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13
A total of over 3,500 chemical, bacteriological and biological
examinations have been made and all water going into supply
was wholesome.
In addition, analyses have also been made of samples obtained
from consumers' taps in the various parts of the Company's
district, including that of your Council, and all proved to be
satisfactory.
The water supplied is not plumbo-solvent.
No action has been necessary in respect to any form of contamination.
The number of dwelling houses supplied as at 31st December
last, was 30,436 and the population as at 30th June, 1951, as
obtained from the Registrar General was 103,800."
Approximately 0.6 per cent. of the inhabited houses, and 0.6 per
cent. of the population of the Urban District obtain their water from
standpipes.
The hardness of the water is a source of much inconvenience to
housewives especially but so far as I am aware it has not been found
prejudicial at all to health. Under existing circumstances any scheme
of general water softening is not likely to achieve fruition for some
considerable time to come.
Certain isolated dwellings in the rural portion of the area must
still depend upon well water for their supply. Shallow wells are, by
and large, a source of potential trouble and provide a hygienic affront
lo the district. The trouble they actually cause (as compared to the
trouble the results of analysis suggest they might cause) is relatively
small and even when new residents come to occupy the houses concerned
complaints are seldom heard. This may well be because the
incoming tenants have enjoyed—or borne with—comparable conditions
elsewhere and have therefore secured immunity elsewhere.
It is interesting and important to note that where there are very
young babies even boiling does not—in a few instances—make the
water fit for drinking and in these cases the provision of an alternative
supply is the more urgent.
During the year arrangements for connecting up certain cafe
premises were completed on the Council offering to pay a substantial
sum towards the cost.
I know that similarly it is the wish of the Council to secure a main
supply for all dwellings and if this is likely to be difficult of attainment
it is certainly regarded as a target.
Atmospheric Pollution.
Our routine observations at the various sites throughout the
district have been continued and the results are in general accord
with the sites involved and with previous years. We have in addition
for a limited period of a year obtained facilities for siting in the district
two pieces of apparatus supplied through the Department of Scientific
and Industrial Research for the investigation of metal corrosion.