. 
 
 What can be done to prevent freezing in pipes that are 
 unavoidably exposed ? The common practice is to leave 
 a tap slightly open, so as to maintain a constant current 
 through the pipe. This plan is wasteful, and is not 
 always successful. Perhaps the safest course is to empty 
 the pipes and cisterns, and only to allow water to flow in 
 from the main as it is wanted for consumption. To do 
 this an outside stop-cock is required on the service-pipe, 
 and a drawing off -cock at the lowest point in the course 
 of the pipe inside the building. It also requires more 
 intelligence and attention than domestic servants usually 
 display. 
 
 To thaw a frozen pipe, the simplest and safest way is 
 
 92 
 
132 Action of Frost, 
 
 to pour hot water upon it, or apply cloths clipped in liot 
 water to those points where the pipe is most exposed. 
 The freezing will generally be found to have taken place 
 near a window, or near the eaves of the roof, or at a bend. 
 
 If pipes are frozen and a thaw is expected, care should 
 be taken to close all stop-cocks as a precaution against 
 flooding. To prevent kitchen boilers exploding, it is 
 necessary to see that they always contain water, and 
 that there is no stoppage in the pipes connected with 
 them. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WASTE OF WATER. 
 
 Significance of waste Extent and value of waste from defective 
 fittings -Relation of pressure to waste Standards of consump- 
 tion Waste in the metropolis Wasteful constant supplies 
 Experience of American towns Results of careless methods 
 Sources of waste Prevention of waste Statutory powers to 
 prescribe fittings Reductions effected by proper regulations 
 Liverpool system Co-operation of public desired Responsibi- 
 lity for waste prevention. 
 
 npHEKE is no part of a waterworks engineer's duty so 
 disagreeable as that connected with, the prevention 
 of w r aste from private fittings. As a general proposition, 
 the importance of checking waste is readily admitted, 
 especially if its prevalence threatens to necessitate the 
 imposition of a tax for an additional supply; but. the 
 application of waste-preventing measures to individual 
 cases is unpleasant and unpopular. 
 
 A little rill, trickling down a mountain-side, looks very 
 insignificant; nevertheless, little rills make big rivers. 
 So with waste : a slight leakage from a tap may seem 
 very unimportant ; but slight leakages gradually exhaust 
 
134 Waste of Water. 
 
 huge reservoirs. A mere dribble from a tap, continued 
 for a year, represents in money value the water rate of 
 an artizan's cottage. It is not easy to convince people 
 of the extent and effect of waste in their own houses, and 
 of the necessity of replacing fittings which are known 
 to be of a wasteful character : hence, any attempt to 
 interdict the use of such fittings excites strenuous op- 
 position, and makes it difficult to obtain the requisite 
 Parliamentary powers, or to enforce them when obtained. 
 It is the difficulty of exercising a control over fittings 
 that has led water authorities to resort so extensively to 
 the obnoxious intermittent system, as a means of protect- 
 ing themselves, by limiting the duration of the supply to 
 the time in which the quantity they can afford to deliver 
 is consumed. 
 
 The average amount of waste that takes place from 
 various kinds of defective fittings can only be estimated 
 with any pretence to accuracy by measuring a great 
 number of individual leakages from each kind of fitting, 
 and even then the results obtained will only be applicable 
 to the town or district in which the observations are 
 made, because of the diversity in pressure to which 
 the fittings of different towns are subjected. It is seldom 
 that measurements such as are here indicated arc taken, 
 or required, on a scale sufficiently extensive to give useful 
 
Value of 10 as ted Water. 1 3 5 
 
 average results ; but I have before me now a statement 
 which shows the volume of waste from more than a thou- 
 sand separate leakages in Liverpool, ascertained in each 
 case by observing the number of seconds in which tho 
 leakage filled an imperial measure. The results are as 
 follow : 
 
 Per hour. 
 
 Average waste from defective cocks 9 gallons 
 
 Do. defective ball-cocks in store-cis- 
 terns 16 
 
 Do. defective pipes 30 ,, 
 
 Do. defective water-closets, including 
 
 all water-closet appliances 18^ ,, 
 
 Mean of the above 17 
 
 These are the ordinary leakages discovered by waste 
 water inspectors in the course of their domiciliary visits. 
 The fittings are of an average quality, and have for many 
 years been systematically inspected. A leakage of 17 
 gallons per hour, with a constant service, would afford a 
 liberal domestic supply to forty persons. 
 
 The engineer of the Glasgow Waterworks, in 1860, 
 found that, from badly constructed and leaky taps alone, 
 the waste in that city was 7,200,000 gallons per day, 
 being equal to 20 gallons per head of the entire popu- 
 lation, and equal in money value to .50,000 per annum. 
 
 The head, or pressure, under which water is distributed 
 is an important element in determining the amount of 
 
136 
 
 Waste of Water. 
 
 waste occasioned by defective fittings. The significance 
 of this may be inferred from the following figures, show- 
 ing the waste through defective cocks under varying 
 heads. 
 
 I Waste in gallons per hour 
 
 I 1 dom same defect, under 
 various pressures, 
 11 -i 
 
 
 
 
 in ll>s. per i 
 
 qu^re inch. 
 
 
 
 
 42 Ibs. 
 
 11 Ibs. 
 
 A defective 
 
 pluf-tan 
 
 
 7-0 
 
 2'7 
 
 Another 
 A defective 
 Another 
 
 ditto 
 screw-down ta;> 
 ditto 
 
 
 27-7 
 32-7 
 180 
 
 8-0 
 1C 7 
 6-0 
 
 Another 
 
 ditto 
 
 
 ]8-o 
 
 2-5 
 
 Another 
 
 ditto 
 
 
 2-6 
 
 0-4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 These are wastes from individual taps, and they do not 
 convey an adequate idea of the influence that the pressure 
 under which water is distributed has in determining the 
 total volume of waste that obtains over a large area. The 
 following table shows the effect produced on the waste 
 in a number of town districts by reducing the pressure 
 of water in the distributing mains, by means of pressure 
 reducing valves, from its normal state to a pressure which 
 was amply sufficient for all the requirements of the in- 
 habitants. The experiments were made between midnight 
 and 4 a.m., when it was evident that nearly all the water 
 flowing into the districts was being wasted. 
 
Influence of Pressure. 
 
 137 
 
 
 
 
 Before reduction of j After reduction of 
 
 
 TOWN 
 
 DISTRICT. 
 
 Number of 
 Inhabitants. 
 
 pressure. 
 
 pressure. 
 
 Per cent- 
 age of 
 reduction. 
 
 Pressure in 
 Ibs. per sq. 
 inch. 
 
 Approxmt. 
 waste in 
 galls, per 
 hour. 
 
 Pressure in 
 Ibs. per sq. ' 
 inch. ; 
 
 Approxmt. 
 waste in 
 galls, per 
 hour. 
 
 A 3,950 
 
 70 
 
 4,200 
 
 28 
 
 2,200 
 
 48 
 
 V> 5,500 
 
 52 
 
 2,200 
 
 21) 
 
 1,300 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 2,720 
 
 70 
 
 1,700 
 
 33 
 
 880 
 
 4!) 
 
 ]) 
 
 13,325 
 
 05 
 
 750 
 
 30 
 
 360 
 
 52 
 
 E 
 
 5,793 
 
 45 
 
 1,330 
 
 25 
 
 960 
 
 2"* 
 
 The total amount of waste taking place in a town may 
 be inferred from the tables on pages 89 to 91. As 
 a measure of the quantity required to give an ample 
 supply to a town population, Manchester and Liverpool 
 may be taken as standards for comparison. In both 
 places an unrestricted constant supply is distributed to 
 the inhabitants. In Liverpool the shipping trade con- 
 stitutes a special demand. There are also extensive 
 sugar-houses,, and numerous hydraulic apparatus ; public 
 baths and washhouscs arc provided on a larger scale 
 than anywhere else in the country; private baths are 
 common; water-closets arc general; and many trade 
 supplies are given without the intervention of meters. 
 Under these conditions, so favourable to a large use of 
 water, the consumption for domestic purposes, including 
 hotels, offices, public houses, shops, stables, warehouses, 
 and all waste, is under 15 gallons per head, and for trade 
 and public sanitary purposes 7^ making a total average 
 
Waste of Water. 
 
 consumption for all purposes of 22. 2 gallons per head per 
 day. Even of tliis a large proportion is wasted, but it 
 is waste which cannot be materially reduced without 
 oppressive and costly proceedings. In Manchester, the 
 manufacturing industries form a special demand, but the 
 corporation have not adopted the water carriage system 
 for sewage disposal, and water-closets are not numerous. 
 The consumption for domestic purposes, including waste, 
 is 13 gallons per head, and for trade purposes 7 gallons 
 per head, making a total for all purposes of 20 gallons 
 per head per day. 
 
