Holló Szilvia Andrea: Budapest's Public Works - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)
Natural or artificial?
pressure cisterns was begun in March of 1868 under the supervision of Italian masons. Supported by columns, the more than eight-meter high brick vaulting of the cisterns was covered with a half-meter thick blanket of concrete topped with at least a meter thick layer of soil; each cistern had a holding capacity of 10,800 cubic metres. Until their completion, the function of the cisterns was performed by a pipe system installed in the tower of the old town hall. Construction of the waterworks proceeded according to plan, and in 1868 purified water drawn from the wells and unfiltered water abstracted from the Danube was conveyed to 127 streets and squares. With the putting of another pump into operation and the boring of another well, the instalment of the provisional waterworks had reached completion supplying water to one out of every five citizens of Pest. The network of English-manufactured pipes covered the whole Inner City, Leopold Town up to Hold utca, the section of Teresa Town including Nagymező utca, and parts of Joseph Town and Francis Town. Landlords had to submit written applications for water supply. Once obtained the permit, the owner was free to use any amount of water but only for the purpose specified in the application. The customer could terminate the contract at any time, but the service itself was not in fact discontinued before the next billing date fell due. If a bulk customer such as a restaurant or a soap maker's workshop was located in a given building then the customer was obliged to have a water meter installed. In the first year of operation 37,504 persons living in 734 buildings were supplied with water, and eight public urinals were opened. First painted grey, later green, and deodorised with oil, these small houses came to be nicknamed "Láizló’i patent" after the inscription on enamelled plaque inside them reading "Láizló’i patent. Hunnia oil urinal with bluth-firee deodorUation." By the time of the unification of Budapest, the number of buildings connected to the water supply system had reached 1,100 with as many as 3,010 flush toilets and 290 bathrooms; however, initially the water was neither clean nor was it pumped up to the upper-storey flats. Lindley pointed it out at the start that the provisional waterworks of Pest would not be long lived, that the city’s water supply could not rely on deep-bore wells, and the spectacular deterioration of water quality combined with stalling supplies led to an increasing sense of discomfort. (The satirical weekly Borazem Jankó did not spare the eminent English expert either in a vitriolic article published in 1872: "Quoth JeiUi sutjtjering on Mount Calvary: 'let thii cup pan from me'. Nobody knew at the time that what that cup contained was Lindley." To examine the unpleasant situation, the authorities invited experts from England 55
