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most modern apparatus for filtering, chlorinating, warming and aerating
the water.
Bacteriological tests of the water in the six swimming pools at the
three establishments are required by the Baths Committee. These tests
are made at the periods of maximum pressure and are carried out three
times a year at each pool and more frequently if occasion demands.
Reports show that the average chlorine content is never in excess of
.5 parts per million and seldom under .4. This is in accordance with
Ministry of Health Standards. As regards bacteria no bacilli coli or
streptococci have been found in a series of examinations, thus indicating
an absence of contamination from human sources. These results show
that the filtration plants at the three establishments are efficient and are
being worked to the best advantage.
The numbers using the swimming baths in 1931 were:—
Great Smith Street: 151,703 men; 73,771 women.
Buckingham Palace Road : 131,736 men ; 84,670 women.
Marshall Street: 110,233 men; 76,101 women.
The numbers relating to users of the public washhouses were:—
Great Smith Street, 34,104; Buckingham Palace Road, 35,937; Marshall
Street, 8,887.
Drainage and Sewerage.—Complaints of foul odours from open
sewer ventilators were less frequent than in the previous year owing,
no doubt, to the abnormally wet weather which prevailed during almost the
whole of the summer.
House Drainage.—The number of plans, 748, of drainage and other
sanitary works examined and approved during the year in connection
with existing and new buildings is considerably less than those dealt
with last year, when the number was 891.
It is, however, 24 in excess of those received in 1926 and includes
such buildings as Shell Mex House and another large one on Victoria
Embankment, Brettenham House, Lancaster Place, the large block of
business premises on the triangular site at Trafalgar Square end of the
Strand, the Motor Coach Station, Buckingham Palace Road, and Aldford
House, Park Lane.
In addition, a number of small alterations have been carried out during
the year, which have not been of such a character as to require the deposit
of plans.