 In the metropolis the total consumption with an im- 
 perfect intermittent supply is 32*- gallons per head per 
 day, of which from 7 to 7-J gallons arc for other than 
 domestic purposes. There is no reason why the metro- 
 polis should not be supplied on the constant system with 
 an average consumption of 22| gallons per head per day 
 without imposing burdensome regulations upon con- 
 sumers. But, allowing 25 gallons for the London supply, 
 a constant service might still be introduced with a saving 
 in water of 7h gallons per head upon the present intermit- 
 tent service. Taking the population at 4-, 150,000, a reduc- 
 tion of 7J gallons per head Avould amount to 33,375,000 
 gallons per day, which is sufficient to provide a liberal 
 supply for a population of 1,335,000. The cost of pump- 
 
Waste in London. 139 
 
 ing this water is 3.2,640 per annum, and the cost of fil- 
 tration 3,650 per annum. At the average price charged 
 to consumers the money value is 341,848 per annum. 
 If its value is calculated at the estimated cost of obtain- 
 ing additional supplies from the present sources, as 
 recently given in evidence, it represents an outlay of 
 2,886,000. All these figures, it must be remembered, 
 refer to the reduction that could be effected in'the con- 
 sumption by substituting a properly regulated constant 
 supply, But the actual waste under the existing inter- 
 mittent system is far in excess of this. Fully one-half 
 of the water now distributed by the companies is abso- 
 lutely wasted. Under a constant system the useful con- 
 sumption of water would be greater than at present, while 
 the waste would be much less. The evils of the inter- 
 mittent system are so serious that a constant service 
 would be desirable even though it involved a very much 
 larger expenditure of water ; but the fact that the im- 
 proved system could be established with an economy in 
 water is an additional argument in its favour. 
 
 The full effect of wasteful methods and appliances is 
 only experienced in those places where an intermittent 
 supply has been followed by a constant supply from 
 sources largely in excess of immediate requirements. 
 When works are carried out which are calculated to meet 
 
1 40 Waste of Water. 
 
 the growing wants of a town or district for a considerable 
 number of years, it is almost impossible to induce people 
 to adopt precautions and to submit to regulations of 
 which the pressing necessity cannot be shown. The in- 
 troduction of water from a new source yielding a supply 
 by gravitation greatly beyond the immediate demand has 
 in almost every instance led to carelessness on the part 
 of waterworks managers, and extravagance on the part 
 of consumers. The delivery of the Loch Katrine water 
 into Glasgow affords an example of this. The consump- 
 tion in Glasgow rose to such an alarming extent soon 
 after the Loch Katrine water was brought into the city 
 that attempts were made to check the waste, but the pre- 
 vailing feeling that there was a practically inexhaustible 
 lake to draw upon prevented the enforcement of suitable 
 regulations. The present consumption in Glasgow is at 
 the rate of 50 gallons per head per day. 
 
 There have been similar experiences in many American 
 cities. In New York the engineer who designed the 
 Croton Aqueduct estimated the requirements for a liberal 
 supply 30 years ago at 25 gallons per head. The actual 
 consumption at present is about 75 gallons per head. 
 That most of this is wasted has been proved by observa- 
 tions on the discharge from the reservoirs at hours when 
 
Waste in America. 141 
 
 very little water is being consumed for any useful pur- 
 pose. 
 
 The volume of water flowing into New York from the 
 Croton Aqueduct is enough to supply more than double 
 the present population at the rate per head originally 
 estimated, but the consumption which now obtains is so 
 excessive that the aqueduct cannot convey sufficient 
 water to satisfy it. New schemes for procuring addi- 
 tional supplies are under consideration, and measures for 
 suppressing waste are receiving serious attention. 
 
 In Chicago the consumption,, which in 1858 was 27'3> 
 is now 102*2 gallons per head. 
 
 In Brooklyn, when the present supply was introduced, 
 in 1859, the consumption was at the rate of 21 gallons 
 per head. It has now risen to 52 ; and that a large 
 part of this is wasted has been proved by measuring the 
 quantity flowing into the distributing mains from I 1 to 
 3 a.m. 
 
 In Boston, the consumption per head per day was 23 
 gallons in 1819, and 50 gallons in 1870. It has now 
 risen to 62. In 1873 the Boston water engineers made 
 some observations to determine the rate of waste by 
 measuring the water flowing out of the Beacon Hill 
 Reservoir between midnight and 3 a.m., into a district 
 containing about 60,000 inhabitants. At the beginning 
 of the experiment " the consumption was found to be 
 
142 Waste of Water. 
 
 somewhat irregular, but between 1 and 3 o'clock it 
 was remarkably uniform, showing that the draft was 
 not due to irregular opening and shutting of cocks, but 
 to a continuous flow at almost unvarying outlets," in 
 other words, it was due to continuous waste. The 
 quantity that passed into the district between 1 and 3 
 a.m. was 3.2.2,251 gallons, being equal to a rate of 64 
 gallons per head in 24 hours. 
 
 That all American cities are not equally extravagant 
 in the consumption of water is shown by the city of 
 Providence, where, notwithstanding that waterworks 
 have been constructed which are capable of supplying 
 about five times the quantity now delivered, the total 
 daily supply is only 21 gallons per inhabitant. This 
 includes an unusually large supply per head to manu- 
 facturers, and water is said to be liberally used for all 
 purposes. 
 
 The consequence of neglect and wasteful habits are 
 most seriously felt when available resources approach 
 exhaustion, and the expenditure of a large amount for 
 additional supplies has to be faced. By this time the 
 number of defective appliances has become so great, and 
 the interests affected by any proposal to condemn 
 existing arrangements have become so numerous and 
 
Consequences of Neglect. 143 
 
 powerful,, that it is often found to be easier to obtain 
 powers to carry out a scheme for a further supply, 
 involving a large outlay, than it is to obtain, and put 
 into operation, powers to interdict the use of wasteful 
 fittings. 
 
 The difference between the first cost of providing and 
 fixing proper and substantial pipes, cocks, and other ap- 
 paratus, and the first cost of flimsy and wasteful fittings 
 is insignificant, but to remove defective appliances and 
 substitute approved fittings is often a very costly under- 
 taking. The first cost of fittings adapted for a constant 
 supply is less than for an intermittent supply. 
 
 Excessive waste of water is attended by no correspond- 
 ing advantage. There is a popular impression that the 
 cleansing of drains and sewers is promoted by the waste 
 from taps and closets; this is a mistake. Drains and 
 sewers can only be effectually flushed by the sudden 
 discharge of a sufficient volume of water from their 
 highest points, and the quantity required to do this is 
 very small in proportion to the total consumption in any 
 town. 
 
 A very large part of the needless waste that takes 
 place percolates unto the foundations of houses, and often 
 completely saturates the subsoil. In this way very great 
 injury is done to the health of the inhabitants. 
 
144 Waste of Water. 
 
 The consequence of neglecting to enforce proper regu- 
 lations may thus be summed up : 
 
 1 . Excessive waste. 
 
 2. Increased cost of procuring and distributing water, 
 and consequently higher charges. 
 
 3. Premature exhaustion of waterworks capabilities. 
 
 4. Danger to health from allowing imperfect appli- 
 ances and careless plumbing, and from dampness of 
 subsoil. 
 
 5. Difficulty of getting inferior fittings removed after 
 they have been once fixed. 
 
 SOUKCES OF WASTE. 
 
 In describing the principal sources of waste, I shall, 
 in keeping with the character of this book, confine my 
 remarks almost entirely to waste which is directly under 
 the control of consumers, and for which they are more 
 or less responsible. 
 
 In places where the public mains have been in the 
 ground for a long period, and especially where rival 
 water companies have been contending for customers, or 
 where a lax system of management has prevailed, there 
 may be considerable waste from the mains and street 
 service-pipes ; but in the majority of towns, and as a 
 general rule, the bulk of waste takes place from private 
 
Prevention of Waste. 145 
 
 pipes and fittings. It may be conveniently classified 
 under the following heads : - 
 
 1. Waste from badly designed apparatus, defective 
 workmanship, and the employment of inferior material. 
 
 2. Superficial waste due to wear and tear. 
 
 3. Hidden waste from broken pipes underground, and 
 from sources not visible on a superficial examination, 
 
 4. Taps left open : this is an evil that attends the in- 
 termittent system, and seldom gives any trouble under 
 the constant system. 
 
