Second series. Concise statements of the main features of the plans for the drainage of the metropolis : sent in pursuance of the resolution of the Court, 20th August, 1849.

  • London (England). Metropolitan Commission of Sewers.
Date:
[1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Second series. Concise statements of the main features of the plans for the drainage of the metropolis : sent in pursuance of the resolution of the Court, 20th August, 1849. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    JOHN HENRY CLIVE, Esq. Clanway Colliery, Tunstall, Staffordshire. The main features of my amended plan are— To separate the surface waters and rain floodings from the night-soil and liquid refuse of houses and places of business; because the surface waters are three times the quantity of the house drainage, and carry with them into the sewers a great quantity of gravel and useless dirt; and because the surface waters do not injure the salubrity of the Thames : To allow the surface waters to flow into the Thames by means of the channels in great part already provided : To have an open out-fall for the house-drainage above high-water mark ;—my plan insists on such an out-fall: To remove the night-soil and liquid refuse from the houses as fast as it arises, allowing no cesspools, and to discharge what cannot be profitably disposed of immediately, into the lower river beyond the precincts of the town: To provide for a subsoil or foundation drainage, in connection with the house- drainage : To provide stations and facilities to contracting parties, for the application of the sewage to profitable purposes, in portions as it is formed : To provide for the dilution of the sewage, for cleansing the channels, for dredging up solid deposits, and for ventilation. I make the following assumptions for the purposes of my plan; I assume— That the area of the Metropolis is sixty square miles, (60): that the population of this area is two and one half (2k) millions: that the house-drainage does not exceed one cubic foot per day per individual: that the rain waters discharged over this area average (10,000,000) ten millions of cubic feet per day: that every house have a constant and sufficient supply of water, this being a first condition of good drainage: that every house have communication with the tubular drains. The means I propose to take to effect the foregoing objects are the following