Report on the quality and quantity of the water supplied to the metropolis in the year 1866, as compared with the year 1851 : and remarks on the advantages and difficulties of a constant supply / by H. Letheby.

  • Henry Letheby
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the quality and quantity of the water supplied to the metropolis in the year 1866, as compared with the year 1851 : and remarks on the advantages and difficulties of a constant supply / by H. Letheby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    there will not only be an enormous waste of water and the depriving of others of it who are at a higher level, but there will also be great danger to property from the escape of the water and the flooding of houses. Anything indeed like the care- lessness which now prevails in respect of the taps and fittings, woidd cause such a waste of water as no source of supply could maintain ; and I much doubt if the London public would submit to the strict supervision and the severe obligations which a well regulated constant supply demands. It is well enough to entertain the matter in its specu- lative and abstract relations as an unquestionable advantage, but it is another thing to fulfil the obligations which its practical adoption imposes. This is manifested by the disinclination of the occupiers of houses to avail themselves of the Act of Parliament by making proper provision for it; for what could be easier, if a constant sup- ply were really desired, then the specified legal process for obtaining it. I believe that the London water companies are not adverse to such a supply, but they very properly insist upon the conditions which are necessary for its adoption and mainten- ance; for they look with alarm at the conse- quences of it with the present state of things. Whenever in the City we have guaranteed that there should be no waste of water, by providing a
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