[Chapter IX.]
"STREET WATERING."
The effective watering of streets and roads in any town during the summer months is an important matter, not only on sanitary grounds, but also from the fact that considerable damage may be caused in the neighbouring shops, warehouses, and dwellings, if something is not done to prevent the clouds of detritus and decaying refuse, of which the dust is composed, from being blown about. In the metropolis of London alone, the watering of the streets and roads employs, in addition to a staff of surveyors, inspectors, and foremen, about 1,500 men, and an equal number of horses and carts; and in order to lay the dust effectually, about 30,000 tons of water must be spread upon the streets every dry day, the cost of this gigantic work being nearly £200,000 per annum upon an average of 120 days, when watering becomes necessary.
The most commonly known method in this country for watering the streets and roads of our towns is that of carrying the water in wheeled barrels, carts, or vans, and distributing it therefrom through a perforated pipe upon the surface of the road as the vehicle is drawn along by a horse attached to the shafts.
The points of importance to be considered under this system are as follows:—
(1.) The number and position of the stand posts or hydrants, from which the water carts are to be filled, and whether they shall be "swan neck" stand posts or "valve" hydrants.
(2.) The size and form of the body of the water carts, as regards its cubical capacity, its weight, strength, lightness of draught, durability, width of spread, and shape of jet, so as to ensure evenness of supply without leaving pools of water or dry patches after it has passed, or causing that unpleasant cloud of dust which so often follows the cart.
A wonderful improvement in all these respects has been lately effected by the introduction of Mr. E. H. Bayley's Patent Hydrostatic Van, of which I shall speak more in detail hereafter.
(3.) Another point of some importance is the material of which the hose shall be constructed, if valve hydrants and not swan necks are existing. My opinion is that it should be of leather, as being roughly handled and little cared for; canvass hose, although the cheapest, is not sufficiently durable, and is consequently the dearest in the end; and (4), lastly, the driver and horse should both be of some intelligence. A check should also, if possible, be kept upon the former to see that he performs his allotted task, and does his proper number of rounds. Mr. Bayley has also introduced for this purpose a "Tell Tale Indicator," which records automatically the quantity of water used; it cannot be tampered with, and registers on a dial outside the van each load of water delivered, so that the surveyor or other officer can see at a glance whether the driver is attending to his work, or whether the hot weather has made him find his throat drier than the roads, and he has been spending some of his time in moistening it. In the year 1856, Mr. Scott, C.E., the chief surveyor of the parish of St. Pancras, kept an account of the daily round of an ordinary water cart, when he found that through an average working day of 10¼ hours, exclusive of the breakfast and dinner hours, the cart took one hour and twenty minutes filling, fifty minutes only in distributing the water on the roads, and eight hours and seven minutes in travelling to spread the water and back to the stand posts. It was obvious that these were placed too far apart, and by the subsequent introduction of additional standposts Mr. Scott found, in the year 1867, that the filling occupied two hours, the distribution one hour and thirty minutes, and the travelling to and fro six hours and thirty minutes, so that it may be assumed, with an ordinary two-wheeled water cart, that two-thirds of the day is spent in travelling, one-fifth in filling, and about one-seventh in the actual spreading.
To many of my readers Bayley's Van is probably as familiar as it is to me, but it may notwithstanding be well to describe it. It is a handsome vehicle in appearance, the body being made of wrought iron plates, and measures 8 ft. in length by 4 ft. 8 in. in breadth, and 2 ft. in depth, holding 450 gallons. It is mounted on springs upon four wheels hung upon Bayley's patent axles, and has a pair of light shafts; it can easily be fitted with a break for hilly roads, and there being no weight at any time upon the horse's back, he is relieved from any severe strains.