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58
As far as this Borough is concerned the two wells providing
drinking water are properly supervised and have shown no sign of
deterioration.
Water from one of these wells is used by the Metropolitan
Water Board to supplement the public water supply and is subjected
to daily tests by that Authority for purity and palatability. Water
from the other well is regularly tested by the commercial firm
concerned.
Scavenging and Refuse Disposal.— The collection of refuse
in the Borough is under the control of the Borough Engineer who
has kindly supplied me with the following information:—
Scavenging:
The mileage of streets cleansed in the Borough is approximately
82 miles. This is done mainly by hand sweeping, only 7½%
being swept by mechanical sweeper/collector which is employed
during the night time on main roads and other roads where, because
of extensive regular parking of vehicles, it is impossible for these
to be swept by hand during the daytime. The scheduled frequency
of cleansing the streets is as follows :—
(a) At least once daily (main roads) 25%
(b) Three times weekly 37½%
(c) Twice weekly 37½%
Every endeavour is made to adhere to the above schedule, but
owing to the high level of sickness amongst the ageing workmen
employed as sweepers and the difficulty still experienced in recruiting
new employees of better physique, it has not always been
found possible to do so.
There are approximately 4,500 street gullies in the Borough
which are each emptied and refilled with clean water four times a
year. This is done entirely by mechanical means by the use of
two 800 gallon capacity emptying and flushing vehicles.
Street Sweepings collected and disposed of during the year
amounted to 1,342 tons and continues to show a decrease in volume
as in previous years. From this it might appear that the general
public are becoming more anti-litter minded.
Refuse Collection
The total weight of household refuse, including salvaged waste
materials such as paper, rags and metal, was 21,619 tons, the weight
of salvaged materials being 861 tons. This was collected from
27,257 premises in the Borough which gives an average of approximately
16 cwts. for each over the whole year or approximately 34
lbs. each per week. The average weight per 1,000 population per
day was 13.3 cwts. Most of the refuse is collected from householder's
individual bins, but with the increase in number of blocks
of flats in the Borough, more each year is being collected from the