Report on the supply of water to the metropolis. Appendix No. II-[IV].

  • Great Britain. General Board of Health.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the supply of water to the metropolis. Appendix No. II-[IV]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    Change from intermittent to constant Supply. Mr^Quick. could be arranged very economically by persons availing themselves of the use of the Company's pipes beyond the branch leading into the tank as a feeder to the house services. It would also be a great protection to the high-service of the district, as all the water must ascend to the height of the tank before it could be drawn off; and if the Company's pipes could not be used to conduct the water, a small service of 1-inch or more in diameter, leading from the tank with i-inch branches to the houses, could be laid in the most convenient situation, and would be the least expensive mode of giving a supply to houses that are not at present laid on. 34. Will you state the result of the experiment as to the comfort of the people ?—The difference is very great; the agent to the estate in- forms me that quarrelling has scarcely been known among his tenants since the alteration, that the tenants never refuse to pay him the rent, and that he could obtain M. or 6rf. per week more for each house, if any of them became empty; and if he had 100 houses in the neighbour- hood, with water laid on in the same way, he could find tenants for them at increased rents. 35. And the great waste must have saturated the ground and caused much dampness in the neighbourhood?—Yes, and the paving-stones were often washed up and the inside of the houses made very damp. The tank holds about 210 gallons, and provides an ample supply for 10 small houses, at about 20 gallons per diem for each house. The tank is filled every day. 36. With an average population then that is enough ?—On an average it is as much as is consumed in houses of that class—four-roomed houses. 37. From this case you may assume that the benefit might be ex- tended to a larger class of houses?—Yes, to all, not only with advan- tage to the people themselves, but the Company also. 38. What do you apprehend would be the difficulties of changing the system from an intermittent to a constant supply ?—The greatest diffi- culty would arise from the very defective state of the house service-pipes in poor districts, and the waste-pipes of cisterns in the better class of houses; also in making provision for supplying large manufacturers, road-watering, &c., at low levels at the same time that supplies would be required from services in the highest situations in the district. The first question would involve a remodelling of the lead service-pipes ; and the second, a total change in the arrangements of the house cisterns, as I believe waste-pipes from cisterns would be fatal to any system of con- stant supply. The third could be arranged either by laying down a separate main, or by each manufacturer providing himself with a tank of sufficient capacity for his daily requirements, which could be filled at any convenient hour of the night; it would also be necessary to give the entire control over the lead service-pipes and everything connected with them to the Company, so that deficiency of supply, or waste of water, might at once be remedied by their servants and under the inspection of their officers. 39. It has been stated that smaller branch-pipes are used for the constant supply than for the intermittent onei'—That I found to be the case at Preston and Nottingham, and I believe it would apply gene- rally to supplies taken at nearly the same level. 40. How is it at Oldham, where water is delivered under 400 feet