Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hornchurch]
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23
The current year's Estimates include work relating to Sycamore
Avenue, Rainham Road, Norfolk Road, Kinfauns Avenue, Upminster
Road (Hornchurch) and North Street, as well as a Severn Drive relief.
Future schemes involving Emerson Park, Rainham, Harold Wood,
Front Lane, Upminster, Wood Lane, ctc., are also due for consideration.
Work relating to ditches also forms part of the future proposals.
It will thus be seen that the proposals of both soil and surface
water sewers are still important and still with us in this district. It
is essential that in our rapidly growing population steps should be
taken to keep pace in respect of all sewerage and sewage disposal
matters.
This naturally means that not only must existing disposal works
be aligned to modern demands and new sewers provided, but also that
the old ones are brought up to a state adequately to cope with the
demands now placed upon them.
One must conclude where one started by emphasising that the
first matter to be settled is the question of the Regional Sewerage
Scheme. Until this is done our actions can only be regarded as palliative
rather than curative.
Extensions or Improvements to Sewage Works.
Stages II and III of the Eastern Outfall Works (Berry Farm) are
in progress, these consisting of predigestion tanks and further humus
tanks and three more biological filters which will be electrically controlled
in order to give constant rate of effluent discharge through the filters
and further treatment beyond the humus tanks by land irrigation in
order to provide a higher standard than that required by the River
Board and above Royal Commission standard.
The improvements mentioned will include the introduction of a
Mono-rail system to lighten the task of sludge removal which is at
present being carried out entirely by manual labour.
Rivers.
Comment has already been made on the unsatisfactory position
attending the River Ingrebourne.
Ditches.
The attraction of an open ditch allied to the relative unlikelihood
that the action will be specifically brought home to anyone makes it
a natural choice for the deposition of unwanted material. The chances
of this trouble being caused by persons outside our District are probably
greater than in the case of watercourses.