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The Water Examiner also reports that the linking up of the different systems of supply has made
progress and that in 1905 a connection has been made between the 5 in. main in the Lambeth district
and the 6 in. Kent main at Brockley.
Commenting upon the intimate connection which exists between the volumes of water passing
down the river and the quality of the water distributed from the several district works, Dr. Thorpe
points out that during 1905 the Grand Junction supply was not nearly so much affected at flood times as
it used to be and he attributes this marked improvement in the quality of the water to the introduction
of the Staines storage. The prolonged storage of the Thames water, he writes, causes it to diminish
in hardness, the reduction compared with the raw water, being about 20 per cent.; and the nitrates
originally present almost disappear. Dr. Thorpe finds, moreover, that the residual organic impurity
in the impounded water is very much less easily oxidised by the acid permanganate in the " oxygen
consumed " process than is the soluble organic matter in the raw Thames water and the nitrogenous
organic matter after storage is more easily broken down in the " albuminoid ammonia " tests.
Dr. Thorpe states that in October an excessive proportion of chlorides was found in a sample
of water taken in the neighbourhood of the Plumstead Well and this, as was shown by a report of Dr.
Houston, was accompanied by a falling off in bacterial purity the result, Dr. Thorpe states, of excessive
pumping.
An important safeguard to the consumers of the water of the Metropolitan Water Board has
been provided by the establishment of a laboratory under Dr. A. C. Houston, Director of Water
Examinations whose first report appears in the Water Examiners report for the month of November,
1905. Dr. Houston writes :—
"With an average daily supply of over 213 million gallons to an estimated population of over 6,700,000, with
eight water works, and a very large number of filter beds, and with numerous deep wells and three sources of raw water
supply, it becomes a task of some complexity to so organise the work of water examinations as to be effective at a
reasonable cost. No pains have been spared to make the work of water examinations as thorough as possible.
Samples are constantly collected from separate filter wells (wherever this is practicable) as well as from general filter
wells. All the works are visited on five occasions during each week, and samples collected from the separate filter
wells in rotation. It is proposed, as opportunity offers, to supplement the routine sample collection work with special
collection work, so as to control any weak spots in the routine method of sampling and, generally, to bring the
examination of the London waters, as a whole, to as perfect a pitch as the magnitudo of the task will permit."
Water Supply to Tenement Houses.
During 1904, the Public Health Committee had under consideration the subject of the adaptation,
to use as tenement houses, of houses originally constructed for one family, and in a report
by Dr. C. W. F. Young, which was before the Committee, the inadequacy of the provision of water
supply in the basement and ground floors to the inhabitants of the upper storeys of such houses was
pointed out. The questions of the sufficiency of sections 2 and 48 of the Public Health (London)
Act were considered, and later the Woolwich Borough Council instituted proceedings concerning a
house thus inadequately supplied. These proceedings were successful and the Public Health Committee
thus reported in January, 1905, to the Council upon the subject;—
1.—On 10th May, 1904 (p. 770,; we brought to the notice of the Council the report by the medical office)
of health as to the result of an enquiry by Dr. Young respecting the sanitary accommodation in houses originally
built for one family, but now let in separate tenements to several families. One of the important facts disclosed in
that report was the inadequacy of the arrangements for the supply of water to the tenants of the upper floors in such
houses ; there being in many, if not most, of such houses but a single tap, and that in the basement or on the ground
floor.
The supply of water to inhabited houses is regulated by the provision of sections 2 and 48 of the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891. Section 2 provides that, where there is a constant supply of water, absence from
premises of water fittings shall be a nuisance liable to be dealt with summarily under the Act, and section 48 1
provides that "an occupied house without a proper and sufficient supply of water shall be a nuisance liable to be
dealt with summarily under this Act, and if it is a dwelling-house, shall be deemed unfit for human habitation." .
We were doubtful whether these provisions were sufficient to enable sanitary authorities to require a supply
of water to the tenants of each floor in tenement houses, and on 14th June, 1904 (pp. 971-2), the Council decided to
promote legislation on the subject, but its resolution was subsequently rescinded on 6th December, 1904 (pp. 3012-3),
as the Parliamentary Committee reported that they were advised that it was by no means clear that the present
law was insufficient to meet the case, and as we were endeavouring to get the matter tested at the instance of one
of the metropolitan borough councils.
We are now glad to report that on 16th December, 1904, as the result of proceedings by the Woohvich Metropolitan
Borough Council respecting the water supply of a tenement house, No. 1, High-street, Woolwich, the magistrate
decided that the supply of water from a tap in the yard was not a proper and sufficient supply within the
meaning of section 48 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, and he made an order to abate the nuisance, and
ordered the defendant to pay £5 5s. costs.
Dr. Hamer, the Council's assistant medical officer of health, gave evidence supporting that given by the medical
officer of the borough council, and the following extracts from the proof of Dr. Hamer's evidence show the conditions
which he found on visiting the premises in question on 13th December, 1904—
"The house is a three-story house; a single man occupies the ground floor rooms. A woman and her
child occupy the first floor front room; the first floor back is separately let. In the top floor front there are
a man and wife and two children (one of the children is, however, not always at home), and in the top floor
back there is a single man. The only appliance for supplying water for domestic use to the occupiers of these
five sets of tenements is that situated in the back yard of the house. All water for cooking, drinking,
personal ablution, washing clothes, and scrubbing floors has to be fetched from the yard; there is no washhouse,
and the copper in the yard is in a dilapidated conditon.
"The tenants of the top floor store water in a pail, which is kept on the landing at the top of the staircase;
this staircase is very dark and the pail is uncovered, and water stored in this manner is liable to become
polluted.
"The conditions as regards cleanliness of the rooms and staircase are unsatisfactory, and this is not
surprising, having in view the need of carrying water from the yard all the way upstairs."