View report page

200
During the year, 61 complaints were received and, where
justified, arrangements were made to reduce the pigeons to a reasonable
number by members of the Rodent Control staff or a pigeon
catcher engaged by the Council up to the time of his resignation in
July.
River Pollution
In the London area, sewage and its disposal, amounting to a
daily dry flow of approximately 300 million gallons, is under the
control of the Greater London Council and after treatment at the
northern and southern outfalls at Beckton and Crossness respectively,
the resultant sewage effluent is discharged into the Thames. It is then
considered by various authorities to be a pollutant and the predominating
cause of complaint.
No complaints regarding pollution were made to this department
during the current year.
However, having been aware of the shortcomings of its sewage
disposal system for some considerable time, in recent years, the
Greater London Council (previously as the L.C.C.), has sought to
improve the position by instituting new processes and improvements.
As a result, a remarkable improvement in the condition of the
river water has been recorded during the last two or three years and
the Water Pollution Research Laboratory even holds out hopes
that salmon may once more gain the upper reaches of the Thames
as they did in the 19th century.
Storm Flooding
There were no instances of damage to property recorded due
to unusually heavy rainfall during the current year.
River Ravensbourne-Improvement and Jurisdiction.-Although
no complaints of flooding were received during the year under
review, nevertheless, for over a century now at times of heavy
rainfall the Ravensbourne has overflowed its banks to inundate the
proximal areas, some as many as five times a year.
It was for this reason that the River Ravensbourne, etc. (Improvement
and Flood Prevention) Act, 1961, was introduced to
confer like powers on the London and Kent County Councils for
"the improvement and protection of and the prevention of flooding
from the River Ravensbourne and its tributaries and for purposes
connected therewith". In London it applies not only to the rivers
Ravensbourne, Pool, and Quaggy, the Kid Brook, Kyd Brook and
the Lower Kid Brook but also to the parts of all tributaries, brooks
and watercourses (whether open or covered) that flow into these
rivers or streams.