The water question. Memoir addressed to the Commissioners appointed by His Majesty ... to inquire into the state of the supply of water to the Metropolis / [J. Wright].

  • Wright, J. (John), 1770?-1844
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The water question. Memoir addressed to the Commissioners appointed by His Majesty ... to inquire into the state of the supply of water to the Metropolis / [J. Wright]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    u Resolved : “ 1st. That a constant Supply of pure and wholesome Water is essential to the Health and Comfort of the Inhabitants of this great and thickly-peopled Metropolis. “ 2d. That the principle of the Acts of Parliament under which the several Companies supplying the Metropolis with Water were instituted, was to encourage Competition; seeing that it is only from Competition, that a perfect security can be had for a good, a cheap, and a plentiful Supply. “ 3d. That, nevertheless, by an Arrangement entered into, about the year 1817, between the several Companies supplying the Metropolis with Water, all Competition was put an end to, and a Monopoly of this Necessary of Life virtually established. “ 4th. That the Water taken up from the River Thames, at Chelsea, for the use of the Inhabitants of the Western portion of the Metropolis, being charged with the contents of the great Common Sewers, the drainings from Dung-hills and Lay-stalls, the refuse of Hospitals, Slaughter-houses, Colour, Lead, and Soap-Works, Drug-Mills, and Manufactories, and with all sorts of decomposed animal and vegetable substances, rendering the said Water offensive, and destructive to Health, ought no longer to be taken up, by any of the Water Com¬ panies, from so foul a source. “ 5th. That the Grand Junction Water-Works Company, having engaged to supply their Customers with Water of the purest and most wholesome Quality, to be drawn from the rivers Colne and Brent, and from an immense Reservoir of nearly one hundred acres, fed by the streams of the vale of Ruislip, have, nevertheless, since the month of September 1820, drawn their supply from the Thames, at the foot of Chelsea Hospital, and nearly adjoining to the mouth of the Great Ranelagh Common Sewer. “ 6th. That the Water supplied by the Grand Junction Company, to more than Seven Thousand Families, has been pronounced by Professional Men of the first eminence, to be a filthy fluid, loaded with decayed vegetable matter and other substances equally deleterious to health, and unfit for domes¬ tic purposes. “ 7th. That the Grand Junction Company, having promised to supply their Customers with Water, at a comparatively small charge, have, nevertheless, exacted an increased Rate,