London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Wandsworth 1894
Thirty-ninth annual report of the Board of Works for the Wandsworth District being for the year ended 25th of March 1895
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26
Medical Officers of Health Annual Report.
chemically, than the unfiltered river water. At all times
it is not a pure water, nor free from evidences of more or
less polution. Furthermore, the water supplied by the
Lambeth and Southwark and Vauxhall Companies does
not always compare favourably with that supplied by other
companies drawing their water from the same source—
the Thames. This, at all events as regards the Southwark
Company, is partly due to the want of adequate storage
reservoir accommodation for the water, to allow it to
settle before filtering it. The Lambeth Company has
reservoirs large enough to hold 6 days supply and the
Southwark and Vauxhall only 1.6 days.
The Water Examiner states in his November report:—
"On the whole, the results of the month, in the matter of water
supply have tended to accentuate the necessity which exists for an
increase in the capacity of the subsidence reservoirs which the
companies referred to (including the two companies that supply
this district) at present possess, and it is satisfactory to note that
active steps are being taken in the direction indicated.
"During the last session of Parliament the Southwark and
Vauxhall Company obtained powers to raise capital for the purpose,
amongst others, of constructing reservoirs, and considerable
progress has been made in preliminary work,
"The Lambeth Company are promoting a bill for the same
purpose.
"When the works in process, or contemplated, have been
completed, the Lambeth Company will possess reservoirs for
unfiltered water with a capacity equivalent to 21 days' average
supply, and the Southwark and Yauxhall Company 15 days.
The considerable increase in storage capacity indicated will, as a
rule, enable these companies to close their intakes during the
worst phases of the freshets which occur periodically, and cannot
fail to lead to marked improvement in the quality of the water
supplied during such periods."
Below is a table extracted from the monthly analyses
giving the average result of the monthly figures.