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210
Today, synthetic detergents, pesticides and herbicides (the uses
of which are on the increase), trade wastes which are greater in
quantity and chemically more complex, waste products of nuclear
degeneration and even atmospheric pollution are all making their
contribution to residues being discharged into river water already
deficient in oxygen sufficiently fully to degrade the various existing
pollutants thereby rendering the future task of providing a pure
water supply even more difficult.
It follows that a period of dry conditions accentuates the problem.
In this respect it is interesting to record that a successful
3-year pilot scheme by the Thames Conservancy Board has shown
the feasibility of a plan to abstract water from underground
aquifiers and pump it into the Thames in times of severe drought
at the rate of 100 million gallons per day.
The whole of the Borough is supplied with water by the Metropolitan
Water Board, a Statutory undertaking, which, as a result of
the Metropolis Water Act, 1902, was formed in 1903 when it took
over the 8 undertakings which were then supplying London's water.
As a Board it is committed to supply a population of some 6¼
million people within an area of 540 square miles extending from
Ware in the north to Sevenoaks in the south and which has an
average daily consumption of about 400 million gallons. One of
this Borough's two wells which supply drinking water is a most
prolific contributor to the Board's supplies, having a normal output
of 5 million gallons per day.
The Board is responsible for the purity of its water and the
supplies are regularly tested—chemically and physically for an
estimation of its clarity, colour and taste, and bacteriologically for
assessment of coliform colonies with confirmatory examination for
Escherichia coli.
There are 71,346 inhabited dwellings in the Borough with direct
connections to the Board's mains.
On request and following satisfactory reports, 10 letters were
sent during the year in respect of properties confirmed as having a
suitable and sufficient supply of water.
I am indebted to Dr. E. Windle Taylor, Director of Water
Examination for the Metropolitan Water Board, for the following
information given in accordance with the Department of Health
and Social Security Circular 1/70, regarding the water supplies in
the Greenwich area:—