WATER-SUPPLY AT PESHAWAR. H. W. Bellew, Civil Surgeon.
By Surgeon
(Concluded from
|
I
page
223.J
At the commencement of this paper it was stated that the Bara river crossed the Mahmaud tract obliquely towards the north-east. In tlii3 course it flows about a mile to the south of the city, which, with cantonments, it will be remembered, occupies the north-eastern verge of that elevated tract. Its level at this part, however, is too low to admit of its water
being drawn off for the use of the city or cantonments. Consequently, it has been necessary to go higher up the stream, to a spot some six or seven miles off, where a fort named after the river is planted right upon its bank, on the boundary line between British and independent territory. At this spot, immediately above and below the Bara fort, are drawn off' all the streams that supply the city and cantonments, as well as the Mahmaud and Ivhalil villages, many of which have no for both water domestic and agricultural purposes. These' with
wells'
drawn off from both sides of the river through dee Four are thus drawn off from the north bank within a few paces of each other. Three of them supply the Khalil lands and villages as far north as streams
are
cuttings
in either bank.
Lakarai,
and Malazai.
tonments,
as
well
as
them and the river.
The fourth
the lands and
supplies villages on
the
Regi,
city
and can-
its course between
This is the stream with which
we are
now
concerned. After
leaving
the river it flows
Akhun Mahomad, and then after
a
through the village of Landi course of a couple of miles
so at Garhi Sikandar Khan, divides into two main branches. One of these, after a couple of miles across open country, passes through the Naudih hamlet, and then enters cantonments on their extreme left. The other branch, after a similar course over the hamlet of SwStian, flows through the open country, passes rear of the Sudder Bazar, and enters the city at the in gully Kabul gate. Though both these streams flow through its limits only the former is distributed over cantonments. Both streams flow in open unprotected channels; but or
not vitiated to any serious extent by pollution tamination till they have entered the cantonment limits. receive in their passage ever impurities they may are
they
or
con-
"What-
through villages, they are probably for the most part got-rid of before they enter cantonments, either by deposition the water flows along or chemical decomposition; as freely six or seven miles from the oxposed to the air in its course of it as has to over pass river to the cantonments, especially long stretches of open country intervening between the contaminatthat the water of these ing villages. It is probable therefore the
two or
three
enters cantonments in much the same state as it left But once arrived in cantonments its contamination on increasing at every step, commences, and the pollution goes without any break to admit of its righting itself by deposition streams
the river.
of the foreign matter held in suspension, or its destruction by chemical decomposition and combination. This, as well as the nature of the pollution, will be more fully seen if we follow the cantonments to its end. It is course of each stream through only necessary here to premise that the station is very compact and crowded, the several regimental lines being closely packed together, without much intervening open space. The Naudih branch, entering cantonments at its extreme left the following regimental lines in passes consecutively through the order of their mention, viz., Native Cavalry, Native Infantry European Infantry, Native Infantry, European Infantry, Native
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
246 Infantry, European Artillery, It then flows
Cavalry.
missariat caitle
on
to
sheds, beyond
Infantry, and Native and thence to the comwhich it joins the other branch a Native
the
jail,
little way short of its entrance into the city. In its course it gives off, right and left, innumerable branches to the several regimental bazars, tanks, bungalows and gardens. it covers the entire station with
a perfect maze of water in every direction, and always in open, unguarded, superficial channels. At every step this stream and its branches is defiled and polluted in numberless ways. Camp followers ease themselves on its banks, and then wash in its stream. Surface drains trickle into it from all sides. Privies stand
In
fact,
courses, which
run
upon its very brink, and filth of all kinds is thrown into it. And this is the water used for drinking and domestic purposes by the bulk of the residents in cantonments. By many it is taken direct from the stream as it flows, but by most from the regimental and other tanks fed by it. It is always more or less turbid, and, under the most favourable conditions, very highly charged with decomposing organic matter. Even after filtering, boiling, and re-filtering, it taints vessels in which it is allowed to stand for
few
days, and this by experiment. Such is the existing a
all conscience it is bad
too in the cold
weather,
as
I have proved
state of the cantonment stream, and in enough; but that of its other branch,
which flows in rear of the Sudder Bazar to the city, is still worse. It no sooner enters the cantonments than it has three separate ranges of public latrines planted right upon its banks, and then it receives the sewage of the Sudder Bazar drains, as well as the
from the stables of
Native
Cavalry corps. Sheep it; mangy camels and foul linen are washed in it; natives perform their ablutions in it; and ducks and geese feed in it. After this it enters the city, where truly its last state is very considerably worse than its first. It enters the city by the Kabul gate, and winding along its lowest parts in a deep and wide channel between masonry embankments, passes out at the Hashtnaggar gate, and becomes lost in the marsh land beyond. In this course it receives on each side the sewers and drains, coming down from all parts of the city, With few exceptions, all the sewers and drains of the city condrainage
and horses
are
habitually
a
bathed in
verge towards this stream and empty into it. converted into the main sewer of the city.
