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Public Baths
The Minister of Health (Circular l/6o) has requested that
reference should be made to any public swimming baths in the borough.
The Council have provided indoor swimming pools at the
Public Baths situated in North Kensington at the junction of Lancaster
Road and Silchester Road.
The original building was constructed about seventy years
ago and no major structural alterations have since taken place. However,
the facilities available for the public are maintained in as modern
a standard as possible.
The swimming pools are described as follows:-
1. 1st Class Swimming Pool (Used for mixed bathing).
2. Men's 2nd Class Swimming Pool.
3. Ladies' 1st Class Swimming Pool.
4. Ladies' 2nd Class Swimming Pool.
The large mixed bathing pool has an area of approximately
4,500 sq.ft. and the other three have each an area of about 1,500 sq.ft.
All the pools are available for swimming in the summer months
(mid-April to mid-October), but during the winter months only one of the
smaller pools is open to the public for swimming.
The water used for swimming is taken from the Metropolitan Water
Board's supply at the commencement of the bathing season, and throughout the
season it is treated by a continuous filtration system.
Low pressure sand filters were installed in 1927 and a continuous
chlorination equipment added several years later. This plant is now worn
out and new equipment embodying the latest improvements is being
substituted. The work of replacing the filtration plant for the large
swimming pool and ladies' first class pool was carried out during the
winter of 1959/60 and completed on 2nd May, 1960, the date scheduled for
the beginning of the summer season. It is proposed to replace the plant
for the two second class pools during the next two years.
The filtration process consists of drawing water from the deep end
of the pool through a suitable strainer and, after the addition of
coagulants to flocculate organic matter and to obtain efficient filtration,
the water is pumped to the top of four Vertical Air-Scoured Pressure Filters.
The water, before filtration, is sterilized; this is done by introducing
chlorinated water into the circulating flow from "Wallace & Tiernan"
Automatic Residual Chlorine Control equipment, with hydraulic solution
feeder for automatic pH Control. This gives an accurate method of
controlling the dosage. The chlorinator automatically injects water
chlorinated to the correct strength and at the same time adjusts the
doses to suit varying bathing loads. The amount of chlorination provided
operates on the principle of "breakpoint chlorination" and is recorded on a
chart from which the degree of sterilization of the water is known at any
time during the swimming season.
The filter units consist of vertical closed cylinders containing
graded Non-Friable Leighton Buzzard Sand supported on a bed of graded
granite chippings, through which the water passes at a rate of 230-gallons
per square foot of filter area per hour. The sand has to be washed
regularly - this is done by steam and air agitation and reversing the flow
of water, which runs to waste and carries impurities with it. Water taken
from the pools is used for the washing process.