View report page

98
quantity or quality of the water supplied for domestic use by any of the Water
Companies well founded, they may make an order on the Company to remove the
ground of complaint, and they may award damages to the complainant.
By this Act also power is given to local authorities to aid water consumers;
section 2 enables a local authority to aid any water consumer in settling any
question, which generally interests the water consumers of their district, respecting
the rights, duties and liabilities of any Water Company with reference to the
quantity or quality supplied and the charges made for it. A Court of Law may make
a local authority aiding any legal proceedings a party to the proceedings and they
will be liable to costs. The aid a local authority may give to a water consumer is
not limited to cases before the Railway and Canal Commission nor is there any
restriction as to the class of water consumers who may be aided, nor is it necessary
that the water consumer raising any question should be a ratepayer or resident in
the district.
The numerous outbreaks of enteric fever in different parts of the country which
have been attributed to contamination of the water supplies point to the immense
importance of closely and constantly observing the characters of the water supplied.
Considering the sources of its water supply especially so is this the case with regard
to the Metropolis. At the present time the waters of the several Metropolitan Water
Companies are subjected to examination at frequent intervals by experienced
analysts, both on behalf of the Local Government Board and of the Directors of the
several Water Companies. No doubt great care is exercised with regard to the
quality of the supply generally. The fact, however, ought not to be lost sight of,
that in a vast city like the Metropolis, undermined as it is in all directions with
pipes of various descriptions including sewers, drains, water pipes and water mains,
there is more or less a risk by no means inconsiderable of local contamination. It
was pointed out by Sir George Buchanan the late medical officer of the Local
Government Board that where water pipes are broken and leaky there is a risk of
insuction into such pipes. Should material containing the specific infection of such
diseases as enteric fever or cholera be sucked into the water pipes or mains
disastrous results might ensue. The possibility of localized outbreaks of waterborne
diseases being due to this cause has been pointed out by more than one
observer. In such cases examination of the water would be of valuable service in
obtaining early information as to the causation of the outbreaks. It is, therefore, in
the interests of the public health that sanitary authorities should be empowered to
expend money for the purposes of having the waters supplied in their several
districts examined both chemically and bacteriologically.
SANITARY WORK.
In the subjoined table is contained a summary of the works executed under the
supervision of the department, which has been compiled from the abstracts prepared