It is in fact here
ordinary times the stream is small, shallow, and sluggish. margins are dotted with the rotting carcases of cats and dogs, with offul and all manner of filth scattered about the very edges of the stream ; whilst at short intervals on each side are the broad or narrow, as the case may be, lines of thick, black, stinking muck trickling from the sewers into the body of the stream, along the whole course of which are crowds of ducks and geese busily probing and groping and stirring up the mixIn
Its
[Decembeb 1,
1S70.
or remedy, owing to the main agent in the deterioration contamination, viz., sub-soil percolation, being beyond our
ment and
reach and control.
Norton tube wells
were
referred to
as
afford-
by which, in a few exceptional spots, the evil effects of this action might be overcome. But as their use is not of general applicability, these tube wells cannot be considered as more than a mere auxiliary means for increasing the general water-supply, in the event of its quantity failing at the ing
one
means
fountain head. no
In the case of the second source however, viz., the Bara river, such objection holds good. On the contrary, it will have that the
pollution and altogether and entirely preventable, and that the inferiority and impurity of the water, as it is now used in the cantonments and city, is capable of improvement and remedy ; and that too by very simple means, as been
seen
from the
foregoing description
contamination of this source of
water-supply
are
I shall now endeavour to show. I have
already
stated that some who have
their consideration are content that the war
should
come
from
its present
given water-supply
source
this
subject
for Pesha-
in the Bara river;
they believe that running water is superor to that of wells; only, whilst providing means for its being properly filtered before being used, they would insist on its stream being properly protected against contamination by fencing the because
channel
on
its course from the river to cantonments.
Others>
again, not considering these means sufficient or effective, are for bringing the water direct from the river to the cantonments and city, in iron or glazed ware pipes, and there storing it in
closed reservoirs for distribution. The latter of these
proposals, apart from the great expense, necessarily occur before it could be put into execution, is open to the objection that the pipes would be constantly getting choked by the deposition, especially at their joinings, of the earthy and other matter held in suspension by the water, whilst there would be no means of ascertaining and the
delay
that must
the exact spot at which the obstruction occurred.
And when
it is considered that such obstructions
might occur at any spot over an extent of seven or eight miles of piping, the objection becomes a serious one. But besides this, a still greater objection to this mode of conveying such water, as is that of the Bara river, consists in the fact that the organic and inorganic matters held in suspension in it?and they are by no means in small quantity?are always undergoing decomposition and evolving If such water is confined in a slow current, in narrow tubes shut off from free exposure to the air, and exposed to a high temperature, as would be the case under the circumstances contemplated, there would be no escape for the
deleterious gases.
evolved gases, nor any supply of oxygen for combination with the matters undergoing putrefaction and decomposition; and
in search of food. The fluid of this stream?it cannot be called water?is used by hundreds of the city people for drinking and domestic purposes. At different spots along the course of the stream great crocks, filled
the condition of the water would be worse on its arrival in cantonments than when it left the river. Whereas, on the contrary, if conducted in an open channel, freely exposed to the air, the noxious gases so generated would find a free
wall, or placed in convenient corners thirsty wayfarers. I have often seen men and down into this great sewer, and drink of its filthy
escape, and become dissipated as they formed; whilst the water absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere, as it flowed along, would purify itself by deposition of part, and oxidation of
ture
from
it,
for the women
let into the
are use
of
go it flowed.
stream as
rains, improve
After time
floods come down and flush the stream, and for the its quality, but as the floods subside it at once
reverts to its normal
condition
as
above
described.
