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209
Radioactive Substances Act, 1960
The Act is concerned with the control of the accumulation and
disposal of radioactive wastes and, as from 1st December, 1963,
persons keeping or using radioactive material will, unless exempted,
be required to register with the Minister of Housing and Local
Government and obtain authorisation from him for the accumulation
or disposal of radioactive waste.
No copies of certificates of registration were received from the
Minister during the year.
Water Supply
Nothing is more commonplace than water. In these islands its
cost is almost negligible and yet, as a usable commodity, it is not
inexhaustible.
It has been estimated that Britain's demands for water will
double by the end of this century necessitating the construction,
during the next 30 years, of water conservation projects equivalent
to the sum total of all those built over the last 100 years. Such
will be our requirements that all conventional and some unconventional
methods, including desalination, will have to be considered
seriously. Indeed, the economics of joint proposals by the Water
Resources Board and the Atomic Energy Authority for the siting
at Ipswich of an .experimental desalination plant of 1 million
gallons per day capacity are already being studied by the Government.
Greater London is unique in that it is practically wholly
developed. Over the years, buildings and drainage have disturbed
the natural flow of water and such resources as were available have
been rendered useless for the supply of pure water. Deficiences
in overground supplies within the county are met by tapping outside
sources and water from the higher reaches of the Thames and
the Lea together with the exploitation of the underground waterbearing
strata form the bulk of London's supplies. In fact, for
some considerable time now, water from springs, streams and wells
has been dwindling and greater use has had to be made of the
Thames which now contributes more than two-thirds of the total
of the Metropolitan Water Board's supplies.
Regrettably, rivers and their tributaries are themselves becoming
polluted and this modern necessity for "re-using" water for
domestic purposes is not without its hazards although, to date,
these have been successfully dealt with by the Board. Recent
nationwide warnings on pollution in general and on water supplies
in particular could hardly have been more opportune.