APPENDIX 1 - LEATHER'S DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

The conditions which Leather based his sewerage scheme on (c.1850) largely coincide with present day practice and were as follow:

  1. That the sewers should be laid at such levels as will afford at all times an effectual underdrainage to every dwelling in the District.
  2. That the Termini of the principal Branch Sewers should be laid at such levels as would admit of their being carried forward with competent inclination or slope to any extent to which there might seem a reasonable probability that further extensions would be required.
  3. That the main Trunk and Principal Branch Sewers should be projected in such lines as would admit of the Minor Branch Sewers and Street Drains being carried up from them with constantly increasing declivity.
  4. That the Minor Branch Sewers should be brought into the Principal Branch Sewers and the Principal Branch Sewers into the Main Trunk by the shortest practicable course, so as to secure the scouring effect of every accession of water as early as practicable.
  5. That the Sewers should be of sufficient and only sufficient size or capacity to carry off all the water which would be likely to fall upon the surface they might have to drain; that the dimensions of the Sewers should (as far as practicable) be increased by gradual increments proportionate to the accessions of water which such Sewers might have to receive on their route from additional branches so that the hydraulic mean depth and slope of the surface might be kept as nearly uniform as practicable and the whole system thus be kept in train.
  6. That wherever a constant run of water can be had through a Main Sewer it is extremely desirable to secure it; and where a constant run cannot be had, the means of obtaining an occasional scour should not be neglected.
  7. That the Main Trunk Sewer ought to be taken to its Outfall in the most direct practicable course, consistent with economy not only for the avoidance of angles, but in order to secure the full effect of the whole of the fall which circumstances may admit.

APPENDIX 2 - THE LETTER OF THE LAW

1 The 'Leeds Improvement Act, 1842' was the first of a series of privately promoted Parliamentary measures which gave the Council the power to construct common sewers and to carry out other drainage works. The powers obtained through this pioneering Act also enabled the Council to ensure that:

2 Following the second major Cholera outbreak, in 1847, the Government was propelled into the introduction of the 'Public Health Act, 1848'. This Act created a General Board of Health (Edwin Chadwick was one of its three members). During its five years existence, the Board was empowered to provide sewerage systems for the water-borne collection of domestic wates. A Medical Officer of Health could also be appointed. Despite the patent need for public health schemes, the vested interests of landowners and others formed a vociferous lobby against the granting of the necessary powers to any public body. When the Board of Health was abolished, the 'Times' concluded that "the English People would prefer to take the chance of Cholera, rather than be bullied into health". The same newspaper called the 1848 Act "a reckless invasion of property and liberty". Even so, the Act was only mandatory in towns where the death rate was greater than 22 per thousand of population or where 10% of ratepayers petitioned for its adoption. After the demise of the Board of Health, the Privy Council was made responsible for public health (1858) and John Simon was appointed as Medical Officer.

3 The 'Public Health Act, 1875' was a measure of great significance on a national scale. So far as Leeds was concerned however, this Act was partly a consolidation of the existing legislation. It went further in that it allowed any local authority to carry sewers "into, through, or under any lands whatsoever within their district", provided that reasonable notice in writing was given to the owner or occupier. The 1875 Act also declared that all existing and future sewers within a Local Authority district would belong to that Local Authority - i.e. they would be public sewers. Exceptions were to be any sewers which had been constructed privately for profit. Under the 1875 Act, urban authorities could, at their own desire, keep a map of sewerage in their districts.

4 The 'Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) Act, 1876' prohibited the pollution of rivers by the discharge of sewage and other waste material. A possible weakness of this Act was that the local authorities which were made responsible for the enforcement of its provisions were often the very bodies which were causing the pollution, though the discharge of sewage. Furthermore, each local authority was apt to be interested in river quality only within its own boundaries. The 'Local Government Act, 1888' however, empowered county councils or joint committees of county councils to enforce the 1876 Act. The Yorkshire West Riding Rivers Board, set up in 1896, was more vigilant than most. It is sometimes remarked that the success of this body was at least partly due to the fact that its administrative boundary covered almost the whole of a natural catchment area.

