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4.—That most of the basemented houses of this locality are
flooded with backed up sewage during periods of storms.
Such is the condition of this part of Clapton Park ; and the above
is only a bare statement of things as they exist. The occurrence of the
storms during last summer, producing so much misery and danger to
health, has forced me to draw attention to the conditions described
above, in the hope that some remedy might be applied to prevent
these disastrous floods.
If some remedy for the above described state of things is not
soon applied, I have great fear that the population of this area, which
is a growing one and contains a large proportion of young people, will
suffer in health. The danger to health from sewage flooded houses
is apparent. I am not prepared to say that the imperfect sewage
arrangements are responsible for the infectious disease; which is
above the average of the whole district in this area ; but I am of
opinion that repeated floods of the kind described above, have a
detrimental effect upon the health of its inhabitants by leading to
fouling of the soil beneath and around the dwellings, which fouling,
the latest researches indicate as being an active agent in the spread
of disease ; moreover, we do know that the foul smells from drains
and sewers produce a lowering of the system of persons exposed
to these smells, and predispose to the reception of the active agents
in infectious disease, so that for health considerations it is desirable
that some remedy should be soon forthcoming. In addition, the discomfort
and expense caused by these floods, would be a sufficient
reason for removing their cause, if possible, without the more
important and serious reason of danger to public health.
The remedy, of course, is an engineering one which can only be
applied by the London County Council. The time is opportune
for drawing their attention to this matter because they are considering
a scheme for the relief of Hackney Wick; and some modification
of this scheme to relieve Clapton Park might now be made more
easily than at a later period; and I would most strongly urge that
their attention should be called to this area, and be asked to improve,
if possible, its sewage arrangements to prevent the recurrence
of similar floods to that noted above.