The water question : a letter, addressed (by permission) to the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Derby, K.G., explaining a proposal for the supply of the metropolis from the higher sources of the Thames in conjunction with the storage of surplus waters / by J. Bailey Denton.

  • John Bailey Denton
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The water question : a letter, addressed (by permission) to the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Derby, K.G., explaining a proposal for the supply of the metropolis from the higher sources of the Thames in conjunction with the storage of surplus waters / by J. Bailey Denton. 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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    for drinking and cooking, which must be perfectly pure, and that required for other purposes, which need be only clear and fresh. The utmost quantity required in the former case does not reach a gallon each person, so that three millions of gallons daily would satisfy the metropolis on this head. Thus, then, either the water now pumped up by the Thames and Severn Canal Company and thrown into the Severn, or the water lost by absorption from the river Churn in its passage over the oolitic porous outcrop, would suffice ; or a nearer supply, to be obtained by Artesian wells in the chalk, or the lower green sand, would serve for the purpose better. But if the supply of perfectly pure water be extended to washing and all kitchen uses, the quantity required will probably reach three gallons each person, and then ten instead of three millions of gallons will be required. And such being the case, I would submit for the consideration of your Lordship and the country at large, whether the coming necessities of other districts should be disregarded, because it is inconvenient and costly to establish in the metro- polis one service of water for the kitchen use and another for water closets, street purposes, &c. The opinions of our chemists show that the softening process can now be profitably carried out on an extensive scale {see Appendix), and if one service only undergoes the process, the objections hitherto raised to its general adoption fall to the ground. J. BAILEY DENTON. 22, Whitehall Place, Westminster, December 28thj 1866.
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