5 The 'Public Health Act, 1936', like the great 1875 Act before it, confirmed that sewerage and sewage disposal were to be administered by local authorities. It went further than merely empowering the local councils however: effective waste-water management was now required. The Act required local authorities to provide the necessary sewers for the 'effectual' drainage of their districts. This requirement embraced both foul sewage and surface water run-off. The Act gave the occupier of any domestic premises the right to connect to the public sewers, but industrial effluent could only be discharged with the consent of the local authority. The power of the local authority to lay sewers across any land was reinforced. Furthermore, any private person or company constructing a new sewer could be required to upsize or otherwise amend the design of this sewer if the local authority considered that such changes would benefit the sewerage system as a whole.

6 The 'Water Act, 1973' created 10 Regional Water Authorities in England and Wales. These Authorities inherited the accumulated assets and responsibilities of local authorities and other public undertakings in the area of Water Supply, Sewerage and Sewage Disposal. These assets came from:-

The Act obliged the Water Authorities to enter into Agency Agreements with the local authorities for the design, construction and operation of the sewerage system within the area of each local authority.

7 The 'Water Act, 1989' required the functions and assets of the Water Authorities to be transferred to 10 Water Service Companies. The public water supply, sewerage and sewage treatment service was 'privatised'. This Act brought about a fundamental change in the basis upon which the sewerage function was to be administered. The provision of sewerage henceforth was to be a commercial undertaking - carried out for profit.

APPENDIX 3 - BIBLIOGRAPHY

LEEDS

"The Means of Providing an Effectual Sewerage for the Town of Leeds"(1845) J.W.Leather

"The Best Mode of Obtaining an Additional and Purer Supply of Water for the Borough of Leeds"(1856) Edward Filliter (Leeds CC)

"Leeds Intercepting Sewers and Disposal of Rainfall"(1883) Thomas Hewson (Leeds CC)

"Description of the Leeds Sewage Works"(1884) Thomas Hewson (Leeds CC)

"Leeds Sewage Disposal"(1906) G.A.Hart (Leeds CC)

"The Main Sewerage and Sewage Purification Works, Leeds"(1925) Leeds CC

"The Leeds Main Drainage System"(1955) D.Currie (unpublished, Leeds CC)

"Improvement in Early Victorian Leeds"(1971) Derek Fraser (Thoresby Soc. Miscellany, Vol 15 pt 1)

"The Politics of Leeds Water" (1971) - ditto

"Sorocold's Waterworks at Leeds, 1694" - F.Williamson and W.B.Crump (Thoresby Society)

"The History of Leeds' Water Supply" (1978) - Yorkshire Water Authority

"Municipal Government in Leeds: 1835-1914" - Brian Barker (from "Municipal Reform and the Industrial City" - Ed.D.Fraser)

"History of Modern Leeds" - Ed.D.Fraser

Leeds City Council Proceedings: Annual Reports of the Sewerage Committee

GENERAL

"Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population" (1842) - Edwin Chadwick (HMSO)

"Tables and Diagrams for Use in Designing Sewers and Water Mains" (1897) - W.S.Crimp and C.E.Bruges

"Cholera, 1832" - R.J.Morris

"King Cholera" - N.Longmate

"The Return of the Plague: British Society and the Cholera, 1831-32" - Michael Durey

"Technical Committee on Storm Overflows and the Disposal of Storm Sewage" (1963) - Ministry of Housing and Local Government (HMSO)

"A Social History of Engineering" - W.H.G.Armytage

"Victorian Water Engineers" (1981) - G.M.Binnie (T.Telford)

"The British Constitution" (1972) - J.Harvey and L.Bather

"Science and Public Health" - Open University (AST 281 10)

The above story has since been updated and expanded. The fully illustrated version has been published by Leeds City Council, Department of Highways and Transportation (December 1997, 40 pages, ISBN 0 902384 24 4, price £4):-

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