London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
City of London 1968
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London, City of ]
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During the year 228 families were rehoused leaving 448 families on the Housing Register at
the end of December, 1968.
The first phase of the Middlesex Street Redevelopment continued and it is anticipated will
be completed in the Spring of 1969 providing 21 flats and 9 shops. When completed the Redevelopment
will provide a shopping and residential precinct of 181 flats and 38 shops.
The first 107 flats in the redevelopment of the Barbican residential area were completed and
work is in progress on a further 1,770 flats.
EXAMINATION OF WATER SUPPLIES AM) SWIMMING BATH WATER
Regular sampling of drinking water is carried out in the City in order to ensure its purity and
potability, and of swimming bath water to ensure that proper bacteriological standards are maintained.
At the present time, there are 282 deep wells in the City area; 114 of these are used for
commercial and domestic purposes, and the remaining 168 are disused.
Bacteriological sampling of drinking water is carried out on a routine basis, and samples
are submitted to the Public Health Laboratory Service for analysis. 147 such samples were
taken during the year, all of which were found to be satisfactory.
Samples for chemical analysis are not taken as a routine measure, but only when there are
some particular reasons indicating that such a test is desirable. Six samples of water were
taken for chemical analysis during the course of the year, following complaints to this department.
Details of these complaints are enumerated below:—
| No. | Source | Supply | Use | Condition of Water | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Drinking Point | M.W.B. | Drinking | Clear, bright without sediment, odourless, colourless and tasteless. No oily appearance of surface. | Water consistent with M.W.B. supply in City of London. Complaint of sediment and oily appearance. Not found in sample. |
| 2. | Coffee Vending Machine | M.W.B. via Roof Storage Tanks. | Drinki ng | Bacteriological ly satisfactory. Chemically clear almost odourless but not very bright. Minute amount of sediment. | Water consistent with M.W.B. supply in City of London. Storage tanks dirty and turbid affecting quality of water and require cleaning. |
| 3. | Drinking Point | M.W.B. | Drinking | Bacteriologically satisfactory. Chemically clear, odourless. Normal colour and taste. Free from appreciable sediment. | Consistent in character with M.W.B. supply in City of London. |
| 4. | Storage tank. | Deep Well 320 ft. to water level. | Drinking | Bacteriologically satisfactory. High free residual chlorine accounting for unpleasant taste. | Consistent in character with deep well, supply in City. Unpalatable due to over chlorination. |
| 5. | Well | Deep Well 480 ft. to water level. | Drinking | Water brown and turbid, and deposited iron hydroxide on standing. Odourless and after filtration colourless and tasteless. Otherwise consistent in character with water from a deep well in the City of London. | Removal of deposited iron by filtration or other means necessary before use for drinking purposes. |