"When
flushed by floods the whole city by preference drink of this stream for the reasons previously mentioned. Sometimes, when the stream has reached a degree of impurity beyond endurance, it is flushed by diverting the water from the fields and bringing the whole current through the city. Such is the nature of the second of the two sources of water-
supply available at Peshawar. In the case of the first, viz., wells, it has been shown that the acknowledged inferiority and known impurity of their water are equally incapable of improve-
consequently,
gradually
tho rest, of its contained impurities. Under the most favourable circumstances, the fouling of tho tubes, of itself, would be an evil not easy to dispose of, unless indeed the water were
thoroughly purified previous to its abstraction from This, however, does not appear to bo practicable circumstances of the case under consideration. The amount of foreign matter held in suspension
the river. under
tho
by tho Burii according to tho seasons; nevertheless, it is always considerable, and at special seasons, as after floods, excessive. Now, as rains aro of frequent occurrence on the Sufed Koh and Tirah mountains, amongst which the Bara river rises and flows, at all seasons of tho year, it fo jlows that the surface detritus washed into it from the liill sides, rice-swamps, village lands, river varies
DARJEELING-.?BY T. MATHEW.
December 1, 1870.]
&c., in its passage amongst the hills, must at all seasons keep its stream in a more or less turbid state. And, in fact, such is the usual state of its stream as found
at Bara fort, the point at which it would be tapped for the supply of the city and cantonments. It is true that the river at this part of its course has a clean pebbly bottom; hut the stream is always more or less turbid, if not absolutely muddy. its leaving a deposit, but this would Its here
velocity
not
be the
seasons
of
The whole series of reservoirs, filters, tanks, and cistern to be enclosed within railings or wire fencing, and covered by a light, well-ventilated roof. The annexed diagram will illustrate the
plan
above
proposed.
prevents
after the current lost its velocity, as would divergence from the main channel. It is only in continued drought that the Bara river assumes
case
result after its
anything
247
long
like
a
Its normal condition is more
clear stream.
or
less turbid. of caked and fissured mud one sees lining of the several water-courses in cantonments, and the country around, afford an indication of the amount of this turbidity and the extent of deposition resulting from it. It is found necessary from time to time to remove this sediment from Those
the
rough ridges
edges
the water-courses, to terated. From watching the
prevent
their
becoming
silted up and obli-
periodical cleansing of a water tank in the enabled to form some idea of the nature been have I jail garden, and amount of this sediment. In a tank about sixteen feet cantonment stream after square by eight feet deep, fed from the it has through the whole station, three months suffice
passed a deposit of thick, black, slimy, and stinking muck fourteen inches deep all over the bottom. No such objection on the score of sedimentary deposit holds good against the former of these proposals, which, though good in itself, falls short of the actual requirements. Believing as I do that running water, if only decently pure and clear, is far preferable to any other for drinking purposes, I would look to the Bara river for the water-supply of Peshawar, both city and cantonments, and would adopt the following plan as affording the best means of securing a good and wholesome supply of drinking water. I would bring the water into cantonments, with a branch leading off to the city, in a fresh open cutting of suitable depth and width; guard it against surface drainage by a raised embankment on each side ; and protect it against trespassers by strongwire fencing, as shown in the subjoined cross section. to furnish
A is the stream brought from the Bara river. B is a branch led irrigation of gardens, &c. After this, A flows successively into the series of reservoirs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, whence it passes into the filters, charcoal aad sand, a and b, beyond which it enters the great cistern C, from which the pipes of distribution are led off. DD is the set of side conduits connecting the reservoirs with A direct. The object of this arrangement is to off for
the^stream
allow of each reservoir being cleaned out once a week, without interfering with the purification of the water. Thus, by plugging conduits of reservoir 1, the stream A flows through conduit As soon as reservoir 1 is D into 2, 3, 4, and so on. cleaned, the stream A is re-admitted by removal of the plugs. Reservoir 2 is then shut off by plugging its conduits, and the water then flows from 1 through conduit D to 3, 4, and so on. In this manner provision is made for clearing out each reservoir in turn, without checking the process of purifying the water. EE mark the foundations of the shed covering the reservoirs, and FF the enclosure walls or railings. G is the gateway to the water-works enclosure. The advantages of this plan are, that, in a seven or eight miles course from the river to the place of consumption, the stream
exposed to the air, of which it absorbs a certain quantity, and thus improves in quality; further, it gets rid of much of the foreign matter floating in it by deposition, and by chemical combinations with the oxygen of the atmosphere. In the reservoirs again it is successively arrested in progress, and
is
allowed to clear itself by further deposition of sedimentary It is then passed through beds of charcoal and sand, where it is deprived of any remaining impurities before flowing
matter.
