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77
The Water Supply of Tenement Houses.
One of the most important problems of London sanitation is
the proper regulation of tenement houses. These in the great
majority of cases are houses which, though now occupied by several
families, were constructed for occupation by one family, and the
sanitary arrangements and general domestic conveniences were
designed accordingly. In London the poorer classes to a very large
extent live in houses of this kind, and it is only in exceptional cases
that any structural alterations have been made to adapt the houses
for occupation by more than one family. The result is that the
tenements lack many of the domestic conveniences and amenities
that make up a home. Sanitary authorities are inadequately provided
with powers to enforce structural alterations in houses that have
become let in tenements, but recent enactments have led to improvements
in this direction. The London County Council have made a
bye-law that requires in tenement houses one water-closet for every
twelve persons, and the London County Council (General Powers)
Act, 1907, brings into force some important provisions relating to
water supply.
The question of water supply is particularly important. In
many tenement houses the only water supply for the whole house is
that drawn from a tap in the basement, and very few are provided
with a separate tap for each tenement. There was formerly some
doubt whether sanitary authorities were not empowered to require
a separate water-supply to each tenement under section 48 (1) of
the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, which provides as follows:
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.
In 1905, however, an important decision was given in the
Marylebone Police Court by Mr. Plowden, who in dismissing a case
instituted by the Paddington Borough Council stated that the words
"proper and sufficient" in the above section referred to the source
of supply and not to the provision of taps within the house. In
1907 the London County Council placed the matter on a more
satisfactory basis by securing the insertion of the following section in
their Act of that year: