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100
Certificates as to Water Supply.
The number of certificates issued during the year was 18, as
compared with 45 in 1912.
Drainage Work.
The by-laws of the London County Council which require that plans
and written particulars of drainage construction and alteration shall be
deposited with the Sanitary Authority came into operation in August,
1903, and from that date till the end of 1913 the Council have approved
540 plans for the drainage of new buildings, and 6992 plans for
alterations, etc., to drains of existing premises.
During the year 1913, 995 notices of drainage reconstruction or
alteration were received, and in 893 cases the work necessitated the
deposit of plans and written particulars. In 298 of these latter cases
the work could not be delayed until the Council's approval of the plans
had been received; in each of these cases the prescribed " urgency "
notice was therefore submitted by the builders, the work put in hand
forthwith and the plans, etc., deposited at a later date.
Of 893 notices of drainage alterations, etc., requiring the deposit
of plans, 347 related to work that involved the entire reconstruction of
the drainage system. In 495 cases the work was carried out voluntarily,
the number of instances in which voluntary complete reconstruction
was carried out being 140. This class of work was chiefly in connection
with the larger houses in the Borough, and in many cases the voluntary
drainage reconstructions were of a very extensive character.
In 317 cases the drains were laid in iron pipes, iron
being found the most durable material. It is the practice of the
Council to insist on the use of iron pipes in the case of all drains that
run under a building. This requirement is enforced, if necessary, by
an order made under the Metropolis Management Acts.
Drain and Sewer.
The claims which the Council had to meet under the existing
unsatisfactory state of the law relating to the respective liabilities of the
local authority and the owner of private property, in regard to private
drains which are "technically sewers," have again been few, a result
which is almost entirely due to the policy of resisting any claims that
may be made if any means can be found to justify such action,