London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Carshalton 1948
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Carshalton]
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Section C—Sanitary Circumstances.
Water Supply.
All but some 170 dwellings in the extreme north of the district
supplied by the Metropolitan Water Board, are provided with a direct
piped supply of water by the Sutton and District Water Company,
mainly from its wells in the chalk at Sutton, Cheam and Woodmansterne.
The Company is under statutory obligation to soften to 9° of hardness.
Supplementary supplies can, if necessary be obtained from the Metropolitan
Water Board, the Epsom and Ewell Corporation and the East
Surrey Water Company. The supply was satisfactory in quantity
and quality and no contamination of significance was observed.
The following statement supplied by the Engineer shows the extent of sampling carried out by the Water Company during 1948:—
| Sample | Total No. of Bacteriological Examinations | Total No. of Full Chemical Analyses | Presumptive B. Coli present in 100 m . (excluding types 1 & 2) | B: Coli present in 100 m. (types 1 & 2) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | |||
| Sutton Raw | 314 | 27 | 9 | 2.9 | 7 | 2.2 |
| Sutton Finished | 311 | 27 | 11 | 3.5 | 3 | 1.0 |
| Woodmansterne Raw | 310 | 24 | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil |
| Woodmansterne Finished | 313 | 25 | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil |
| Cheam | 335 | 77 | 6 | 1.8 | Nil | Nil |
| Reservoir | 231 | Nil | 5 | 2.2 | Nil | Nil |
| District including New Mains | 312 | 29 | 9 | 2.9 | Nil | Nil |
Sampling of water as received by the consumer, is done by the
Health Departments of the districts in the Company's supply area on
au agreed rota. The following is a representative chemical and
bacteriological report on such an examination:—
Chemical analysis in parts per 100,000.
Total solid matter in solution (dried at 180° C.) 21.9
Combined chlorine 1.80
Nitric nitrogen 0.86
Nitrous nitrogen 0.001
Ammonia, free and saline 0.0040
Ammonia, albuminoid 0.0020
Oxygen absorbed from permanganate in 4 hours at 26.7° C. 0.020
Hardness—by acidimetric titration—Temporary 7.9
Permanent 5.3
Total 13.2
pH 7.6
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