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63
consisting entirely of linseed, had fermented to such an extent as to render it too
acid to be suitable for feeding purposes. The necessity for active inspection and
sampling under the Act is clearly proved by the results of the past years' examinations,
which continue to show inexpertness in making the statutory statement
or guarantee.
Drinking
water supply.
The quality of the drinking water at those institutions of the Council which
derive their supplies from private wells has been systematically watched; 229
samples having been examined chemically and 281 bacteriologically from thirty-five
institutions. Chlorinating plants had already been installed at nine of these places
as the result of tests carried out in the past; during the present year, in consequence
of the slight intermittent pollution which has been proved to occur there, the installation
of a treatment plant at another private well has been authorised. In six
institutions, as a result of the analysis of samples of water, recommendations were
made for a thorough cleaning out of the tanks; after this treatment the quality
of the water was satisfactory. An interesting case of drinking water pollution
occurred in connection with a fountain supply in one of the Council's parks. Investigation
indicated that the trouble was probably due to the proximity of a length of
unused main and the presence of iron bacteria. Treatment of the main with bleaching
powder solution was recommended.
Swimming
baths and
lakes.
Reference has been made in several previous reports to investigations conducted
on the waters of the bathing lakes and open-air swimming baths in the Council's
parks. The condition of water in swimming pools throughout the country has
received much attention in the daily press during last summer and a general account
of what has been done in connection with the Council's own baths is of interest.
As early as 1911, Dr. J. G. Forbes made a bacteriological investigation of
the water and of the residue left after the water was run off, in a small bath at the
Council's industrial school in Goldsmith-street, Drury-lane.
That investigation formed the subject of a paper read before a meeting of the
Medical Officers of Schools' Association in February, 1912. The results of examinations
of the water at a temperature of 70°F. undertaken between the end of October
and middle of December, 1911, yielded a count of approximately 4,000 organisms
per cubic centimetre, with evidence of the presence of skin contaminations, e.g.,
staphylococcus aureus and epidermidis albus and proteus, of organisms present in
normal saliva, streptococcus salivarius, staphylococcus aureus and micrococcus catarrhalis.
Faecal contaminations, however, largely predominated in members of the
proteus group, B. coli communis, B. pyocyaneus and streptococus faecalis.
Such contaminations afforded suggestive indication of very probable pollution
by pathogenic organisms and the possible conveyance of infection by the coccal
group resulting in inflammatory conditions (1) of the nasal and aural passages, particularly
otitis media, with its attendant risk of meningitis (2) of the eyes with
conjunctivitis, outbreaks of which have been from time to time attributed to swimming
bath infection.
There is also the risk afforded by expectorated mucus containing tubercle bacilli
as well as pneumococci viable at temperatures of 65° or 70°F., also by faecal pollution
from typhoid or dysentery carriers (possibilities perhaps remote, but demanding
consideration with a view to their prevention), in addition to those risks associated
with imperfectly cleansed or sterilised towels or bathing suits, likely to lead to spread
of skin infections such as epidermo phytosis or cutaneous ringworm (a condition far
commoner than is generally recognised) especially affecting the toes.
From time to time chemical examinations of water in bathing lakes were made
at the request of the chief officer of the parks department, and, in 1924, by which
time swimming had greatly increased in popularity, systematic investigations were
commenced.
These showed that although some of the conditions which gave rise to complaints,
(e.g., the development of green growths of confervoid algae in the water), led to purification,
yet the conditions in both lakes and baths which were used by abnormally
large numbers of bathers were such that natural processes of purification were inadequate
to maintain the water in fair condition. One cause of this was the fact that the
mixed animal and vegetable communities arising as the result of natural inoculation