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undoubtedly badly polluted. It is hardly necessary now to go into
details, but they all tend to show that the water of the River Lea is
in a very bad state organically speaking, and needs your very serious
attention.
A member : Where were the samples taken ?
Mr. Taylor : The samples have been taken from various parts,
from the back of the " White Hart" and from the main stream
itself.
A member : Will the experts tell us to what they attribute the
causes of pollution ?
Dr. Warry : So far as our district is concerned I consider the
effluents from the Walthamstow sewage farm and Leyton sewage
works are the cause of the bad condition of the water. Of course
there are pollutions higher up the river, in Tottenham up as far as
the intake of the Water Company, and beyond that. But of course
I cannot personally speak of these. As far as our district is concerned,
I repeat that the cause of the bad condition of the water, the great
cause, is the bad condition of the effluents from the sewage farm.
Higher up the river there are sources of pollution which contribute
towards it: I refer to the River Moselle in Tottenham. Above that
point there are several others, and we have on record a report by a
Medical Officer about five years ago, who reported that above
the intakes of the East London Water Company there were
pollutions, and he roughly put it that the sewage from 100,000
persons entered the river above that point, and eight or nine million
gallons of malt liquor. Although this liquor might not cause disease
it forms a pabulum to microbes in the water. What we complain
of are the two effluents I have named.
A member : Where are these sewage farms?
Dr. Warry : Leyton and Walthamstow; the one from Leyton
joins the one from Walthamstow and then enters the river.