London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Lewisham 1951
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
Prevalence of rats and mice
Table 16
| Type of property | (1) | (ii) | (iii) | (iv) | (v) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in borough | Properties inspected as a result of (a) notification or (b) otherwise | Properties (under ii) found to be rat infested | Properties found to be seriously mouse infested | infested properties (under iii and ir) treated | |||
| (a) | (b) | Major | Minor | ||||
| Local authorities' property | 128 | 11 | - | - | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| Dwelling houses | 61,800 | 1,084 | 1,130 | 9 | 955 | 205 | 1,169 |
| Agricultural property | 48 | — | 5 | — | 5 | — | 5 |
| All other property (including business and industrial) | 3,635 | 98 | 19 | 1 | 95 | 5 | 89 |
| TOTAL | 65,611 | 1,193 | 1,154 | 10 | 1,061 | 211 | 1,270 |
Number of " block " control schemes carried out 3
It has not been found necessary to serve notices under section 4
of the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act, 1949 for either treatment
or structural works (i.e., proofing), and consequently no default action
has been necessary and no legal proceedings have been taken.
Water supply
I am indebted to the Director of Water Examination and the Clerk
of the Metropolitan Water Board for the information on which the
following report on Lewisham's water supply is based.
The water supply to Lewisham is divided into three zones; the
low zone is supplied from Deptford well and by Thames-derived filtered
water; the Eltham zone is supplied from Wilmington, Darenth and
Bexley wells and should occasion arise, with a small proportion from the
low zone; the Bromley zone to the south of the Borough is supplied
from Shortlands well and again on occasions with additional Thamesderived
filtered water.
River Thames water is abstracted at the Board's intakes at Walton
and Laleham and is stored in the Queen Mary, Island Barn and Walton
reservoirs. The water is filtered at Hampton, Surbiton and Walton works
and is chlorinated after filtration. In the case of Hampton, a contact
tank has been built where the chlorine has time to exert its full effect
before the water is pumped into supply; consequently the water in