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17
5.—SUPPLEMENTARY.
(i) Water.
Mr. Bernard W. Bryan, Engineer to the South Essex Waterworks
Company, has informed me that the water supplied throughout
the Company's District was sufficient for all purposes. All
samples analysed have been reported on as being pure and
wholesome.
In addition to the above analyses, samples of water have been
taken monthly from different premises in the district by the Sanitary
Inspectors. These were submitted for Chemical and Bacteriological
examinations, and the results have confirmed the findings of the
Waterworks Company.
Mr. Bryan also states that the supply is constant throughout,
that standpipes are not in use, and that the water in the district is
not plumbo-solvent.
Regarding the question of the number of examinations made
prior to and after the treatment of the water, Mr. Bryan reports:—
"About 3,000 samples of water are examined annually at our
Langham laboratory for chemical, bacteriological and biological
purposes.
The water supplied by the Company is derived in part from the
River Stour (Essex and Suffolk) and in part from eight wells carried
into the chalk formation in the Company's district.
The proportion of water supplied from the River Stour and from
the local wells varies according to the district demands and at the
present time it is about 70% of Stour water and 30% well water.
Dealing first with the Stour water—The Langham works
abstract water from the river which is then passed through a sedimentation
reservoir holding about three days' supply and then passes
to primary filters and secondary filters and is subsequently treated
with ammonia and chlorine.
Two samples per week are examined chemically and bacteriologically
of the water from the river, from the outlet to the sedimentation
reservoir, the outlet to the primary filters and the outlet
to the secondary filters before chlorination.
A daily sample is examined bacteriologically of the water after
chlorination.
During the winter and spring months water is also pumped from
the same reach of the River Stour in which the Langham intake is
situated to our Abberton Reservoir, which has a total capacity of
5,700 million gallons,