Manchester fielded a legal team headed by Sir Edmund Beckett QC, a leading practitioner at the parliamentary bar: they called witnesses to make the case for the scheme.
Manchester waterworks supplied an area containing 800,000 inhabitants, about 380,000 of whom lived within the city boundary.
In dry summers, the water supply had to be cut off at night to conserve stocks.
In 1868, admittedly before the works in Longdendale were complete, this had happened for 75 days.
 Water consumption was about 22 gallons a day per person, but it was that low because Manchester had discouraged water-closets and baths in working-class housingThe waterworks did not make a profit; by Act of Parliament the total water rate could not exceed 10d per pound rental within the city; 12d in the supplied area outside the city (to have equal rates would be unfair to the rate payers who stood as guarantors for very large capital expenditure) Manchester was not profiteering from its present water supply, nor was it out to profit from the scheme: it would accept whatever obligation to supply areas along the aqueduct route (and/or  price cap on sales outside the city) the committee saw fit to impose.

There was no possibility of adding further reservoirs in Longdendale and no suitable unclaimed sites south of the Lune; the headwaters of the Lune were in limestone country, making both water quality (soft water was preferred by domestic customers and needed for textile processing) and reservoir construction problematical.
 Thirlmere water was exceptionally pure whereas water pumped from the sandstone even when drinkable generally had considerable permanent hardness
Taking water from Ullswater rather than Thirlmere would cost about £370,000 more.
Thirlmere had higher rainfall than Longdendale (even in the driest year, 72 inches should be expected) and (by raising the water level) storage sufficient to allow the supply of fifty million gallons a day through any reasonably sustained drought: the reliable supply from Longdendale was only half that.
The aqueduct to Manchester would (at different points on its route) be a tunnel through rock, a buried culvert constructed by cut-and-cover, or cast-iron pipes (for example where the aqueduct crossed a river, it would normally do so by an inverted syphon in pipes).
Five 40-inch diameter pipes would be provided to take the full fifty million gallons per day, but initially only one pipe would be laid - others would be added as demand increased.

The former secretary of the Duke of Richmond's Royal Commission gave evidence of the scheme they had considered, which involved raising the level of Thirlmere 64 feet.
Examination of the area around the outlet showed that Thirlmere had previously overflowed at a level 65 feet higher than at present.

 Hence  "it would only be necessary to dam up the present outlet ... to raise the lake to its original level"; were this done  "the lake when filled will be more in keeping with the grandeur of the hills around" Variations in reservoir water level would only expose a gravel or shingle shore (as happened now with natural fluctuations in level): there was nothing in the water to support the formation of mudbanks.
The Commission had thought it would be unreasonable for London to take water from the Lakes without considering the needs of the industrial North; it had remarked favourably on Manchester supplying nearby towns as an instance of how by combination small towns might secure a better supply than they could by their own efforts.
The same principle applied to supplying towns on the route of the aqueduct.
Manchester fielded a legal team headed by Sir Edmund Beckett QC, a leading practitioner at the parliamentary bar: they called witnesses to make the case for the scheme. Manchester waterworks supplied an area containing 800,000 inhabitants, about 380,000 of whom lived within the city boundary. In dry summers, the water supply had to be cut off at night to conserve stocks. In 1868, admittedly before the works in Longdendale were complete, this had happened for 75 days.  Water consumption was about 22 gallons a day per person, but it was that low because Manchester had discouraged water-closets and baths in working-class housingThe waterworks did not make a profit; by Act of Parliament the total water rate could not exceed 10d per pound rental within the city; 12d in the supplied area outside the city (to have equal rates would be unfair to the rate payers who stood as guarantors for very large capital expenditure) Manchester was not profiteering from its present water supply, nor was it out to profit from the scheme: it would accept whatever obligation to supply areas along the aqueduct route (and/or  price cap on sales outside the city) the committee saw fit to impose.
There was no possibility of adding further reservoirs in Longdendale and no suitable unclaimed sites south of the Lune; the headwaters of the Lune were in limestone country, making both water quality (soft water was preferred by domestic customers and needed for textile processing) and reservoir construction problematical.  Thirlmere water was exceptionally pure whereas water pumped from the sandstone even when drinkable generally had considerable permanent hardness
Taking water from Ullswater rather than Thirlmere would cost about £370,000 more. Thirlmere had higher rainfall than Longdendale (even in the driest year, 72 inches should be expected) and (by raising the water level) storage sufficient to allow the supply of fifty million gallons a day through any reasonably sustained drought: the reliable supply from Longdendale was only half that. The aqueduct to Manchester would (at different points on its route) be a tunnel through rock, a buried culvert constructed by cut-and-cover, or cast-iron pipes (for example where the aqueduct crossed a river, it would normally do so by an inverted syphon in pipes). Five 40-inch diameter pipes would be provided to take the full fifty million gallons per day, but initially only one pipe would be laid - others would be added as demand increased.
The former secretary of the Duke of Richmond's Royal Commission gave evidence of the scheme they had considered, which involved raising the level of Thirlmere 64 feet. Examination of the area around the outlet showed that Thirlmere had previously overflowed at a level 65 feet higher than at present.
 Hence  "it would only be necessary to dam up the present outlet ... to raise the lake to its original level"; were this done  "the lake when filled will be more in keeping with the grandeur of the hills around" Variations in reservoir water level would only expose a gravel or shingle shore (as happened now with natural fluctuations in level): there was nothing in the water to support the formation of mudbanks. The Commission had thought it would be unreasonable for London to take water from the Lakes without considering the needs of the industrial North; it had remarked favourably on Manchester supplying nearby towns as an instance of how by combination small towns might secure a better supply than they could by their own efforts. The same principle applied to supplying towns on the route of the aqueduct.
Thirlmere