 PREVENTION OF WASTE. 
 
 Regulations for the prevention of waste necessarily 
 vary according to the powers contained in the special 
 Acts of waterworks authorities. The Waterworks Clauses 
 Act, 1847, contains provisions under which pipes to be 
 laid by consumers are required to be of approved strength 
 and material ; and where by the special Act the water 
 need not be constantly laid on under pressure, every per- 
 son supplied is required to provide a proper cistern ball 
 and stop- tap, and to keep the same in good repair. The 
 Act also imposes a penalty of 5 for wilful waste. The 
 provision with respect to cisterns and taps does not apply 
 to districts supplied under the constant system. The same 
 Act enables waterworks officers to inspect premises in 
 
 10 
 
146 Waste of Water. 
 
 order to ascertain if there is any waste or misuse of 
 water. 
 
 The Waterworks Clauses Act, 1863, contains further 
 provisions for the protection of water : it gives power to 
 cut off in certain cases, and imposes a penalty for caus- 
 ing or suffering waste, misuse, or contamination. 
 
 By the Metropolis Water Act, 1852, powers were 
 granted to the London water companies (subject to the 
 approval of the Board of Trade) to prescribe the size., 
 nature, and strength of pipes, cocks, and other apparatus, 
 and to interdict any arrangements and the use of any 
 pipes, cocks, and other apparatus which might tend to 
 waste or misuse. These powers were not exercised until 
 after the passing of the 1871 Act. 
 
 In 1859 the Norwich Water Company, finding the 
 waste so great that their works were insufficient to keep 
 up the supply, and having failed to reduce it by the pro- 
 visions of the Waterworks Clauses Act, applied to Parlia- 
 ment for, and obtained, absolute power to prescribe the 
 size, nature, strength, materials, mode of arrangement, 
 and repair of pipes, cocks, cisterns, and other apparatus ; 
 and to interdict any arrangement, or the use of any pipe, 
 cock, &c., which in their judgment might tend to waste, 
 misuse, undue consumption, or contamination. These 
 powers were exercised without delay, and with great 
 benefit alike to the company and to the consumers. The 
 
I Vaste Prevention. 1 47 
 
 consumption was reduced from 40 gallons per head per 
 clay to 14 gallons per head per day, for all purposes. 
 
 In I860 the Manchester Corporation obtained from 
 Parliament powers resembling those granted to the 
 Norwich Company. Many other towns have since then 
 succeeded in getting powers of the same kind, although 
 not always as complete and absolute. In all cases where 
 such provisions have been put into operation, they have 
 produced excellent results in diminishing waste. 
 
 Some years ago, the Manchester Corporation intro- 
 duced a method of controlling plumbers; and they sub- 
 sequently established an office for testing and stamping 
 fittings. No tap, closet, cistern, or other apparatus is 
 allowed to be fixed, unless it bears the stamp of the Cor- 
 poration Testing Officer. Any person may send fittings 
 for examination on payment of a small fee. Under this 
 system, the public have a guarantee for the quality of 
 the articles they buy ; and the water authorities prevent 
 the employment of incompetent plumbers and the erec- 
 tion of inferior fittings. A superficial inspection, made 
 after fittings have been fixed, is not sufficient to insure 
 proper construction and quality of material. 
 
 In some towns the water authorities endeavour to 
 secure sound fittings, by requiring them to be made by 
 a specified manufacturer. This plan is objectionable be- 
 cause it gives a monopoly to one or a few makers, and 
 
 10 2 
 
148 Waste of Water. 
 
 subjects buyers to additional expense. The advantage is 
 claimed for it that it secures uniformity and interchange- 
 ability in the parts; but this advantage can be otherwise 
 attained. 
 
 Where the pipes, cocks, and other apparatus are all 
 in conformity with the best regulations it is easy to 
 maintain a constant supply with a low rate of consump- 
 tion, but where no proper regulations have been enforced, 
 and where the house fittings are consequently of an in- 
 ferior class, the consumption is found to increase in 
 proportion to the neglect that has prevailed. To effect 
 an entire, or even a considerable, change in the house 
 fittings of a town is no light undertaking. The cost of 
 the alterations is felt by owners and occupiers to be a 
 grievous burden, and it is not without reason that they 
 complain when authorities interdict arrangements which 
 have originally been made, if not with their express 
 sanction, at least without any objection on their part. 
 
 An attempt was made in Liverpool, in 1874, to pro- 
 mote a bill containing provisions similar to those given 
 to Norwich, Manchester, and other places. Owing to 
 excessive waste, the Liverpool water supply was in a 
 most critical state, and those who were responsible for 
 its management were advised that the waste could only 
 be effectually repressed, and the supply to the city 
 
Waste Prevention. 149 
 
 maintained, by adopting measures of control, such as 
 had been successful elsewhere. The City Council ap- 
 proved of a Fittings Bill, but its promotion was opposed, 
 under the Borough Funds Act, by an association of 
 houseowners. A poll was taken, and there was an over- 
 whelming majority against proceeding with the measure. 
 Consequently it had to be abandoned. Under these 
 circumstances it became necessary to attack the waste 
 with the limited powers which the corporation possessed. 
 Out of this necessity a system w r as gradually evolved 
 which produced unexpected results. As now fully de- 
 veloped the Liverpool system is briefly this : 
 
 The area of supply is divided into 205 districts, con- 
 taining an average population of about 3,400. The 
 supply to each district is controlled by a Avaste water 
 meter, which, as the water passes through, marks on a 
 diagram the volume flowing at any and every instant. 
 Every separate communication-pipe to a house, or block 
 of houses, or other building, is controlled by a stop- 
 cock laid under the footway, as described at p. 125, and 
 as is the practice in many towns. The meters indicate 
 the consumption in the districts, and when the diagrams 
 are examined, the bad can at once be separated from 
 the good. The lines drawn on the diagram show when 
 water is being legitimately used ; the waste is indicated 
 by a steady horizontal line, The difference in the amount 
 
1 50 Waste of Water. 
 
 of waste between two adjoining districts of equal popu- 
 lation is often 200 or 300 per cent. Only the wasteful 
 districts are selected for examination, and these arc 
 visited by a small staff of night inspectors,, who begin 
 their operations at about midnight. Between midnight 
 and 5 a.m. most of the water flowing into a district is 
 going to waste, and experience has shown that this waste 
 is not distributed equally over all the houses in the dis- 
 trict, but is confined to about 5 per cent, of them.* That 
 is to say, given a district containing 500 houses in which 
 the total rate of waste is 1,COO gallons an hour, the whole 
 of that waste is to be found in 25 of the houses. Now 
 the task which the inspectors are set to perform is to dis- 
 cover in which of the houses in a specific district the waste 
 is taking place. This they accomplish by sounding the 
 stop-cocks. When a night inspector proceeds to a dis- 
 trict he opens the cover of the first stop-cock he reaches. 
 He places one end of a steel bar on the top of the cock 
 and listens at the other end. By practice he can hear 
 almost any flow, however slight, that there may be 
 through the cock. If there is no noise of water passing 
 through, he goes on to the next stop-cock. When he 
 finds one on which he hears a noise he shuts it and again 
 listens. If the noise continues after the cock is closed 
 
 * These figures apply to the present state of the fittings. During 
 the transition period the proportion was fully 25 per cent. 
 