\Z7
into the distributory cistern. Again by channels, reservoirs, &c., can be kept
this mode all the water clean without
difficulty,
BB Embankments. C cutting and stream. FF wire fencing GG General surface of the ground. This cutting should extend in as straight a line as possible from and the river at Bara fort, to the highest part of
whilst any unusual or unforeseen source of contamination is at once detected and provided against. Another advantage is that the plan is comparatively inexpen-
there be connected by a masonry conduit with a series of reserThere should be six such reservoirs, each sixteen feet voirs.
the
cantonments,
square by line, with
eight an
feet
deep,
and
they
should extend in
interval of four feet between each.
a
straight
Each reservoir
should have a parapet a foot high above the out-flow level, and each should be furnished with two sets of open masonry conduits of saucer shape pattern:?One set for direct communication in a straight iine from the stream, through the series of reservoirs, to the filters beyond. And the other set at the side of the series of reservoir, for communication between each separately, and the stream direct. At the end of the series of reservoirs there should be two filter feet square and four feet deep, each tanks, eight
connected with the other, and the last of the reservoirs by a direct set and a side set of conduits. Beyond the filters should be a large circular and domed cistern for the reception of the
pure water, which should hence be distributed in small pipes to the several regimental lines, and there stored in a similar cistern, from which it could be drawn for use by the stop-cocks or other
approved means.
capable of immediate adoption : no small matter when urgent necessity for an immediate supply of wholesome
sive and
water is considered.
By Surgeon
(Concluded from
|
I
page
223.J
At the commencement of this paper it was stated that the Bara river crossed the Mahmaud tract obliquely towards the north-east. In tlii3 course it flows about a mile to the south of the city, which, with cantonments, it will be remembered, occupies the north-eastern verge of that elevated tract. Its level at this part, however, is too low to admit of its water
being drawn off for the use of the city or cantonments. Consequently, it has been necessary to go higher up the stream, to a spot some six or seven miles off, where a fort named after the river is planted right upon its bank, on the boundary line between British and independent territory. At this spot, immediately above and below the Bara fort, are drawn off' all the streams that supply the city and cantonments, as well as the Mahmaud and Ivhalil villages, many of which have no for both water domestic and agricultural purposes. These' with
wells'
drawn off from both sides of the river through dee Four are thus drawn off from the north bank within a few paces of each other. Three of them supply the Khalil lands and villages as far north as streams
are
cuttings
in either bank.
Lakarai,
and Malazai.
tonments,
as
well
as
them and the river.
The fourth
the lands and
supplies villages on
the
Regi,
city
and can-
its course between
This is the stream with which
we are
now
concerned. After
leaving
the river it flows
Akhun Mahomad, and then after
a
through the village of Landi course of a couple of miles
so at Garhi Sikandar Khan, divides into two main branches. One of these, after a couple of miles across open country, passes through the Naudih hamlet, and then enters cantonments on their extreme left. The other branch, after a similar course over the hamlet of SwStian, flows through the open country, passes rear of the Sudder Bazar, and enters the city at the in gully Kabul gate. Though both these streams flow through its limits only the former is distributed over cantonments. Both streams flow in open unprotected channels; but or
not vitiated to any serious extent by pollution tamination till they have entered the cantonment limits. receive in their passage ever impurities they may are
they
or
con-
"What-
through villages, they are probably for the most part got-rid of before they enter cantonments, either by deposition the water flows along or chemical decomposition; as freely six or seven miles from the oxposed to the air in its course of it as has to over pass river to the cantonments, especially long stretches of open country intervening between the contaminatthat the water of these ing villages. It is probable therefore the
two or
three
enters cantonments in much the same state as it left But once arrived in cantonments its contamination on increasing at every step, commences, and the pollution goes without any break to admit of its righting itself by deposition streams
the river.
