§ MR. TATTON EGERTON (Cheshire, Knutsford)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the quality of the water supplied by the Grand Junction Water Company, which contained on 24th July 33 percent, more organic ammonia than the sample taken 1349 on 23rd July, 1889, and nearly double the amount of that contained in the Chelsea Water Company's water, namely, 16.4, as against 9.2, per 100 mil.; also the solids, on heating, showed a marked blackening, and the colour was of a marked yellow colour; whether this all indicates bad filtration; and what penalty attaches to supplying water of such an inferior character?
§ * THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. RITCHIE,) Tower Hamlets, St. George'sMy attention had not been called to the quality of the water of the Grand Junction Water Company on the date referred to, until my hon. Friend gave notice of his question. I do not know where my hon. Friend gets his figures from. I may, however, say that, so far as regards the water supplied by this company in the earlier part of the present month, the Report of Dr. Frankland, by whom analyses of the water of the London Water Companies are made on behalf of my Department, was to the effect that the improved quality which the Thames-derived waters have of late exhibited had been maintained. With regard to the supply on the date referred to, the result of the inquiries which I have caused to be made is, that I find that on July 24, and for some days before and after that date, the Thames was swollen with rain, and the water was turbid and highly tinted with colouring matter, no doubt mainly derived from the abundant vegetation, cut grass, &c, spread about in the Thames Valley. At the same time, there can be no question that the want of adequate filtration arrangements prevented the company from effectually coping with the difficulties referred to. The attention of the Directors has been repeatedly called in the Reports of the Water Examiner of the Metropolis to the necessity for increased filters, and I am glad to learn that, in view of the evidence which has been afforded of the need for a larger filtering area, in order to deal with exceptional conditions of the river, the company have intimated that the construction of additional filters will be undertaken without delay. Dr. Tidy, by whom the waters of the company are analysed, states that no such thing as organic ammonia exists in the water, but is manufactured during the process of analysis. The special material to which 1350 the colouring matter of the water is due, yields large quantities of the so-called organic ammonia, the quantitative estimation of which is no reliable test whatever of pollution. In justice to the Water Company I think it right to state that I am informed by the Water Examiner that the filters, as now existing, are capable of dealing satisfactorily with the water when the river is in a normal condition, and the Directors appear to have been erroneously impressed by the fact that during the past 18 months the company's water showed on several occasions, in Dr. Frankland's tables of the results of his chemical analysis, the smallest proportion of organic impurity of any of the Thames-deriving companies. In fact, in its average proportion of organic elements during 1889 the company appears to stand, with the Lambeth Company, second in degree of purity of the river-drawing companies. I see no ground in the communications which I have received on the subject for the suggestion that the appearance of the water, or the results of the analysis, show sewage contamination.
§ MR. T. EGERTONIs the right hon. Gentleman able to say whether the water of the Grand Junction Company did not contain much higher percentage of organic ammonia than the water from the Chelsea Company?
§ * MR. RITCHIEThere is no doubt that the filtering power of the Grand Junction Company, as compared with that of the Chelsea Company, is deficient. Assuming that what my hon. Friend says is correct, although I have no knowledge of that, it is undoubtedly due to that fact.
§ MR. T. EGERTONMy authority is the public analyst of the Vestry of St. George's, Hanover Square, who is also analyst for Kensington.