Abstract
E paper on “National Inland Water Survey“by X Dr. Brysson Cunningham, read at the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on March 11, set out the scope of a survey required, not merely to serve the responsibilities of the Ministry of Health in regard to water supply for domestic purposes, but also to meet the needs of industry and commerce, the possible development of hydro-electric motive power, the requirements of irrigation, fisheries and navigation, the drainage of low-lying lands, the prevention of floods and other equally important matters. It defined a national survey, in the technical and only satisfactory sense of the word, as a comprehensive and accurate measurement and complete registration, so far as may be practicable, of all the water to be found in a country, whether contained in lakes, rivers, streams, wells, artificial reservoirs, or subterranean strata and cavities. A survey, it stated, should be regarded as a purely scientific undertaking, necessitating special technical knowledge and supervision, and in order to ensure its absolute impartiality, where so many different and possibly conflicting purposes are to be served, it should, as recommended by the Committee of the British Association, be conducted by an organisation “independent of any interest in the administration, control or use of water”, such an organisation being available in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, which is equipped for work of this kind and possesses the essential scientific authority.
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National Inland Water Survey. Nature 135, 443–444 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135443a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135443a0