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35
sometimes in conjunction. The state of the River Wandle,
near Beddington and near Hackbridge, and the pollution of
the Beverley Brook at Worcester Park, have been the
subjects of reports.
The bed of the river between the Waddon pools and
Beddington has long been unsatisfactory, from the accumulation
of deposit, and is at times offensive. Early in the year
the Croydon Corporation had the pools thoroughly cleaned
out, and later on something was also done by the riparian
owner towards cleansing the portion of the river named. At
Hackbridge, serious polluting facilities were discovered at
Frost's Mill, and action has been taken in the matter both by
this Council and the neighbouring Carshalton Council.
Near Beddington Corner are other mills, and some
dwellings, in the District of Carshalton, which have long
polluted the stream ; but this Council has agreed to the
construction of a sewer to drain the premises into their system
in that locality, and if the mills are connected therewith (a
course which this Council has sanctioned), this difficult source
of contamination will disappear.
In this neighbourhood, too, the voluminous effluent from
the Croydon sewage farm enters the river. It flows for some
distance near the roadway in an open stream ; and as it was
reported that some purveyors of watercress were in the habit
of washing this greenstuff in it, preparatory to sending it
away for sale, the Council caused a notice to be posted,
deprecating the practice, and warning the purveyors that they
would, by so doing, render themselves open to the seizure of
their wares as unfit for human consumption. The cultivation
of this food is extensively practised in this locality, and the
water of the sewage effluent is largely used in the process, but
I cannot believe that such a proceeding is free from risk.