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RIVERS AND STREAMS.
The details regarding rivers and streams in the Borough
were given in the report for 1937.
519 inspections of watercourses were made during the year,
as a result of which a number of cases of pollution were discovered
and subsequently remedied. Owing to the fact that the
surface water sewers in the Borough discharge into the open
watercourses the possibility of pollution taking place by sewage
inadvertently gaining access to the surface water sewers must
always be kept in view. In a number of instances this has been
found to be the case and prompt action has always been taken
to abate any such nuisance.
The Middlesex County Council are the rivers authority and
have periodically cleansed the main rivers and streams during
the year. The County Council, too, have continued their policy
of straightening the course of the River Brent and of the lining
of the banks and bed of the river with concrete.
In August a fatality occurred in the Welsh Harp water. It
must be pointed out that bathing in this water is not allowed.
The owners of the water have made considerable efforts for
some time past to prevent bathing in the reservoir, while from
a public health point of view it cannot be too clearly stressed
that this water is unsuitable for bathing purposes. Practically
the whole of the surface water from Hendon finds its way into
the Welsh Harp. Surface water sewers discharge into the Silk
Stream, or the Brent, which in turn empty into the Welsh Harp.
Certain surface water sewers from Willesden also discharge
into this water.
In 1935 the late Urban District Council had this matter
under consideration and again last year the Borough Council
resolved
THAT notices be exhibited by the Council at the entrances
to, and other suitable places in, the Welsh Harp Open
Space, to the effect that the Welsh Harp water is the
private property of the Grand Union Canal Company;
that the public using the Welsh Harp Open Space
have no right to bathe in the water and that bathing
in the Reservoir is dangerous.
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