The Liverpool System, 1 5 1 
 
 it evidently comes from the street (or main) side, but if 
 the noise has ceased, it is proved to have been due to 
 water flowing into the premises. Any cessation of flow 
 that may be caused by shutting a stop-cock affects the 
 district meter, and is recorded on the meter diagram. 
 Before a night inspector leaves a district he re-opens all 
 the stop-cocks which he has closed for experiment. His 
 discoveries are reported at the office, and on the follow- 
 ing morning a day inspector visits the houses supplied 
 from the stop-cocks reported, to search for the waste. 
 The day inspector knows that there is a certain quantity 
 of waste to be accounted for, and if he cannot find it 
 by a superficial examination, he will probably find it 
 underground. Any one can appreciate the difference 
 between sending a police officer to look for a criminal 
 in Smith Street on a. probability of finding him there, 
 and sending to a specific house in Smith Street on posi- 
 tive information that he was there on the previous night. 
 The essence of the Liverpool system consists in the 
 localization of waste, first to a district by the meter 
 records, and then to certain houses or fixed points in 
 the district by night inspections. Perhaps the most 
 remarkable result achieved by the system has been in 
 disclosing the existence of hidden underground waste, 
 of which no trace or sign reaches the surface. This kind 
 of waste takes place to an extent of which few persons 
 
1 5 2 Waste of Water. 
 
 have any conception. The Liverpool communication-, 
 pipes are certainly not inferior in quality or strength 
 they are probably superior in strength to the average 
 of lead water-pipes. Yet, out of every 1,000 leakages 
 from iron and lead pipes traced by the waste water in- 
 spectors, 568 are underground leakages (frequently of a 
 very serious character) which do not rise to the surface. 
 
 The success of the Liverpool experiment has been 
 complete and gratifying. Under an intermittent supply 
 of 9J- hours' duration per day, the average consumption 
 was over 29 gallons per head per day, and when constant 
 service was experimentally turned on the consumption 
 rose to over 37 gallons per head. An unrestricted con- 
 stant service is now given with an average consumption 
 of 22 i gallons per head per day for all purposes. The 
 difference between the former intermittent supply and 
 the reduced constant supply amounts in money value, at 
 the cost price of the water, to 53,000 per annum. 
 
 This change has been effected, and these results have 
 been achieved, without any sweeping condemnation of 
 faulty appliances, and therefore without the application 
 of the rigorous powers which have enabled similar results 
 to be accomplished in other places. The waste water 
 meter system is now in operation in several towns. 
 
 In Liverpool the water inspectors are practical plumbers, 
 
Remedies. 1 5 3 
 
 and they repair free of charge all simple defects, such as 
 regulating wires,, valves, or levers, and renewing washers. 
 For this purpose they carry a small bag of tools. Land- 
 lords and tenants are saved from plumbers' bills for 
 trifling repairs ; the waste is immediately stopped ; and 
 the labour and expense of issuing and serving notices 
 and making re-examinations are avoided. I understand 
 that the same practice has lately been commenced in 
 Hull, with results equally satisfactory. 
 
 The consequences of permitting excessive waste cannot 
 be too strongly urged upon the attention of owners and 
 occupiers of property, so that they may see how deeply 
 they are interested in the maintenance of an economic 
 system of distribution, and how greatly it is to their 
 advantage to co-operate with water authorities in carry- 
 ing out proper regulations for waste prevention. If 
 inferior workmanship and imperfect house fittings are 
 allowed, they produce evils from which all must suffer. 
 
 The precautions required against waste are simple, and 
 not expensive. There is no excuse for neglecting them. 
 The regulations to be observed in regard to fittings arc 
 chiefly these : The pipes to be of material and strength 
 suited to the ground in wliich-thcv are to be laid and to 
 
 b 
 
 the water they are to convey. Taps to be of the screw- 
 down kind, strong, well made, and of the best hard 
 
154 Responsibility for Repairs. 
 
 brass. Water-closet apparatus to give an efficient flush, 
 but not to allow a continuous discharge. All overflow 
 and waste-pipes to be brought to the outside of premises, 
 to conspicuous points. 
 
 Questions often arise as to who is responsible for the 
 repair of house fittings. The statutory powers under 
 which water authorities issue notices requiring defects to 
 be repaired generally apply to the " persons supplied 
 with water/' and it is these persons,, whether owners or 
 occupiers, who are liable for the penalties imposed for 
 waste or misuse. At the same time it is the custom in 
 many towns for owners of property to execute all repairs 
 that are required, though they are not compelled to do 
 so, in the absence of an agreement, if the occupier pays 
 the water rates, 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 RUE1L SUPPLIES. 
 
 General state of water supply in rural districts Improvements needed 
 Polluted streams and wells Examples Shallow wells How 
 to provide wholesome water The Abyssinian tube Rain-water 
 from roofs Filtration Machinery for raising water. 
 
 A CCORDING to the sixtli Report of the Rivers Pol- 
 lution Commissioners about "twelve millions of 
 country population (in Great Britain) derive their water 
 almost exclusively from shallow wells, and these are, so 
 far as our experience extends, almost always horribly 
 polluted by sewage and by animal matters of the most 
 disgusting origin." Though this may be, and doubtless 
 is, an accurate description of the shallow well samples 
 analysed by the Commissioners, it is certainly an exag- 
 gerated picture of the general condition of our rural 
 water supply. At the same time no one who has inves- 
 tigated the subject will question the statement that the 
 domestic supply of the country population is characterized 
 by deficiency in quantity and inferiority in quality, and 
 that there has long been a pressing call for a vigorous 
 measure of reform. 
 
156 Rural Water Supply. 
 
 The Public Health Amendment (Water) Act, 1878, 
 contains provisions by means of which, if they are re- 
 solutely applied, a great improvement can be speedily 
 effected without any undue or vexatious interference with 
 the carrying on and full development of agricultural, 
 mining, and manufacturing industries. The leading prin- 
 ciple of the Act is that the erection or ownership of a 
 dwelling-house carries with it an obligation to provide 
 for the inhabitants a wholesome supply of water available 
 within a reasonable distance. So far as new houses are 
 concerned the Act leaves little to be desired, for no house 
 can in future be occupied without an official certificate 
 having been obtained declaring that a satisfactory supply 
 has been provided. In regard to existing houses the 
 provisions are necessarily less stringent. Their success 
 will depend upon the energy and ability of district health 
 officers, and the conscientiousness of rural sanitary 
 authorities. 
 
 There are scores, and probably hundreds, of thousands 
 of country houses whose polluted water supply might 
 be mad.e wholesome by very simple and inexpensive 
 measures, which could be carried out in a few months 
 if the rural sanitary authorities were to set themselves 
 earnestly to accomplish it. The pollution is caused by 
 sheer stupidity and slovenliness in arrangements for dis- 
 posing of house sewage and farmyard manure. Privies 
 
Remedial Measures, 1 5 7 
 
 and manure-pits are placed in such positions that their 
 contents contaminate wells, and are washed into streams 
 instead of being employed to fertilize the land. It is 
 very common to find watercourses flowing through, or 
 in close proximity to, farmyards. Into these water- 
 courses the house slops are conveyed, sometimes by a 
 drain-pipe, sometimes in an open channel. Whenever 
 a heavy fall of rain takes place the filth about the farm- 
 yard, from the house, stables, shippon, and piggeries, is 
 swept into the brook. Nothing but the deplorable igno- 
 rance of the offenders can be urged in palliation of the 
 recklessness with which streams are fouled in utter dis- 
 regard of the comfort and health of subsequent users. 
 Every nuisance of this kind ought to be immediately 
 abated, and the offenders compelled to store and utilize 
 their sewage so as to cause no injury to their neighbours. 
 
 The illustrations that follow represent two cases that 
 have recently come under my notice, and I believe they 
 cover a large class. 
 
 In the first case an excellent mountain stream affords 
 a supply, for all domestic and general purposes, to a 
 country house, and, at a lower point, is used for the 
 supply of a small village. The building overhanging the 
 stream is a servants' privy. Special provision had been 
 made for preserving the purity of the water by collect- 
 
158 
 
 Rural Water Supply. 
 
 ing all the sewage from the hall and outbuildings in 
 cesspools, but it was found inconvenient to have the 
 
 sewage put on to the meadow during hay-time, and con- 
 sequently the water-closet soil-pipe and the kitchen 
 drains were turned into the stream, in the manner in- 
 dicated by the dotted lines. The connection was of 
 
Pollution of Streams. 
 
 159 
 
 course not so apparent on a superficial examination as 
 is shown in the sketch. 
 
 The next case illustrated is that of a farmer polluting 
 the water supply of his neighbour. 
 
 The lower farm has, at the road-side, a tank for cattle 
 to drink from, and, nearer the house, a tank for domestic 
 purposes; these are both fed from a stream seen descending 
 through the upper farm. Ashort timeago thecattle refused 
 to drink from their tank, and a foul smell was perceived 
 
160 Riiral Water Supply. 
 
 from the house tank. On investigation it transpired that 
 on farm No- 1 a new arrangement had been made for 
 collecting the sewage from the farm and some adjoining 
 cottages into a cesspit,, from which an overflow (shown by 
 the dotted line) had been laid, underground, to the water- 
 course ; and as the cesspit was rarely emptied the brook 
 became the ordinary channel for the sewage. 
 
