London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
City of Westminster 1902
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
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Agriculture, was never so grossly adulterated as it is at present, and
often as many as three separate doses of preservative drugs are added
to it before it reaches the consumer. The purchaser has no guarantee
that the water added in the country districts is pure and free from
disease germs. "
" Water Supply.
The maximum pollution in the Thames supplies occurs generally in
the winter months, when the river is in flood, but in June of 1902
heavy rains occurred, and the organic matter present in the water rose
considerably. It is 23 years since such a high proportion of organic
matter had been discovered in the month of June.
Taking the average amount of organic impurity in a given volume
of the Kent Company's water, during the 9 years ending December,
1876, as unity, the proportional amount contained in an equal volume
of water supplied by each of the Metropolitan Water Companies,
during each month of 1902, is shown in the following table extracted
from the monthly reports of the Analyst (Dr. Thorpe) of the Local
Government Board:—
| Kent. | New River. | Lambeth. | South-wark. | Grand Junction. | West Middlesex. | East London. | Chelsea. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 20th | 1.1 | 1.4 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 5.0 | 5.3 |
| February 17th | 1.o | 1.1 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 3.7 | 3.0 | 3.4 |
| March 17th | 0.8 | 1.5 | 4.6 | 3.5 | 4.6 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 3.7 |
| April 14th | 0.7 | 1.3 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 4.0 |
| May 21st | 1.2 | 1.2 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 2.8 | 2.4 |
| June 9th | 0.6 | 1.1 | 2.81 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 2.6 { | 2.1 | 2.5 |
| (21st) 7.3 | (21st) 5.5 | (24th) 7 .8 | ||||||
| July 7th | 0.8 | 1.4 | 4-0 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 4.1 |
| August 19th | 0.6 | 1.2 | 2-5 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 2.6 | 2.6 |
| September 15th | 1.1 | 1.4 | 3*7 | 3.3 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 2.8 |
| October 13th | 0.9 | 1.0 | 2*0 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 2.6 |
| November 11th | 0.9 | 1.2 | 27 | 2.9 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 1.8 | 2.7 |
| December 8th | 0.7 | 2.9 | 5-8 | 4.7 | 5.8 | 3.6 | 2.9 | |
| (16th) 1.3 | (25th) 4.6 | (29th) 4.9 |
From this table it will be observed that certain of the Companies
supply at times a much worse water than do others. This is due
chiefly to their want of storage capacity.
Immediately after this increase in the pollution of the water, the
number of cases of typhoid fever in London markedly increased as
compared with those notified in the preceding year; thus in June and
July, 1901, there were 458 cases notified, in 1902 the number of cases
was 716; in August the numbers fall again.
Dr. Thorpe, in his report for 1901-02, states "that the organic
matter in the raw Thames and Lea waters must be partly of vegetable
and partly of animal origin, as the surface and other drainage from the