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34
Water Cut Off by the Water Companies.
During the year notices under Section 49 of the Public Health Act
were given by the companies that the water had been cut off from 211
occupied houses. The Vestry in all these cases refused to take any
action, though in so doing they were acting illegally, as Section 48
enacts "that an occupied house without a proper and sufficient supply
of water shall be a nuisance liable to be dealt with summarily under
this act, and if it is a dwelling house shall be deemed unfit for human
habitation."Doubtless it is most undesirable that the Water Companies
should have this power to cut off the supply of water and so create a
nuisance, and that the Sanitary Authority should be placed in the
position of debt collectors for the companies; but until they are
deprived of this power the Vestry are adopting a most unwise and
unjustifiable course in deliberately refusing to carry out the provisions
of the Public Health Act, which they are bound to administer.
As the water from six shallow wells situated in South Fulham was
used for drinking and domestic purposes, samples of the water
from them were taken and analysed. All were found to be exceptionally
hard, and with one exception were unfit for drinking. The following
analysis is an average specimen. The results are expessed in grains
per gallon:
Total Solids 123.6
Volatile „ 10.14
Free Ammonia 0.0033
Organic „ 0.0092
Nitrogen in Nitrates 3.13
Chlorine 8.33
Oxygen absorbed in four hours 0.115
Temporary hardness 12.8
Permanent „ 45.3
Total „ 58.6
Steps have been taken under Section 54 of the Public Health (London)
Act to prevent the water being used for drinking and domestic
purposes.
The report of the Royal Commission on the Water Supply of the
Metropolis has recently been issued. The scope of the enquiry
instituted by them was whether the present sources of supply are