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21
Drainage and Sewerage.
Main drainage is under the control of the West Kent Main
Sewerage Board. During the year improvements were completed
to surface water drainage in Shire Lane near Beechlands
Estate.
Cesspools.
Number of cesspools 2,599
Number of cesspools converted to main drainage during year .... 39
Number of houses with Pail Closets converted to cesspool drainage 15
Number of new houses erected with cesspool drainage 11
Number of other premises erected with cesspool drainage 1
Number of loads removed from cesspools on private properties .... 3,394
Number of loads removed from cesspools on requisitioned properties 543
Number of loads removed from cesspools on Council properties .... 485
In the above statistical table it will be noted that the conversion
of cesspool drainage to main drainage makes very slow
progress, for during the twelve months under review only thirtynine
premises were converted against fifty-five of the previous
year. Even with this slow progress that is being made, eleven
new houses were erected with cesspool drainage.
The fact that there are five hundred and twenty-seven cesspools
in the sewered area, only one hundred and twenty-nine of
which were emptied on application to the Local Authority,
indicates that there is much still to be done even in this part of
the problem. In the non-sewered area there are one thousand
nine hundred and forty-seven cesspools, only five hundred and
forty-three of which were emptied on application being made to
the Local Authority. The problem is, therefore, three-fold.
First to convert to main drainage those cesspools where the main
drain is available, secondly to plan with foresight the extension
of main sewers into non-sewTered areas and thirdly, the extension
of the services for regular emptying of cesspools.
I can but repeat what has been said in previous reports, that
until this problem is solved and the gross pollution of the subsoil
which is daily occurring by seepage is prevented, there
remains a potential danger of the contamination of water supplies,
especially where such seepage is occurring in fissured chalk
formations. Although the Local Authority provide an extensive
service for the emptying of cesspools at the request of occupiers,
inadequate use is made of it.
During the year a record was kept of the frequency in which
these emptyings occurred, and the following figures show that,
emptying was not adequate to prevent percolation occurring.