of the foreign matter held in suspension, or its destruction by chemical decomposition and combination. This, as well as the nature of the pollution, will be more fully seen if we follow the cantonments to its end. It is course of each stream through only necessary here to premise that the station is very compact and crowded, the several regimental lines being closely packed together, without much intervening open space. The Naudih branch, entering cantonments at its extreme left the following regimental lines in passes consecutively through the order of their mention, viz., Native Cavalry, Native Infantry European Infantry, Native Infantry, European Infantry, Native
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
246 Infantry, European Artillery, It then flows
Cavalry.
missariat caitle
on
to
sheds, beyond
Infantry, and Native and thence to the comwhich it joins the other branch a Native
the
jail,
little way short of its entrance into the city. In its course it gives off, right and left, innumerable branches to the several regimental bazars, tanks, bungalows and gardens. it covers the entire station with
a perfect maze of water in every direction, and always in open, unguarded, superficial channels. At every step this stream and its branches is defiled and polluted in numberless ways. Camp followers ease themselves on its banks, and then wash in its stream. Surface drains trickle into it from all sides. Privies stand
In
fact,
courses, which
run
upon its very brink, and filth of all kinds is thrown into it. And this is the water used for drinking and domestic purposes by the bulk of the residents in cantonments. By many it is taken direct from the stream as it flows, but by most from the regimental and other tanks fed by it. It is always more or less turbid, and, under the most favourable conditions, very highly charged with decomposing organic matter. Even after filtering, boiling, and re-filtering, it taints vessels in which it is allowed to stand for
few
days, and this by experiment. Such is the existing a
all conscience it is bad
too in the cold
weather,
as
I have proved
state of the cantonment stream, and in enough; but that of its other branch,
which flows in rear of the Sudder Bazar to the city, is still worse. It no sooner enters the cantonments than it has three separate ranges of public latrines planted right upon its banks, and then it receives the sewage of the Sudder Bazar drains, as well as the
from the stables of
Native
Cavalry corps. Sheep it; mangy camels and foul linen are washed in it; natives perform their ablutions in it; and ducks and geese feed in it. After this it enters the city, where truly its last state is very considerably worse than its first. It enters the city by the Kabul gate, and winding along its lowest parts in a deep and wide channel between masonry embankments, passes out at the Hashtnaggar gate, and becomes lost in the marsh land beyond. In this course it receives on each side the sewers and drains, coming down from all parts of the city, With few exceptions, all the sewers and drains of the city condrainage
and horses
are
habitually
a
bathed in
verge towards this stream and empty into it. converted into the main sewer of the city.
It is in fact here
ordinary times the stream is small, shallow, and sluggish. margins are dotted with the rotting carcases of cats and dogs, with offul and all manner of filth scattered about the very edges of the stream ; whilst at short intervals on each side are the broad or narrow, as the case may be, lines of thick, black, stinking muck trickling from the sewers into the body of the stream, along the whole course of which are crowds of ducks and geese busily probing and groping and stirring up the mixIn
Its
[Decembeb 1,
1S70.
or remedy, owing to the main agent in the deterioration contamination, viz., sub-soil percolation, being beyond our
ment and
reach and control.
Norton tube wells
were
referred to
as
afford-
by which, in a few exceptional spots, the evil effects of this action might be overcome. But as their use is not of general applicability, these tube wells cannot be considered as more than a mere auxiliary means for increasing the general water-supply, in the event of its quantity failing at the ing
one
means
fountain head. no
In the case of the second source however, viz., the Bara river, such objection holds good. On the contrary, it will have that the
pollution and altogether and entirely preventable, and that the inferiority and impurity of the water, as it is now used in the cantonments and city, is capable of improvement and remedy ; and that too by very simple means, as been
seen
from the
foregoing description
contamination of this source of
water-supply
are
I shall now endeavour to show. I have
already
stated that some who have
their consideration are content that the war
should
come
from
its present
given water-supply
source
this
subject
for Pesha-
in the Bara river;
they believe that running water is superor to that of wells; only, whilst providing means for its being properly filtered before being used, they would insist on its stream being properly protected against contamination by fencing the because
channel
on
its course from the river to cantonments.
