MR. KAY-SHUTTLEWORTHasked the President of the Board of Trade, What information he has obtained as to the dearth of water in a large district of London, Bermondsey and Rotherhithe, supplied by one of the Metropolitan Water Companies; and what steps are being taken by the Board of Trade and by the Water Company to avert the dangers to health which would result from a continued deficiency in the water supply?
§ MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUEsaid, he had received that morning the Report of the Inspector of the Board of Trade on that subject. It came to this—that the complaint of a deficiency of water at Bermondsey and Rotherhithe was well founded; that for several days the deficiency was of a serious character; that the immediate cause of the deficiency was the choking up of the filtering beds by weeds; but the real cause of it was a want of a sufficient head or store of water at the Company's works; another cause which had contributed to the mischief being the defective fittings in the poorer houses of the district itself. The water company was taking the only step calculated to avert danger to the water supply in future by erecting at a large cost some important works, including a large reservoir, at Nunhead, At the present moment the 347 supply of the district was ample; but he was bound to add that what had occurred ought to induce the water company to carry on the necessary improvements with all possible speed, as the only means by which they could be prepared for such emergencies as had occurred the other day.