 In the majority of instances an experienced observer 
 has no difficulty in pointing out sources of pollution. 
 But it frequently happens that places which on a super- 
 ficial inspection appear to be clean, well arranged, and 
 in every respect satisfactory, are found, on a closer ex- 
 amination, to belong to the worst class of cases. The 
 filth is carried off in underground channels, which are 
 laid no one knows how, and which end no one can tell 
 where. That they terminate in a watercourse may safely 
 be assumed. 
 
 The ordinary shallow wells of country places are too 
 well known to need describing. There are many of them 
 that yield safe drinking-water, but the majority are un- 
 doubtedly contaminated, more or less, by infiltration from 
 -cesspools, by filth from the surrounding surface, or by 
 drainage from manured lands. The existence of a well 
 from which a household is regularly supplied may gene- 
 rally be regarded as evidence that good well-water is to 
 
Wells. 161 
 
 be had in the neighbourhood if only proper precautions 
 are taken against contamination. To line the sides of 
 the well with brick or stonework down to the rock, as is 
 commonly advised, and as ought always to be done, is of 
 little avail if there are cesspools about. There are many 
 villages like Bourton, of which Dr. Ballard, a medical 
 officer of the Local Government Board, reported a few 
 years ago that it was " riddled with cesspits. As soon 
 as one cesspit is full, instead of emptying it, they simply 
 leave it alone and dig another.'' Under such conditions 
 the well-waters can only be made fit to drink by carrying 
 out a proper system of sewerage for the district. When 
 this has been done all the cesspits must be carefully 
 emptied of filth and filled with clean soil. 
 
 In lining a well to prevent the entrance of filth near 
 to the surface, it is necessary not only to build a sub- 
 stantial wall, but also to give it a backing of concrete, or 
 of clay worked into puddle, in a dense, putty-like con- 
 dition, and carefully put in so as to form a compact wall ; 
 or to line the well with an iron cylinder. The lining 
 should be firmly built in to the water-bearing stratum. 
 It is always desirable to carry the top of the well a few 
 inches above the ground level, and to provide a cover. 
 
 If a cesspool is indispensable it should be made per- 
 fectly water-tight, and as far as possible from any well, 
 and no overflow should be allowed. 
 
 11 
 
162 
 
 Rural Water Supply, 
 
 The following illustration is copied from the Tenth 
 Annual Report of the Massachusetts State Board of 
 
 Health. I reproduce it here as representing a class of 
 cases common enough in this country, as well as in the 
 United States; and because the persons using the water 
 
H oiv to provide Wholesome Water. 163 
 
 would, if they thought about the matter at all, probably 
 not suspect any evil effects from it. 
 
 There were twelve cases of typhoid fever among persons 
 using this well-water; the house became the centre of 
 infection for a whole neighbourhood. 
 
 The measures required to provide a wholesome supply 
 for country houses are generally of a simple, and fre- 
 quently of an inexpensive, character. In hilly districts, 
 springs abound ; and where they can be made available 
 they give water of the finest quality. Surface-water from 
 pasture and meadow -lands may safely be used, if sewage 
 is excluded. Water from arable-lands is not suitable for 
 drinking, without efficient filtration. In manufacturing 
 districts, streams are seldom sufficiently free from pollu- 
 tion to be used for drinking; but all our important manu- 
 facturing districts are on geological formations, from 
 which water can be procured by wells. 
 
 Where the conditions of the ground are suitable, and 
 where water can be obtained within 30 feet from the 
 surface, the Abyssinian well-tube is a simple and cheap 
 combination of well and pump, which possesses many 
 advantages over the ordinary form of well. The Abys- 
 sinian tube derives its name, I believe, from its success- 
 ful employment for supplying the British army during 
 the expedition into Abyssina. It is merely a tube, with 
 
 11 2 
 
164 
 
 Rural Water Supply. 
 
 perforations at one end, and a steel point, driven into 
 the ground, with a pump attached to the top of the tube. 
 
 If no water is found in one 
 place, the tube can be with- 
 drawn, and driven elsewhere. 
 In this manner the water 
 yielding capabilities of a 
 locality may be easily tested. 
 If wholesome water can- 
 not be obtained from springs, 
 wells, or streams, recourse 
 can always be had to the col- 
 lection of rain from the 
 roofs of buildings, in tubs or 
 tanks. For this purpose, the 
 roof must be constructed of 
 material that will not com- 
 municate any impurity to 
 the rain falling upon it. 
 Thatched or felt roofs are 
 obviously unsuitable. 
 Then, the roofs must be fitted with gutters and down- 
 spouts for collecting and conveying the rain. There are 
 in England many thousands of farmhouses and cottages 
 that are not provided with spouting. 
 
 Bain -water- tanks are usually built underground. It 
 
How to collect Roof Water. 165 
 
 is found to be more convenient and on the whole cheaper 
 to construct the tanks underground than on the surface, 
 and the water is kept at a more uniform temperature. 
 The objections to underground tanks are that they often 
 leak without the defect becoming known until they run 
 dry; that they are liable to pollution; and that a pump 
 is required to draw water if due regard is to be had to com- 
 fort and cleanliness. Tanks formed aboveground have the 
 advantage of being more easily examined, defects are more 
 readily disclosed, they are free from the risk of surface- 
 pollution, and the water can be drawn by opening a tap 
 or pulling out a plug. The best shape for a tank is 
 circular, or rectangular with the corners rounded off. 
 The material may be the ordinary building material of 
 the locality. The object to be aimed at is to secure a 
 strong, water-tight, and durable receptacle, and any 
 material that will fulfil these conditions may be em- 
 ployed. Portland cement concrete (six parts of gravel 
 and broken stone to one part of the best cement) is an 
 excellent material for the purpose, but to be properly 
 made it requires more experience in mixing than ordinary 
 country stonemasons and bricklayers possess. 
 
 Every tank should be well covered, and a manhole 
 provided, protected by a flag or by timber. Care must 
 be taken that there is no bright lead or zinc about the 
 roof or cistern. As explained elsewhere, exposed lead is 
 
1 66 Rural Water Supply. 
 
 soon tarnished, and in that state is not affected by soft 
 water. To determine the tank capacity required for a 
 household depending entirely on stored rain-water for 
 their supply there are four elements that enter into the 
 calculation. 
 
 1. The amount of rainfall. 
 
 2. The area of the collecting surface. 
 
 3. The period of longest drought. 
 
 4. The number of gallons per day to be provided for. 
 I shall not ask the reader to follow this calculation 
 
 through for various parts of the country, but the practical 
 result is that a tank for an ordinary cottage supply should 
 be capable of holding from 1,000 gallons on the west 
 coast to 1,500 gallons on the east coast; and this is on 
 the assumption that the collecting surface is large enough 
 to give the average daily supply required with the 
 minimum annual rainfall. To ascertain approximately 
 the average number of gallons per day that can be had 
 from a roof, with adequate storage space, multiply the 
 lowest recorded rainfall in feet, by the collecting area in 
 feet, by *015. This factor includes a small allowance for 
 loss in the collection. A few data with respect to water 
 may be useful here. 
 
 1 cubic foot of water is equal to 6*23, say G|, gallons. f 
 1 gallon contains 277*27 cubic inches. 
 
 1 ,, ,, weighs 10 Ibs. avoirdupois. 
 
 1 cubic foot 62-35 Ibs. ,. 
 
Roof Water. 167 
 
 These figures refer to pure water at a temperature of 
 62 degrees F., with the barometer at 30 inches. 
 
 One inch of rain over 100 square feet of surface amounts 
 to 52 gallons. In measuring the area of a roof the slopes 
 must not be taken into account. Only the horizontal 
 area covered by the roof must be measured. 
 
 The average rainfall in Great Britain varies from about 
 20 inches on the east coast to 70 or 80 on the mountain 
 districts of Wales, and on the watersheds of the West- 
 moreland and Cumberland lakes. Exceptional falls of 
 200 inches have been recorded in the Lake district. 
 
 For farms and large country residences where more 
 water is required than can be collected from the roofs it 
 may be necessary to construct a small artificial gathering 
 ground, but additional collecting area can in most 
 instances be provided in conjunction with other improve- 
 ments, such as permanent rick-covers, cattle shelters, or 
 glass houses for early market produce. 
 
