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ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SERVICE
The chronicle which follows contains figures, tables and text, and is set down
to fulfil the requests of Government departments and to satisfy the Regulations which
call for an account of the sanitary circumstances of the district. It demonstrates the
wide-ranging activities of the Public Health Inspectors, Technical Assistants and
other supporting field and clerical and administrative staff.
As the general standard of living has improved, people have become less
tolerant of conditions which offend a more fastidious standard of comfort; but with
all this it is man himself who creates conditions which militate against an aesthetically
acceptable and wholly healthy environment.
Striving for near-perfection in the presentation of foodstuffs by wrapping and
packing in non-porous bags and containers, manufacturers sometimes create conditions
conducive to mould growth, and twice as many of complaints about food affected by
mould were received in 1971, as in 1970.
Probably the most bizarre complaint related to a bottle of vodka which upon
examination was found to be 100 per cent water.. The complainant's disappointment
was happily short-lived, for the retailer supplied a bottle of the real stuff in lieu.
WATER SUPPLY
The supply of water to the Borough is distributed by three companies, namely
the Colne Walley Water Company, the Lee Valley Water Company and the Metropolitan
Water Board. It is satisfactory in quantity and quality.
Raw water and water going into supply are regularly sampled by the companies
for bacteriological and chemical examination, and the results were reported to conform
to satisfactory standards of purity. The waters are not liable to plumbo-solvent action.
The amount of naturally occurring fluoride varies; that supplied by the Colne
Valley Water Company has a content of less than 0.1 p.p.m., that supplied by the
Metropolitan Water Board has a content of 0.2 p.p.m., and in the case of the Lee
Valley Water Company in general the content is less than 0.2 p.p.m.
The whole district receives mains water direct and none is supplied by a
permanent standpipe.
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