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26
Water Supply.
During the year certificates under Section 95 (2) of the Public
Health (London) Act, 1936, were issued in respect of 21 new or re-erected
dwelling houses or tenements.
In 12 houses an additional water supply on an upper floor was
provided, in compliance with notices served under Section 95 (5) of the
Act. One of these cases is worthy of comment. The facts were that
the house in question, a three-storey non-basement type, had been let
by the owner to one tenant, who had in turn sub-let the top floor to his
married son and family. This top floor had at one time had a separate
water supply, but for some reason which could not be definitely
ascertained the supply pipe and tap had been removed some years ago,
leaving the only water supply on the ground floor. A notice was
accordingly served on the owner requiring provision of a separate water
supply on the top floor. The owner disputed the notice on the grounds
that the house was not a " tenement house " within the meaning of
the Section, as all the occupants were members of one family, that the
Section applied only to houses let in separate tenements by the owner,
and that the additional supply was not reasonably necessary. The
learned Magistrate, after hearing evidence and legal arguments,
decided against the owner on all these points, but held that, as the
house was, by the terms of Sub-Sections 1 and 5 of Section 95, prima
facie, unfit for human habitation, he had no alternative but to make
a closing order, in view of the wording of paragraph 8 of the Fifth
Schedule to the Act, and he accordingly made that order. The Health
Committee, concerned lest the owner should enforce the order and evict
both tenant and sub-tenant (as he clearly intended to do) decided to
negotiate with him. The result was that the Council agreed to instal
the water supply and to make a contribution towards the owner's legal
costs in defending the case. These arrangements were duly carried out
and the closing order rescinded.
Forty-one notices of waste of water from defective fittings, etc.,
observed during routine inspections of various premises, were sent to
the Metropolitan Water Board.
At the public baths in Latchmere Road there are deep wells which
supply water, not only to the Baths Establishments, but also, for all
domestic purposes, to over 360 tenements on the Council's Latchmere
Estate. Formerly, supplies were adequate for all these purposes, but
of recent years the yield from the wells has fallen, so that supplies from
the mains of the Metropolitan Water Board had to be drawn upon to
an increasing extent. During 1950, the existing air-lift pumps on two
of the borings were replaced by electrically operated submersible pumps
of modern design, with the result that the yield from these borings is
now sufficient for normal requirements.
The water is chlorinated as a safety measure, before passing into
supply. A sample of the chlorinated water is taken every fortnight,
and in addition, every three months a sample is taken from the rising
main of each borehole (i.e., before chlorination). These samples are
submitted, for bacteriological examination, to the Public Analyst, whose
reports show that the water consistently maintains a high degree of
purity.