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1900] 178
WATER SUPPLY.
Not a single complaint was received during the year as to the inadequacy or
insufficiency of the water supply. It was in every way admirable. The supply
which was at one time intermittent, is now constant, so that everyone can, if he
desires it, obtain his water directly from the main without passing through a
cistern, which is an abomination which should no longer be tolerated. In a report
which your Medical Officer of Health submitted to his Committee, he pointed out
with respect to storage cisterns :—
That in No. i Sanitary District (Inspector Cook's) at Pemberton Terrace,
owing to the inaccessibility of a cistern for examination, as well as to the fact that
it was improperly covered, a dead animal very much decomposed was found in it,
but not before a whole family had been stricken with severe nausea and diarrhoea,
which nearly resulted fatally.
That in No. 3 Sanitary District (Inspector Ward's), dead rats and mice had been
found in many of them, and that here the cisterns were frequently situated under
the roofs and even under bedroom floors, without covers, where if slop water should
be spilled or if the floors should be washed, the water was certain to be polluted.
That in No. 4 Sanitary District (Inspector Grivell's) a cistern was so placed
that even the occupier of the house did not know where it was situated. The
inspector, however, traced the main pipe and found it securely built under
the roof, from which it became necessary to remove the slates before access could
be obtained to it. When examined, dead rats, mice, birds and cockroaches were
found in it, while the water was thick with dust, and covered with slime. It will
be no surprise, therefore, to learn that the presence of enteric fever in the house
was the cause of the inspection.
That in No. 5 Sanitary District (Inspector Flood's) many cisterns were discovered
under the rooms, and that as a rule they were found in a foul state, and
contained soot, dirt, cobwebs, &c., and that frequently the surface of the water
presented an oily appearance.
That in No. 6 Sanitary District (Inspector Bagshaw's), particularly about
Warner, Lesly and Sonning Streets, the cisterns were fixed on the flats, and so
cheaply and badly covered, that it was a common event to find dead rats and mice
in them.
That in No. 7 Sanitary District (Inspector Lawrence's) many cisterns were
found between the ceiling of the water-closet and the floor of the first-floor addition
room, which was invariably used as a living room or a bedroom ; and that there
were no covers to the cisterns other than the floor boards, which were in no sense