 Bain-water cannot be collected from roofs in a 
 tolerably clean state if attention is not paid to the 
 spouting, to prevent birds building their nests, and 
 otherwise fouling the water-channels. Even with the 
 best attention, the water will be contaminated by dust 
 and soot, and by the droppings of birds. Though water 
 
1 68 Riiral Water Supply. 
 
 collected in this manner is largely used for potable 
 purposes without any nitration, it is seldom that the 
 conditions are so favourable as to afford a satisfactory 
 supply throughout the year. Filtration of some kind has 
 generally been deemed necessary, and many plans have 
 been proposed and tried. The most common is the 
 placing of filtering material (sand, gravel, and charcoal) 
 at one end of the tank, in a compartment separated from 
 the other part of the tank by a partition open at the 
 bottom. Another method is to make the water pass 
 through a porous brick partition, in plan thus : 
 
 When the pores of the bricks become clogged, as they 
 do in course of time, they must be brushed, or the 
 partition renewed. 
 
 Another plan is to put the end of the pump suction 
 pipe in a small filter, which can be lifted out of the tank 
 for cleaning. A combined tank and filter is shown at 
 page 56, but all arrangements under which it is necessary 
 to empty the tanks before the filtering materials can 
 be examined, washed, or renewed, are objectionable. 
 
Roof Water. 
 
 169 
 
 On the whole, I think it better not to attempt any 
 purification of the water in the tanks, unless it be a 
 simple straining to keep back the grosser impurities, 
 which can be effected by a wire gauze strainer fitted into 
 a frame, sliding in a groove, and easily drawn out. 
 Water for drinking can be more effectually filtered in 
 the house. 
 
 In a case of which I have recently been informed, a 
 complaint that the tank-water was unsatisfactory was re- 
 medied, without filtration, by building a partition across 
 one end, to allow the impurities to deposit, in this way : 
 
 PIPE. 
 
 The water has, of course, to pass over the partition 
 from the subsiding compartment into the main tank. 
 The inlet should be arranged so that the water will enter 
 with as little disturbance of the tank contents as possible. 
 
 For raising water by machinery to supply villages, 
 farms, or large residences, the hydraulic ram is the most 
 simple and durable, and probably the cheapest appara- 
 
1 70 Rural Water Supply. 
 
 tus, that can be employed. It is now made so that it 
 can be worked by impure water, and a polluted stream 
 can be utilized to lift water from a well, or to throw 
 surface water to any desired elevation. The only work- 
 ing parts liable to derangment are the valves, which 
 must be occasionally examined and renewed. 
 
 The turbine, or water-wheel, can also be driven by 
 foul water, and requires but little supervision : the pumps 
 and gearing are, however, sometimes troublesome. In 
 the Fen districts, wind-engines are occasionally to be 
 met with, and in other countries they are more common 
 than in England : where water power cannot be had, 
 they may be used with advantage. The neccessity of 
 furnishing gearing for working them by horses or by 
 steam, in the absence of wind, adds to their cost. In 
 places where there is a supply of gas at a moderate price, 
 a gas-engine will be found an economical motor: it can 
 be managed by a labourer of ordinary intelligence. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 WATER FOR TRADE PURPOSES. 
 
 Distinction between domestic and trade supplies Practice as to 
 charging by meter Directions for reading meter index Pre- 
 cautions against waste and overcharge Examples of rates 
 charged in various towns Water as motive power Advantages 
 of water-pressure machinery. 
 
 WATERWORKS proprietors are not legally bound 
 to supply water for trade purposes, as they are, on 
 certain conditions, bound to supply water for domestic 
 purposes. The maximum rates that can be charged for 
 domestic supplies are generally fixed by Act of Parlia- 
 ment, but charges for trade supplies are left to be the 
 subject of agreement between the waterworks authority, 
 and the person requiring the supply. A definition of 
 what is included in a domestic supply is usually given 
 in the special Act of every water authority. In the Water- 
 works Clauses Act, 1863, it is enacted that " A supply 
 of water for domestic purposes shall not include a supply 
 of water for cattle, or for horses, or for washing car- 
 riages where such horses or carriages are kept for sale or 
 
172 Water for Trade Purposes. 
 
 hire, or by a common carrier, or a supply for any trade, 
 manufacture, or business, or for watering gardens, or for 
 fountains, or for any ornamental purpose." 
 
 This enactment only applies to special waterworks 
 Acts passed since 1863, and incorporating the Clauses 
 Act ; but a similar clause is to be found in many earlier 
 private Acts. 
 
 In the Metropolitan Water Companies' Acts, a do- 
 mestic supply is denned thus: cc That a supply of water 
 for domestic purposes shall not include a supply for 
 steam-engines or railway purposes, or for warming or 
 ventilating purposes, or for working any machine or 
 apparatus, or for baths, horses, cattle, or for washing 
 carriages, or for gardens, fountains, or ornamental pur- 
 poses, or for flushing sewers or drains, or for any trade, 
 or manufacture, or business requiring an extra supply of 
 water." 
 
 The only exception to this is the East London Com- 
 pany's Act, which differs only in that it includes under 
 domestic purposes a supply for baths in houses of which 
 the annual value exceeds .30. 
 
 The usual rule in towns is to supply all trade purposes 
 requiring a considerable or uncertain quantity of water, 
 through meter ; but for small trade purposes, such as 
 for building, or small steam - engines, or for washing 
 carriages, for cattle, and watering gardens, it is usual to 
 
Meters. 1 73 
 
 make an annual charge by assessment. The meters for 
 measuring water are, in most places, provided by the 
 waterworks authorities, who charge a sum as rent, which 
 covers interest on the price of the apparatus, and the 
 expense of inspecting and repairing it. This amounts 
 to about 10 per cent, per annum on the first cost of the 
 meter. 
 
 Every meter has a visible index attached to it, and 
 consumers will find it useful to keep a daily record of 
 the quantity indicated on the dial. Such a record is of 
 service as a check upon the consumption, and calls im- 
 mediate attention to waste or misuse. It is also a check 
 upon the accuracy of the water bill. 
 
 The following represents an index dial, with an ex- 
 ample of a reading. 
 
 The quantity indicated in this example is 692,500 
 gallons. Some dials extend to tens, and the dial shown, 
 though it is only marked for hundreds, can be read to 
 
1 74 Water for Trade Purposes. 
 
 tens by observing the position of the pointer between 
 the figures on the hundreds circle. 
 
 If a consumer has reason to doubt the accuracy of 
 a meter, the water authorities will generally, upon 
 application, test the instrument at their works, on con- 
 dition that the applicant undertakes to pay the expense 
 of the removal and test if the meter proves to be regis- 
 tering correctly the quantity passing through it. Trade 
 consumers frequently complain of being debited with 
 more water than they believe to have been consumed, 
 but upon investigation such complaints are almost in- 
 variably traced to waste from defective fittings, or to 
 undue consumption, of which the persons complaining 
 have been ignorant. Hence the importance of adopting 
 the suggestion made above, to enter in a book, at a fixed 
 hour every day, the reading of the meter index. 
 
 Leakages from underground pipes on the outlet side 
 of meters may be readily detected by closing all the 
 draw-off taps and noticing if water is still passing 
 through the meter. Trade consumers will find it an 
 economical practice to shut the stop-tap at the meter 
 whenever water is not wanted. 
 
 An useful check upon the operations of a manufacturing 
 establishment may be provided by attaching to the meter 
 a clock and diagram which will show the precise moment 
 at which the workmen begin to use or cease using water, 
 
Charges. 1 75 
 
 and the quantity passing through the meter during any 
 part of the day. 
 
 The rates charged for water supplied through meter 
 are., in the majority of towns, upon a sliding scale under 
 which large consumers get water at a lower price than 
 small consumers. In some towns a fixed charge per 
 thousand gallons is made to large and small consumers 
 alike. The sliding scales that are adopted in various 
 towns differ greatly in their range and design. In the 
 following table the minimum and maximum rate per 
 1,000 gallons is given in each case where the charges 
 are by a sliding scale. In comparing the figures it must 
 be remembered that hardly any two scales begin and 
 end at the same points. (See Table, p. 176.) 
 
 WATER AS MOTIVE POWER. 
 
