Remarks on the water supply of London. / by Sir William Clay.

  • Clay, William, Sir, 1791-1869.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the water supply of London. / by Sir William Clay. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    ON THE QUANTITY OF WATER SUPPLIED. “ That the water at present supplied to London is bad in quality and deficient in quantity, and that in consequence of such deficiency there are 70,000 houses, and from 600,000 to 700,000 persons, in the metropolis without a supply at all,”—such is the substance of the statements on this matter which have been widely promulgated within the last few months, which have found their w'ay into the pros])ectus of every new Company, and formed the staple of the resolutions submitted to every meeting. The present chapter will be devoted to testing the ac- curacy of these assertions, as far as they relate to the sufficiency in quantity of the present supply. The mean quantity of water per month de- livered to London in the present year by the five companies north of the Thames, viz. the East London, the New River, the West Middlesex, the Grand Junction, and the Chelsea, and the two on the south, the Southw^ark and Vauxhall, and the Lam- beth, has been 1,355,790,047 imperial gallons, or at the daily rate of 51,979,171 gallons for six days in the week,—a Sunday supply being rarely or never given.* If to contrast this supply with a * When the Henley Water Works Bill was befoi’e Parliament last Session, the Companies stated their daily supply at 60,000,000 gallons. It may be well to explain therefore, first, that in that amount were comprehended the supplies given by the Kent and Hampstead Companies, which supply portions of what is ordi- I