City in want of good water

Editor, British Colonist: My attention has been drawn to the great want of a wholesome supply of water for the town of Victoria, and, during the last few days of more than ordinary hot weather, the want of good water has been more severely felt.

Aside from the great advantage in a domestic point of view, that of a sanitary consideration should not be lost sight of; for most assuredly, the accumulation of sewage and filth, year after year, in the gutters and streets of the town cannot be suffered to continue in an aggravated form with impunity.

Frequent warnings have been given by medical men of the dangers that must necessarily arise from local causes. The clayey subsoil upon which the town is built prevents the absorption of obnoxious gases; consequently, the surface soil, only a few inches deep, contains an element that will sooner or later burst upon this community with a dire revenge, in the shape of cholera and epidemics, for neglecting nature’s first principle, self-protection.

The next evil to that of disease is a calamity that may fall upon us at any time, fire; and in the event of a large fire, where shall we obtain a supply of water?

I have been assured by the representative of one of the oldest fire insurance companies that little doubt can be entertained but that the several companies who have agencies here would promote and support a water company based upon such principles as would assure to the town of Victoria a powerful and an abundant supply of good water.

The writer of these lines has no speculative object in view in drawing the attention of residents and property holders to the importance of grasping this subject of the completion of a system that will supply the want above alluded to, but would be glad to assist to the utmost in carrying out the details of a mutual joint stock company for that purpose.

Where (as I believe they are) the lives of all are in jeopardy, the masses must assist to carry the object to perfection, and it is not beyond the reach of our present circumstances if all will lend a willing hand.

I am prepared to shew on a very rough estimate that the water from Elk Lake, which has an elevation of about one hundred and fifty feet above a mean level of Victoria town site, can be brought into the town and supplied to every house at a reasonable cost by the present population; and as the town grows, which it assuredly will, the shareholders would not only have the benefit of a great desideratum, but they would find a source of profit on their investment.

It is not with any spirit of competition to the present Water Company that these suggestions are made, but “necessity has no law,” and I am persuaded that the company to which I allude will yield to the force of circumstances and unite in carrying out a more extended operation, and one that will not only be a great boon to ourselves but an encouragement to others to build up their homes amongst us.

The above stock would be within the reach of every person whose interest it is to promote that of Victoria by holding a few shares, whereby they would reap the benefit in the price that the water would be supplied to them, bearing in mind that the proposition presented to the public is not given as a money-making speculation, the object proposed being to supply the town with good wholesome water at the lowest cost, paying to the shareholders a nominal interest only.

As an illustration I will give a house now paying one dollar per week for miserable dirty water, in stinted quantities, whereas by the project now submitted an abundant never-failing supply of good water could be supplied to the same house, yielding fair interest on the capital invested, at one dollar per month.

If the above few suggestions, given in a crude and hasty manner, should lead the citizens of Victoria to entertain them, it will be gratifying to me to know that I have merely been the instrument in bringing an important subject to their notice, which I am convinced every reader will endorse as positively necessary for the health and prosperity of the town of Victoria.

The Daily British Colonist and Victoria Chronicle, August 31, 1867