Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1859 edition. Excerpt: ....CHAPTER III. SUPPLY OF WATER TO TOWNS. QUALITY OF SUPPLY. 185. The questions which require to be considered before deciding upon the source and the means of supply of water to towns, are those connected with the qualities of the water itself, in the first instance; and in the second, those connected with the physical conditions (as regards level and distance), of the source to be resorted to, and of the town to be supplied. All waters, it is well known; are not equally adapted for domestic use; andytfapse which are so adapted are rarely found in the'localities where they are to be used; so that in almost all cases it is necessary, either to bring the supply from a distance, or to raise the waters above their natural level. 186. Of late years a great deal of discussion has taken place with respect to the precise qualities required in the waters selected for town supply, and the late General Board of Health especially endeavoured to establish some rather exclusive dogmas on the subject. The discussions have borne principally upon the socalled hardness, and the softness, of the waters; and the authorities last named pronounced themselves very decidedly in favour of the latter quality. But in this case, as in most other instances, there is far too much uncertainty with respect to the real action of the agents under consideration to warrant the assertion of any absolute law; and the choice of a source of water supply must be greatly affected by the local conditions of economy or expediency. Unquestionably the excessive hardness of the water it furnishes may be a valid objection to a particular source, especially when that hardness is permanent in its character: but some of the chemical combinations which produce the hardness of waters, if...
