The sewers of London may be arranged into two distinct
groups--according to the side of the Thames on which they are situate.
Now the essential difference between these two classes of sewers lies
in the elevation of the several localities whence the sewers carry the
refuse to the Thames.
The chief differences in the circumstances of the people north
and south of the river are shown in the annexed table from the
Registrar-General’s returns:--
-------------------------+-------+-------+-------
| | North | South
| |side of|side of
|London.| the | the
| | River.| River.
-------------------------+-------+-------+--------
Elevation of the ground, | | |
in feet, above Trinity | | |
high-water mark | 39 | 51 | 5
| | |
Density, or number of | | |
persons to an acre, | | |
1849 | 30 | 52 | 14
| | |
Deaths from Cholera to | | |
10,000 persons living, | | |
in 60 weeks, ending | | |
Nov. 24, 1849 | 66 | 44 | 127
| | |
Deaths from all causes | | |
annually to 10,000 | | |
persons (5000 males, | | |
5000 females) living, | | |
during the 7 years, | | |
1838-44 | 252 | 251 | 257
-------------------------+-------+-------+--------
Here, it will be seen, that while the houses on the north side of the
river stand, on an average, 51 feet above the high-water mark of the
Thames, those on the south side are only 5 feet above it. The effect
of this is shown most particularly in the deaths from cholera in 1849,
which were nearly three times as many on the south as on the north side
of the Thames. It is said, officially, that “of the 15 square miles of
the Urban district on the south side of the river Thames, _three_ miles
are from six to seven feet below high-water mark, so that the locality
may be said to be drained only for four hours out of the twelve, and
during these four hours very imperfectly.... When the tide rises above
the orifices of the sewers, the whole drainage of the district is
stopped until the tide recedes again, rendering the whole system of
sewers in Kent and Surrey only an _articulation of cesspools_.”
That this is but the fact, the following table of the elevation in feet
above the Trinity high-water mark, as regards the several districts on
the Surrey side of the Thames, may be cited as evidence.
Elevation.
Lewisham 28
Wandsworth 22
Greenwich 8
Camberwell 4
Lambeth 3
St. Saviour (Southwark) 2
St. Olave 2
Bermondsey 0
Rotherhithe 0
St. George’s (Southwark) 0
Newington (below high water) 2
From these returns, made by Capt. Dawson, R.E., the difficulty, to use
no stronger word, attending the sewerage of the Surrey district is
shown at once. There is no flow to be had, or--the word more generally
used, no _run_ for the sewage. In parts of the north of England it used
to be a general, and still is a partial, saying among country-people
who are figuratively describing what they account impossible. “Ay,
when? _When_ water runs up bank.” This is a homely expression of the
difficulties attending the Surrey sewerage.
There is, as regards these Surrey, more than the Kent, sewers, another
evil which promotes the “articulation of cesspools.” Some of these
sewers have “dead-ends,” like places which in the streets (a parallel
case enough) are known as “no thoroughfare,” and in these sewers it is
seldom, in any state of the tide, that flushing can be resorted to;
consequently these cesspool-like sewers remain uncleansed, or have to
be cleansed by manual labour, the matter being drawn up into the street
or road.