View report page

30
Water.
The whole of Fulham north of the Lillie Road is supplied
by the West Middlesex Water Company, and although the
limited nature and restricted area of the outbreak exclude the
possibility of any pollution of the reservoirs or source, that of
some local contamination of the water may be considered, and
in connection with this the distribution of the mains is of
peculiar interest. A main runs from Fulham Palace Road along
Greyhound Road, from which on the south side run service
pipes terminating in dead ends in Ancill Street, Crefeld Road,
Garvan Road, Bayonne Road and Tasso Road, and on the
north side service pipes terminating in dead ends in Margravine
Road and Field Road, Gastein Road, Claxton Grove and part of
Chelmsford Street being supplied from the Margravine Road
main, while Dawson Street, Suffolk Street, Hatfield Street, part
of Chelmsford Street, and three other short streets derive their
supply from the Field Road main, all these streets forming
with the exception of Chelmsford Street, which runs
between Margravine Road and Field Road, and Gastein Road
where the service pipe terminates in a dead end. The water
supply then of all the streets beyond Ancill Street in which
the cases occurred has no connection with that of the neighbouring
streets, and assuming the possibility of a local pollution
of the water in the Greyhound Road main in the vicinity of
Ancill Street, the polluted water would be supplied only to
Tasso Road and Bayonne Road besides the affected streets.
It has been shown to be possible for pollution to occur even
when pipes are kept charged with water at a high pressure, but
if the supply is cut off there is then a much greater chance of
sewage or other injurious matter being taken into them to
be distributed when the water is turned on. No information
could be obtained from the Company respecting the supply
having been intermitted at a time corresponding with the
infection of the patients, but I was positively assured by several
residents in the district affected that the water was shut off
for a short time about Whitsuntide. If such were the case, it
is quite conceivable that seme specifically infected sewage may