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51
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS
Swimming baths
The Corporation has four public baths which have indoor
swimming pools, at Putney, Balham, Battersea, and Nine Elms,
and one open-air pool at King George's Park. There is also an
open-air pool at Tooting Bee owned by the Greater London
Council.
With the exception of the Battersea bath, the water for
which is obtained from deep wells, all Corporation baths are
supplied from the mains of the Metropolitan Water Board. The
water is chlorinated and circulates continuously through a filtration
plant. Samples of water are taken at regular intervals and
are submitted to the Public Health Laboratory at County Hall
for bacteriological examination. During the year 160 samples were
submitted for examination and satisfactory results were obtained
in 157 instances. In the remaining samples there were slight deviations
from normal but subsequent tests proved satisfactory in all
cases.
There are open-air swimming pools at three of the Corporation's
children's homes, one of which is situated at Banstead in Surrey.
Satisfactory samples were taken by Banstead Urban District
Council in respect of the home in their area and by this department's
inspectors in respect of the pools at the two children's
homes in Wandsworth. Several Inner London Education Authority's
schools in the Borough have swimming baths and during
the year 86 reports on them were received from the Scientific Branch
of the Greater London Council, all of which were satisfactory.
Examination of water from artesian wells and taps
Twenty-six samples were submitted for examination at the
Public Health Laboratory, and all proved satisfactory. One chemical
examination of domestic water supply was made by the Public
Analyst and this also was satisfactory.
Disinfection and disinfestation
Methods of Disinfection : Following the notification of a case of
infectious disease requiring disinfection, an inspection is made
and the following methods used. The patient's room is sprayed
with a formaldehyde solution. The doors and windows are closed
and the room can be used again after five or six hours. Advice is
also given to the occupiers that a thorough " spring cleaning " of
the room is a very effective " disinfection " process, and should be
carried out in addition to the work of disinfection by the Council's
staff.