London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Kensington 1893

The annual report on the health, sanitary condition, &c., &c., of the Parish of St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington for the year 1893

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237
into an efficient condition " to ensure bacterial purification of
the water ; and a " suitable mode of passing a filter through
the scraping and restarting process" is described, advice
being given as to methods to be observed to secure the object
in view— efficient purification.
Supervision of the water supply is vested in a Water
Examiner, appointed under the provisions of the Water Act,
1871, whose report for 1893 has not yet been published. The
few particulars subjoined, are mainly taken from his monthly
report for March, 1894. In that month, the Grand Junction
Company supplied 46| gallons per head, daily, to their
customers; the Chelsea Company, 36¾ gallons; the West
Middlesex Company, 31 gallons. For domestic purposes, in
1893, the daily supply by the several companies, in the order
given, per house, was 254, 249, and 200 gallons.
CONSTANT SERVICE.
The importance of a constant service cannot be overrated.
It is the intention of the County Council to procure this advantage
for Londoners, and the work is proceeding apace. In
February of the current year, the Council served a notice on the
West Middlesex Water Works Company to give a constant
supply of water, on and after 1st July, to " a district in South
Kensington bounded on the north by Cromwell Road ; on the
east by a line running at the rear of the houses on the west
side of Gloucester Road, and through the western side of
Hereford Square to the Old Brompton Road ; on the south
by Old Brompton Road and Richmond Road ; and on the west
by the West London Extension Railway." In March, 1894, the
Grand Junction Company were giving a constant supply to all
the houses in their district, the West Middlesex Company to 89
per cent., the Chelsea Company to 51 per cent. The eight
companies which supply London were, at that date, giving
constant supply to 613,187 out of a total of 803,054 houses, or
76 per cent, of the total number of supplies—the East London
Company coming next after the Grand Junction Company
with 99 per cent.