Others>
again, not considering these means sufficient or effective, are for bringing the water direct from the river to the cantonments and city, in iron or glazed ware pipes, and there storing it in
closed reservoirs for distribution. The latter of these
proposals, apart from the great expense, necessarily occur before it could be put into execution, is open to the objection that the pipes would be constantly getting choked by the deposition, especially at their joinings, of the earthy and other matter held in suspension by the water, whilst there would be no means of ascertaining and the
delay
that must
the exact spot at which the obstruction occurred.
And when
it is considered that such obstructions
might occur at any spot over an extent of seven or eight miles of piping, the objection becomes a serious one. But besides this, a still greater objection to this mode of conveying such water, as is that of the Bara river, consists in the fact that the organic and inorganic matters held in suspension in it?and they are by no means in small quantity?are always undergoing decomposition and evolving If such water is confined in a slow current, in narrow tubes shut off from free exposure to the air, and exposed to a high temperature, as would be the case under the circumstances contemplated, there would be no escape for the
deleterious gases.
evolved gases, nor any supply of oxygen for combination with the matters undergoing putrefaction and decomposition; and
in search of food. The fluid of this stream?it cannot be called water?is used by hundreds of the city people for drinking and domestic purposes. At different spots along the course of the stream great crocks, filled
the condition of the water would be worse on its arrival in cantonments than when it left the river. Whereas, on the contrary, if conducted in an open channel, freely exposed to the air, the noxious gases so generated would find a free
wall, or placed in convenient corners thirsty wayfarers. I have often seen men and down into this great sewer, and drink of its filthy
escape, and become dissipated as they formed; whilst the water absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere, as it flowed along, would purify itself by deposition of part, and oxidation of
ture
from
it,
for the women
let into the
are use
of
go it flowed.
stream as
rains, improve
After time
floods come down and flush the stream, and for the its quality, but as the floods subside it at once
reverts to its normal
condition
as
above
described.
"When
flushed by floods the whole city by preference drink of this stream for the reasons previously mentioned. Sometimes, when the stream has reached a degree of impurity beyond endurance, it is flushed by diverting the water from the fields and bringing the whole current through the city. Such is the nature of the second of the two sources of water-
supply available at Peshawar. In the case of the first, viz., wells, it has been shown that the acknowledged inferiority and known impurity of their water are equally incapable of improve-
consequently,
gradually
tho rest, of its contained impurities. Under the most favourable circumstances, the fouling of tho tubes, of itself, would be an evil not easy to dispose of, unless indeed the water were
thoroughly purified previous to its abstraction from This, however, does not appear to bo practicable circumstances of the case under consideration. The amount of foreign matter held in suspension
the river. under
tho
by tho Burii according to tho seasons; nevertheless, it is always considerable, and at special seasons, as after floods, excessive. Now, as rains aro of frequent occurrence on the Sufed Koh and Tirah mountains, amongst which the Bara river rises and flows, at all seasons of tho year, it fo jlows that the surface detritus washed into it from the liill sides, rice-swamps, village lands, river varies
DARJEELING-.?BY T. MATHEW.
December 1, 1870.]
&c., in its passage amongst the hills, must at all seasons keep its stream in a more or less turbid state. And, in fact, such is the usual state of its stream as found
at Bara fort, the point at which it would be tapped for the supply of the city and cantonments. It is true that the river at this part of its course has a clean pebbly bottom; hut the stream is always more or less turbid, if not absolutely muddy. its leaving a deposit, but this would Its here
velocity
not
be the
seasons
of
The whole series of reservoirs, filters, tanks, and cistern to be enclosed within railings or wire fencing, and covered by a light, well-ventilated roof. The annexed diagram will illustrate the
plan
above
proposed.
prevents
after the current lost its velocity, as would divergence from the main channel. It is only in continued drought that the Bara river assumes
case
result after its
anything
247
long
like
a
Its normal condition is more
clear stream.
