View report page

60
Discharge of Trade Effluents into Sewers
In November, 1961, a communication was received from the Metropolitan
Boroughs' Standing Joint Committee stating that, following
meetings of the Working Party on the Control of Trade Effluents, they
had considered the form of legislation required in order to apply to London
provisions for a more efficient control of these effluents similar to those
now obtaining in the rest of the country under Part V of the Public
Health Act, 1961, and had decided that they should be as follows:—
(i) The occupiers of trade premises from which trade effluent is
discharged into sewers to be required to pay to the London County
Council a charge covering the use of the sewers and sewerage works
and the treatment and disposal of the effluent.
(ii) The County Council to apportion the amount received between
itself and the sewer authorities concerned.
(iii) Each local sewer authority and the County Council to keep
registers of all premises from which trade effluent is discharged into
a sewer and the local sewer authority to furnish the County Council
with such information as it may require.
(iv) All local authorities and the County Council to be enabled
to direct that the discharge of trade effluents into sewers shall be
subject to conditions relating to the provision of apparatus to record
the volume and rate of discharge and the nature and composition
of the effluent, and to impose other conditions where appropriate.
The City Council in November, 1961, decided to support the proposals
by the Standing Joint Committee that the County Council should include
clauses on the foregoing lines in the next General Powers Bill.
A Register of all premises in Westminster from which trade effluent is
discharged into a sewer, is kept in the Public Health Department.
Sewerage and Sewage Disposal
The trunk sewers and sewage disposal in London are the responsibility
of the London County Council; the local sewers, which discharge into
the trunk sewers, are the responsibility of the City Council.
All premises in Westminster are connected to the main drainage
system, the sewage passing to disposal works maintained by the London
County Council outside the City.
The arrangements for Westminster would appear to be adequate; in
1961 there were no occasions on which heavy storms caused the sewers in
the City to become surcharged and cause flooding.