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Report of the Medical Officer of Health. 95
On the 15th, 22nd, and 23rd of this month this discharge
was serious and was noticeable as far down as the bridge at
Lydden Grove, and to a slight extent at the Upper Mills, South
Street. The attention of the London County Council and the
Thames Conservancy should be called to the pollution.
From the bridge at Penwith Road to the foot of Guelph
Street the River is polluted by surface washings and by the
depositing of all kinds of house and trade refuse, manure, etc., in
it but there is no direct discharge into it of any sewage matter.
At Messrs. McMurray's Mills a large quantity of water is
abstracted and considerable subsidence of suspended matter takes
place, but all this portion to the weir on the north side ot
McMurray's Mills requires cleansing. The occupiers of houses on
the bank should be warned by circular not to deposit any house
refuse in the River. From McMurray's Mills to the Upper Mills,
South Street, where there is another weir, there is extensive
deposit in the bed of the River, and more especially at the back
of the houses between the Upper Mills and Messrs. Freeman's
Varnish Works. This portion also requires cleansing, as also
does that portion from the Upper Mills to the Middle Mills,
where, at the latter place another dam exists, the water in which is
not at present utilised.
From the Middle Mill to the Electric Lighting Station there
is also considerable deposit in the bed of the River, and this
should also be cleansed.
I am of opinion that the condition of the River, although not
at all times a menace to the health of the district, is so in the
summer months and after continued drought, and I would therefore
recommend this Committee to call the attention of the
London County Council and the Thames Conservancy to its
present condition, so that remedial and preventative measures
could be taken before the present summer.
REPORT OF THE CONDITION OF THE RIVER
GRAVENEY.
The River Graveney enters this Borough at Mitcham Road,
Tooting, between Longley Road and Renmuir Street, runs towards
Bickersteth Road, passes under Longley Road diagonally
in a culvert, emerging at the back of No. 108, Longley Road, runs