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3
Water Supply.
The Ministry of Health have requested special reference in the Annual Reports of Medical
Officers of Health for 1946, to the water supply of the area. The City of London is mainly supplied
by the Metropolitan Water Board, but there is a number of deep bore wells. On January 31st, 1939,
the Ministry of Health issued a circular letter stating that attention had been drawn " to the possibility
of pollution from disused wells or borings of water obtained from the chalk under London."
At that time samples of water were taken from wells in the City for bacteriological examination
and though all were satisfactory, the owners of properties drawing a supply of water from deep bore
wells were informed that they should not continue to have absolute faith in the purity of such water,
but should have samples examined bacteriologically at intervals of not more than one year, and more
frequently if comparison of the reports indicated even the slightest deterioration in the quality of
the water. The outbreak of war diverted attention from the matter until the commencement of air
raids. It was then realised that, not only were some well heads buried under blitzed buildings, but
that also the bore tubes of some wells still in use might be cracked or broken as the result of bombs
falling in the vicinity. Owners of property supplied from wells were informed of the risk and were
advised to instal chlorination plants. The majority took this advice and at the present time there
are 52 premises with a total of 92 bores in daily use where automatic chlorination is in operation.
There are 28 premises with 44 bores in daily use without chlorination and there are eight premises
with 15 bores where the wells are maintained as a reserve supply only. So far as is known there are
about 100 disused bores in the City? 27 are in occupied premises which have turned over to the Metropolitan
Water Board supply,usually because the yield of water from the wells became insufficient.
Fifteen bores are in unoccupied, damaged or destroyed premises and there is no record of the sealing
of these bores. There are a number of other bores in regard to which further information is sought.
In the case of 37 disused bores there are records of sealing above the impermeable stratum of clay,
but if the water in the chalk is to be protected from the percolation down the bore of impure water
from the gravel, it would appear that sealing should be at the level of the clay, a much more difficult
and expensive business than just capping the bore. Section 21 (1) of the Water Act, 1945, states
that
If any person is guilty of any act or neglect whereby any spring, well or adit the water from
which is used or likely to be used for human consumption, is polluted or likely to be polluted,
he shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.
Whether failure to seal a disused bore at the level of the impermeable stratum would be deemed to
be neglect under the above section I am not prepared to say, but I doubt whether it would now be
practicable to seal all the disused wells in the City and probably the best course would be to require
owners to submit periodical bacteriological reports on the water from their wells and,if evidence of
pollution became apparent, require them to chlorinate the water, or close the well and take the
Metropolitan Water Board supply.
Factories Act 1937.
Particulars of the work done under Parts I and VIII of the Factories Act, 1937, are given in the
body of the Report.
General Sanitary Administration.
The general sanitary supervision of the City has been maintained but the work of the Sanitary
Inspectors has been rendered more difficult, not by reason of any unwillingness on the part of owners
or occupiers to carry out works of repair and maintenance but because of the shortages of labour and
materials.
Rat Repression.
The report of your Rodent Officer appears in the following pages. I should like to pay a special
tribute to Mr. Carter for having had the courage to introduce poisoning as the principal means of rat
destruction in the City. Before he joined the staff we were disinclined to use poison because we feared
that rats would die under floors and in out of the way places, would decompose and give rise to serious
nuisance from smell. But Mr. Carter has used poison with much greater success than ever attended
the use of traps, and complaints of smell have been very few and have been satisfactorily dealt with.
We are always in difficulty in describing the type of rat infestation. The terms " Black " and
" Brown " rats are unsatisfactory, for the "black" rat is often brown and the " brown " rat may be
almost black. Mr. Carter uses the terms " Ship rat " and " Common rat," but these are not really
good because, while the " Black rat" is practically the only type found in ships, it is now well
established ashore and indeed in the City it is commoner than the " Brown " or " Common " rat.
I would suggest " Climbing " rat and " Burrowing " rat which at least indicates in each case an
important characteristic from the point of view of rat destruction and rat-proofing. There may be
better suggestions, but it is important to have a popular name for each type which is generally
accepted and used,so that everybody knows what we mean.
Cremation.
The Public Health Committee is also the Burial Board for the City of London, Cemetery and
Crematorium at Manor Park and your Medical Officer is the Medical Referee to the Crematorium.
It is satisfactory to note that Cremation,as a means of ultimate disposal of the dead,is growmg in
public favour as is evidenced by the following figures:—
No. of Cremations at
Year. City of London Crematorium.
1936 295
1946 1,011
Staff.
Your staff, which is still below pre-war strength, has worked very satisfactorily during the year
despite the many difficulties and irritations which present conditions impose.