One hundred years ago
In vain have the thunders of Acts of Parliament been launched against those who defile the waters of the River Lea. They might just as well have been so many Papal Bulls. Under the very eyes and nose of the Imperial Parliament, in the capital of the Empire, pollution by sewage, pollution by manufacturers, pollution by every kind of filth and refuse, goes on as if no efforts had been made to stop it. Elsewhere the process of pollution goes on practically un- checked. In a short time, there will not be a river, hardly a brook, in the country which will deliver its tribute waves to the sea untainted. The results not merely to the amenities of life, but to the actual health of the nation, are terrible to contemplate. Our rivers, instead of swarming with life and being highways of health and pleasure, seem likely to become dead and deadly sewers.
Spectator, 13 September 1884
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