View report page

24
Medical Officers of Health Annual Report.
the excellently equipped hospitals and ambulance system
of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, ready means of
dealing with such cases.
water supply. The report of Sir Edward Frankland for the
year 1897 shows that, on the whole, the water supplied
to London from the Thames was of very good quality,
both chemically and bacterially, the condition of the
Thames itself being favourable, except during the first
three months of the year, when it was in high flood.
He also shows the very great improvement effected in
the water, both as regards its chemical composition and
the number of microscopic organisms in it, by filtration
through sand as practised by the companies. Whilst
commending highly the general efficiency of the filtration,
he finds occasionally that the filters fail to work properly.
Thus, in commenting on the table showing the
number of micro-organisms per cubic centimetre in water
derived from various filters of the Southwark and
Yauxhall Company, he remarks:—"It shows several
cases in which effective bacterial filtration was not
attained. Thus filters Nos. 1 and 2 were not working
satisfactorily in January, No. 3 in July and December,
Nos. 4 and 6 in February and No. 4 in March, No. 5
in April and May, No. 7 in March, and No 8 in September;
whilst the general supply of filtered water from
Hampton infringed the standard of 100 microbes per
cubic centimetre in June. Although the water sent out
by this company was invariably clear and bright, thus
complying with the Parliamentary standard of efficient
filtration, it infringed the bacterial standard in 14 out of
30 samples examined."
This seems a high proportion of failures, and, considering
the small number of samples that can by any
possibility be examined, it suggests that a great deal of
the water supplied by this Company has more than the