 Where water is cheap, the supply constant, and de- 
 livered under a considerable pressure, it may, with great 
 advantage and economy, be used for many purposes of 
 power instead of steam or manual labour. There are many 
 towns in England and in foreign countries where water 
 from the ordinary distributing mains is extensively used 
 as a motive power. In Liverpool there are about eighty 
 lifts and hoists, and a number of organs, worked by water- 
 pressure from the corporation mains. In Zurich, Swit- 
 
EXAMPLES 
 
 OP 
 
 EATES CHA.RGED PER 1,000 GALLONS FOR TRADE 
 SUPPLIES BY METER. 
 
 
 Maximum. 
 
 Minimum. 
 
 
 Aberdeen 
 
 s. d. 
 8i 
 
 s. d. 
 5 
 
 
 Ashton-under-Lyne 
 Birkenhead 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 G 
 1 
 
 
 Birmingham 
 Blackburn 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 7 
 G 
 
 
 BiHlde bo T sh :: 
 
 Bradford 
 
 G 
 9 
 1 
 
 G 
 9 
 3i 
 
 
 Brighton 
 
 1 1} 
 
 9 
 
 
 Bury 
 
 v 
 
 7i 
 
 
 Carlisle 
 
 10 
 
 G 
 
 
 Dundee 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 
 Edinburgh 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 Glasgow 
 Halifax 
 
 4 
 10 
 
 4 
 6 
 
 (Beyond borough 50 
 
 Huddersfield 
 Hull 
 
 1 6 
 9 
 
 1 
 G 
 
 ( per cent, extra 
 
 ^-pi {ou^e b T g * 
 
 London 
 East London Co. 
 
 7 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 9 
 
 G 
 
 ( High service 25 per 
 j cent, additional 
 
 Grand Junction Co 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 Ditto 
 
 New River Co 
 
 11 
 
 6 
 
 
 Southwark and Vauxball 
 Co. 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 Ditto 
 
 West Middlesex Co 
 Chelsea Co 
 Lambeth Co 
 
 9 
 1 
 1 
 
 G 
 G 
 G 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Manchester 
 
 2 
 
 G 
 
 
 Nottingham 
 
 1 
 
 G 
 
 
 Perth 
 
 9 
 
 G 
 
 
 Plymouth 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 p-H T sh ::: 
 
 Sheffield 
 
 1 
 1 GJ 
 1 Oh 
 
 44 
 7 
 6 
 
 
 St. Helen's 
 "Wol v erhampto n 
 
 5| 
 1 4 
 
 5i 
 G 
 
 
 Worcester {$*:&- 
 York 
 
 5 
 1 
 1 G 
 
 5 
 1 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Water as a Motive Power. 177 
 
 zerland, a town of about 20,000 inhabitants, there are 
 113 water-engines, varying in size from one-third to 4 
 H.P., at work for various trade purposes. The average 
 pressure from the mains is about 50 Ibs. per square 
 inch, and the charge for water is at the rate of 5d. per 
 indicated horse-power per hour. 
 
 Among the advantages which may be claimed for 
 water-pressure machinery are : 
 
 1. Steadiness, ease, precision, and comparative noise- 
 lessness of action. 
 
 2. Absence of risk from accident. 
 
 3. Facility with which the movement of a machine 
 may be controlled from any point of its travel. 
 
 4. Simplicity of working, rendering the employment 
 of skilled labour unnecessary. 
 
 5. Saving in charges for insurance, as compared with 
 machinery involving the use of fire or light. 
 
 6. Limitation of the expenditure of power to the time 
 during which useful work is being performed, thus 
 enabling machinery to be employed intermittently with- 
 out loss of power. 
 
 7. Ease with which energy may be transmitted to 
 considerable distances without appreciable loss. 
 
 8. The opportunity afforded of making special provision 
 for extinguishing fires by attaching fire hydrants to the 
 pipes laid to convey the water-pressure. 
 
 12 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 REGULATIONS FOE THE PEEVENTION OF WASTE 
 AND MISUSE OF WATER. 
 
 A S far back as 1852 the metropolitan water companies 
 obtained statutory powers to make regulations for 
 preventing waste and misuse of water, subject to the 
 approval of the Board of Trade. As these powers were 
 not exercised, Parliament, in the Metropolis Water Act 
 of 1871, made it compulsory on the part of the companies 
 to make such regulations within six months after the 
 passing of that Act. 
 
 The companies accordingly prepared regulations which 
 were submitted to three Commissioners (Lord Methuen, 
 Captain Tyler, and Mr. Kawlinson), on behalf of the 
 Board of Trade. An exhaustive inquiry was held, at 
 which the water companies, the Metropolitan Board of 
 Works, and the City Council were represented. The 
 regulations which were settled by the Board of Trade 
 after this inquiry have been circulated by the Local 
 Government Board as specimen regulations for the in- 
 formation and guidance of other towns. 
 
Board of Trade Regulations. 1 79 
 
 As these regulations apply to all the inhabitants of the 
 metropolis, and embody most of the provisions usually 
 inserted in recent waterworks regulations,, they are set 
 forth here. 
 
 REGULATIONS MADE UNDER, 
 THE METROPOLIS WATER ACT, 1871. 
 
 1. JSTo " communication-pipe " for the conveyance of water 
 from tlie waterworks of the Company into any premises shall 
 hereafter be laid until after the point or place at which such 
 " communication-pipe " is proposed to be brought into such 
 premises shall have had the approval of the Company. 
 
 2. No lead pipe shall hereafter be laid or fixed in or about 
 any premises for the conveyance of or iu connection with the 
 water supplied by the Company (except when and as other- 
 wise authorized by these regulations, or by the Company), 
 unless the same shall be of equal thickness throughout, and 
 of at least the weight following, that is to say: 
 
 Place of 
 commu- 
 nication- 
 pipe. 
 
 Internal Diameter of Pipe in 
 Inches. 
 
 Weight of Pipe in Ibs. per 
 lineal Yard. 
 
 f-inch diameter, 
 i > 
 i , 
 <i ) j> 
 
 i , 
 
 U , 
 
 5 Ibs. per lineal 
 6 
 
 9* 
 
 J 
 
 12 
 16 
 
 yard. 
 
 3 Every pipe hereafter laid or fixed in the interior of interior 
 any dwelling-house for the conveyance of or iu connection plpes ' 
 with the water of the Company, -must, unless with the 
 
 122 
 
its own 
 commu- 
 nication 
 
 i 80 Board of Trade Regulations . 
 
 consent o the Company, if in contact with the ground, be 
 Not of lead, but may otherwise be of lead, copper, or wrought 
 Sum one ^ ron > at tne pti n f tne consumer. 
 
 n^catbn- 4. No house shall, unless with the permission of the 
 pipe to Company in writing, be hereafter fitted with more than one 
 
 each - 1 - J . . 9' ,, 
 
 house. " communication-pipe. 
 
 Every 5. Every house supplied with water by the Company 
 Seer- (except in cases of stand-pipes) shall have its own separate 
 tain tions " communication-pipe." Provided that, as far as is con- 
 to P have S sistent with the special Acts of the Company, in the case of a 
 group or block of houses, the water rates of which are paid 
 by one owner, the said owner may, at his option, have one 
 plpe< sufficient " communication-pipe " for such group or block. 
 
 house to 6. No house supplied with water by the Company shall 
 connec- have any connection with the pipes or other fittings of any 
 tion other premises, except in the case of groups or blocks of 
 tings of" houses, referred to in the preceding Eegulation. 
 
 f n d g in 7. The connection of every " communication-pipe " with 
 house. an y pipe of the Company shall hereafter be made by means 
 Con- of a sound and suitable brass screwed ferrule or stop-cock 
 ?o?eby ^ T ith union, and such ferrule or stop-cock shall be so made 
 ferrule as to have a clear area of waterway equal to that of a half- 
 cock" p " inch pipe. The connection of every " communication-pipe " 
 with the pipes of the Company shall be made by the Com- 
 pany's workmen, and the Company shall be paid in advance 
 the reasonable costs and charges of and incident to the 
 making of such connection. 
 
 Material g. Every "communication-pipe " and every pipe external 
 joints to the house and through the external walls thereof, hereafter 
 tei-nai respectively laid or fixed, in connection with the water of the 
 pipes. Company, shall be of lead, and every joint thereof shall be 
 of the kind called a "plumbing" or " wiped " joint. 
 
