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poses, so that the water can be obtained as pure as possible and
not exposed to the dangers attendant on storage cisterns.
There are three houses in the District situated at such a distance
from the mains of the M.W.B. that it is not possible at present to
lay the water on to these houses; they are supplied by private wells.
Samples of the water from these wells are analysed from time to
time, and the results have been satisfactory.
From the point of view of health the water supplied by the
Metropolitan Water Board is probably the safest in the world. The
reports supplied to the Council from time to time by the Director,
Sir Alexander Houston, indicate the methods adopted to render the
water safe, and the daily examinations that are made to detect
contamination or the presence of matter injurious to health.
Sewerage and Drainage.
The Sewage and excreta of the District are removed by the
Water Carriage System. The sewers are on the "separate system,"
that is to say, there is one set of pipes for sewage and another for
surface and storm water.
For the purposes of sewage removal, Beckenham is divided into
two Districts, namely, the Metropolitan Sewerage Area and the West
Kent Area. The former district comprises the Kent House and
Lawrie Park Wards (area 567 acres), and the latter the remainder
of the District (area 3,314 acres). The dividing line between the two
areas is the Crystal Palace branch of the Soutnern Railway, the Poole
River, and a short length of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway.
The Drainage of the Beckenham sewerage area discharges into
the Penge and Bell Green Sewer, which latter sewer (taking also the
sewage from Penge) connects to the Metropolitan Sewers at Lewisham,
the main outfall of which Metropolitan Sewer is situate at
Crossness on the River Thames.
The Sewers of the West Kent area discharge at several points
into the two main sewers of the West Kent Sewerage Board, the