View report page

32
advised the maintenance of the cisterns. It has been urged that
there must be storage somewhere, and that it cannot very much
matter whether this be in open Reservoirs or in well-placed and
well-cared-for house cisterns, but this contention is not sound.
In large shallow reservoirs, such as those at Walthamstow, the
greatest care is taken to protect the contents from contamination,
and the water is freely exposed to sun and wind. The effect
of sunlight in the destruction of disease germs is well known, and
the water in these reservoirs is improved by keeping. Contrast with
this the condition of the water in the best-placed, best-cared-for
house cistern, where there is no wind, and no sun, but a good deal of
dust, and probably a somewhat higher temperature, conditions all
favourable to the cultivation, instead of the destruction of disease
germs, I heartily trust we shall never be compelled to revert to
the discredited cistern-system for drinking purposes. As a result of
our action in the direction indicated very few new cisterns were provided,
and most of the old ones were disconnected and put out of
use, so that the district was utterly unprepared for the short supply
of June and July last. In conjunction with the Surveyor and the
Clerk, I attended with a deputation from the Vestry at the offices
of the East London Water Company. We were received by the
Directors and Chief Officers of the Company and the whole subject
was thoroughly discussed. Our suggestions to the Company were:—
1. The erection of stand-pipes in connection with the constantly
charged fire-mains wherever possible.
2. An increased supply to certain indicated districts of the Parish,
such supply to be divided into two portions and given morning and
evening.
This was done, but the sudden limitation of one of the principal
necessaries of life, though mitigated by the means taken at our instance,
must have had an effect on the health of the district; anyway
it was coincident with an enormous increase in the mortality.
In the month of June this was about three per thousand below the
average and the deaths numbered about forty per week, the first
week in July they increased to fifty-four, the next week they fell to
fifty-two, and in the middle of the month they went up to seventy-