 NO pipe 9. Xo pipe shall be used for the conveyance of or in 
 through* connection with water supplied by the Company, which is 
 drains, laid or fixed through, in, or into any drain, ashpit, sink, or 
 
Board of Trade Regulations. 1 8 1 
 
 manure-hole, or through, in, or into any place where the 
 water conveyed through such pipe may be liable to become 
 fouled, except where such draiu, ashpit, sink, or manure-hole, 
 or other such place, shall be in the unavoidable coarse of 
 such pipe, and then in every such case such pipe shall be 
 passed through an exterior cast-iron pipe or jacket of suf- 
 ficient length and strength, and of such construction, as to 
 afford due protection to the water-pipe. 
 
 10. Every pipe hereafter laid for the conveyance of or Depth 
 in connection with water supplied by the Company, shall, JJnJ^Jf 8 
 when laid in open ground, be laid at least two feet six inches ground. 
 below the surface, and shall in every exposed situation be 
 properly protected against the effects of frost. 
 
 11. No pipe for the conveyance of or in connection with J^ ti c o n n ' 
 water supplied by the Company, shall communicate with any with 
 cistern, butt, or other receptacle used or intended to be used ?erre- 
 for rain-water, ceptacie. 
 
 12. Every " communication-pipe " for the conveyance of Stop 
 water to be supplied by the Company into any premises va 
 shall have at or near its point of entrance into such premises, 
 and if desired by the consumer within such premises, a 
 sound and suitable stop-valve of the screw-down kind, with 
 
 an area of waterway not less than that of a half-inch pipe, 
 and not greater than that of the "communication-pipe," the 
 size of the valve within these limits being at the option of 
 the consumer. 
 
 If placed in the ground such " stop-valve" shall be pro- 
 tected by a proper cover and " guard-box." 
 
 1 3. Every cistern used in connection with the water Charac- 
 supplied by the Company shall be made and at all times cisterns 
 maintained water-tight, and be properly covered and placed *" d s ba11 
 in such a position that it may be inspected and cleansed. 
 Every such existing cistern, if not already provided with an 
 efficient "ball-tap," and every such future cistern, shall be 
 provided with a sound and suitable "ball-tap," of the valve 
 kind, for the inlet of water, 
 
182 Board of Trade Regulations. 
 
 Waste- 
 
 moved 
 or con 
 verted 
 into 
 
 
 . esto 14. No overflow or waste-pipe other than a "warning- 
 be re^ pipe," shall be attached to any cistern supplied with water 
 by the Company, and every such overflow or waste-pipe 
 existing at the time when these regulations come into ope- 
 j, ration shall be removed, or at the option of the consumer 
 pipes, shall be -converted into an efficient " warning-pipe," within 
 two calendar months next after the Company shall have 
 given to the occupier of, or left at the premises in which 
 such cistern is situate, a notice in writing requiring such 
 alteration to be made. 
 
 Arrange- 15. Every " warning-pipe " shall be placed in such a 
 
 warning- situation as will admit of the discharge of the water from 
 
 pipes, such" warning-pipe "being readily ascertained by the officers 
 
 of the Company. And the position of such "warning-pipe" 
 
 shall not be changed without previous notice to and approval 
 
 by the Company. 
 
 Buried 10. No cistern buried or excavated in the ground shall 
 be nsed for the storage or reception of water supplied by 
 the Company, unless the use of such cistern shall be allowed 
 in writing by the Company. 
 
 Butts 17. No wooden receptacle without a proper metallic lining 
 StedV shall be hereafter brought into use for the storage of any 
 water supplied by the Company. 
 
 a r r d y~ 18. No draw-tap shall in future be fixed unless the same 
 draw- shall be sound and suitable and of the "screw-down" kind. 
 
 tap. 
 
 Draw- 19. Every draw-tap in connection with any " stand-pipe" 
 connec- or ther apparatus outside any dwelling-house in a court or 
 tionwith other public place, to supply any group or number of such 
 pipes, dwelling-houses, shall be sound and suitable and of the 
 
 " waste-preventer " kind, and be protected as far as possible 
 
 from injury by frost, theft, or mischief. 
 
 Boilers, 20. Every boiler, urinal, and water-closet, in which water 
 closets, supplied by the Company is used (other than water-closets 
 nafsto 1 " * u wn ^ c ^ hand-flushing is employed), shall within three 
 hav s e ds- months after these Eegulations come into operation, be 
 
 terns, 
 
Board of Trade Regulations. 183 
 
 served only through a cistern or service-box and without a 
 stool-cock, and there shall be no direct communication from 
 the pipes of the Company to any boiler, urinal, or water- 
 closet. 
 
 21. Every water-closet cistern or water-closet service-box 
 hereafter fitted or fixed in which water supplied by the 
 Company is to be used, shall have an efficient waste-pre- tus> 
 venting apparatus, so constructed as not to be capable of 
 discharging more than two gallons of water at each flush. 
 
 22. Every urinal cistern in which water supplied by the urinai- 
 Companyis used other than public urinal cisterns, or cisterns appara- 
 having attached to them a self-closing apparatus, shall have tus - 
 an efficient waste-preventing apparatus, so constructed as 
 
 not to be capable of discharging more than one gallon of 
 water at each flush. 
 
 23. Every " down-pipe " hereafter fixed for the discharge Water- 
 of water into the pan or basin of any water-closet shall have jovTn- 
 an internal diameter of not less than one inch and a quarter, pip es - 
 and if of lead shall weigh not less than nine pounds to every 
 lineal yard. pi P e -? 
 
 J supplyg. 
 
 24. No pipe by which water is supplied by the Company JJ^Jf* 
 to any water-closet shall communicate with any part of such muS^ 
 water-closet, or with any apparatus connected therewith, c c y^ th 
 except the service-cistern thereof. only. 
 
 25. No bath supplied with water by the Company shall P 3111 -^? 
 have any overflow waste-pipe, except it be so arranged as to 
 
 act as a "warning-pipe." 
 
 26. In every bath hereafter fitted or fixed the outlet shall 
 be distinct from, and unconnected with, the inlet or inlets ; 
 and the inlet or inlets must be placed so that the orifice or 
 orifices shall be above the highest water-level of the bath. 
 The outlet of every such bath shall be provided with a 
 perfectly water-tight plug, valve, or cock. 
 
 27. No alteration shall be made in any fittings in con- Aitera- 
 nection with the supply of water by the Company without fittings. 
 two days' previous notice in writing to the Company. 
 
1 84 Board of Trade Regidations. 
 
 Water- 28. Except with the written consent of the consumer, no 
 fittings, cock, ferrule, joint, union, valve, or other fitting, in -the 
 course of any " communication-pipe," shall have a waterway 
 of less area than that of the " communication-pipe," so that 
 the waterway from the water in the district pipe or other 
 supply-pipe of the Company up to and through the stop- 
 valve prescribed by Regulation No. 12, shall not in any part 
 be of less area than that of the "communication-pipe" itself, 
 which pipe shall not be of less than a half-inch bore in all 
 its course. 
 
 W-ight 29. All lead " warning-pipes " and other lead pipes of 
 pipe? which the ends are open, so that such pipes cannot remain 
 having charged with water, may be of the following minimum 
 ends. weights, that is to say : 
 
 (internal diameter) - - 3 Ibs. per yard, 
 
 1 do. - - 7 
 
 30. Iii these Regulations the term " communication-pipe " 
 'com- shall mean the pipe which extends from the district pipe or 
 munica- other supply-pipe of the Company up to the " stop-valve " 
 pipe." prescribed in the Regulation JNo, 12. 
 Penal- 31. Every person who shall wilfully violate, refuse, or 
 ties. neglect to comply with, or shall wilfully do or cause to be 
 
 done any act, matter, or thing, in contravention of these 
 
 Regulations, or any part thereof, shall, for every such 
 
 offence, be liable to a penalty in a sum not exceeding 5. 
 Autho- 32. Where under the foregoing Regulations any act is 
 officer required or authorized to be done by the Company, the same 
 may act may be done on behalf of the Company by an authorized 
 pa r ny? m " officer or servant of the Company, and where under such 
 
 Regulations any notice is required to be given by the Com- 
 . pany, the same shall be sufficiently authenticated if it be 
 
 signed by an authorized officer or servant of the Company. 
 
 Existing 33. All existing fittings, which shall be sound and efficient, 
 
 : * and are not required to be removed or altered under these 
 
 Regulations, shall be deemed to be prescribed fittings under 
 
 the " Metropolis Water Act, 1871." 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS 
 
 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
 DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 OVERDUE. 
 
 MAY 3 
 
 MAY 4 1S40 
 
 
 LD 21-100m-7,'39(402s)