or
less turbid. of caked and fissured mud one sees lining of the several water-courses in cantonments, and the country around, afford an indication of the amount of this turbidity and the extent of deposition resulting from it. It is found necessary from time to time to remove this sediment from Those
the
rough ridges
edges
the water-courses, to terated. From watching the
prevent
their
becoming
silted up and obli-
periodical cleansing of a water tank in the enabled to form some idea of the nature been have I jail garden, and amount of this sediment. In a tank about sixteen feet cantonment stream after square by eight feet deep, fed from the it has through the whole station, three months suffice
passed a deposit of thick, black, slimy, and stinking muck fourteen inches deep all over the bottom. No such objection on the score of sedimentary deposit holds good against the former of these proposals, which, though good in itself, falls short of the actual requirements. Believing as I do that running water, if only decently pure and clear, is far preferable to any other for drinking purposes, I would look to the Bara river for the water-supply of Peshawar, both city and cantonments, and would adopt the following plan as affording the best means of securing a good and wholesome supply of drinking water. I would bring the water into cantonments, with a branch leading off to the city, in a fresh open cutting of suitable depth and width; guard it against surface drainage by a raised embankment on each side ; and protect it against trespassers by strongwire fencing, as shown in the subjoined cross section. to furnish
A is the stream brought from the Bara river. B is a branch led irrigation of gardens, &c. After this, A flows successively into the series of reservoirs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, whence it passes into the filters, charcoal aad sand, a and b, beyond which it enters the great cistern C, from which the pipes of distribution are led off. DD is the set of side conduits connecting the reservoirs with A direct. The object of this arrangement is to off for
the^stream
allow of each reservoir being cleaned out once a week, without interfering with the purification of the water. Thus, by plugging conduits of reservoir 1, the stream A flows through conduit As soon as reservoir 1 is D into 2, 3, 4, and so on. cleaned, the stream A is re-admitted by removal of the plugs. Reservoir 2 is then shut off by plugging its conduits, and the water then flows from 1 through conduit D to 3, 4, and so on. In this manner provision is made for clearing out each reservoir in turn, without checking the process of purifying the water. EE mark the foundations of the shed covering the reservoirs, and FF the enclosure walls or railings. G is the gateway to the water-works enclosure. The advantages of this plan are, that, in a seven or eight miles course from the river to the place of consumption, the stream
exposed to the air, of which it absorbs a certain quantity, and thus improves in quality; further, it gets rid of much of the foreign matter floating in it by deposition, and by chemical combinations with the oxygen of the atmosphere. In the reservoirs again it is successively arrested in progress, and
is
allowed to clear itself by further deposition of sedimentary It is then passed through beds of charcoal and sand, where it is deprived of any remaining impurities before flowing
matter.
\Z7
into the distributory cistern. Again by channels, reservoirs, &c., can be kept
this mode all the water clean without
difficulty,
BB Embankments. C cutting and stream. FF wire fencing GG General surface of the ground. This cutting should extend in as straight a line as possible from and the river at Bara fort, to the highest part of
whilst any unusual or unforeseen source of contamination is at once detected and provided against. Another advantage is that the plan is comparatively inexpen-
there be connected by a masonry conduit with a series of reserThere should be six such reservoirs, each sixteen feet voirs.
the
cantonments,
square by line, with
eight an
feet
deep,
and
they
should extend in
interval of four feet between each.
a
straight
Each reservoir
should have a parapet a foot high above the out-flow level, and each should be furnished with two sets of open masonry conduits of saucer shape pattern:?One set for direct communication in a straight iine from the stream, through the series of reservoirs, to the filters beyond. And the other set at the side of the series of reservoir, for communication between each separately, and the stream direct. At the end of the series of reservoirs there should be two filter feet square and four feet deep, each tanks, eight
connected with the other, and the last of the reservoirs by a direct set and a side set of conduits. Beyond the filters should be a large circular and domed cistern for the reception of the
pure water, which should hence be distributed in small pipes to the several regimental lines, and there stored in a similar cistern, from which it could be drawn for use by the stop-cocks or other
approved means.
capable of immediate adoption : no small matter when urgent necessity for an immediate supply of wholesome
sive and
water is considered.
