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Act but also by the district authorities concerned, to improve
the condition of the River Brent, for the Act places certain
responsibilities upon local authorities in connection with pollution
arising from the discharge of sewers. Needless to say the only
sewers in the Borough discharging direct to rivers are surface
water sewers.
A conference of officers of local authorities whose districts
drain into the River Brent was called by the Ealing Corporation
in 1952 with the object of concerted efforts being made by the
various authorities concerned to bring about improved conditions
in the river. Already some improvement has been noted and on
occasions small fish have been observed, but the chances are that
they have been fortuitously introduced with possibly a short
period of survival, One of the greatest causes of pollution is
oil and it is difficult to see how this can be overcome when it is
remembered that road washings contain a considerable quantity
of oil and a little oil is capable of spreading over a large area
of water. If the first flush of storm water from roads and
paved areas which would contain most of the oil and detritus could
be diverted to the soil sewers this would partly overcome the
problem. In several instances quite heavy oil pollution had been
traced to its source and in one ease fuel oil storage tanks were
found to be leaking. Another source was found to be an oil
interceptor which was in need of cleaning out.
It is surprising the amount of solid refuse which has to be
removed from the river bed; much of it in the nature of tin cans,
brick-bats, parts of old bicycles and perambulators, etc., is
probably wilfully thrown in, whilst some falls in from deposits of
industrial waste which have been placed too near the river banks.
Sewage Works effluents virtually ceased to be discharged
into the river from the time that the North-West Middlesex Main
Drainage Scheme came into operation, with the result that pollution
from these sources does not arise. From time to time, however,
wrong drainage connections from individual private premises
are found and prompt steps are taken to effect a remedy. These
sources of pollution are often difficult to trace, for what may be
significant pollution during a period of drought becomes almost
undetectable when the surface water sewer is carrying its normal
flow.
The County Council have instituted systematic sampling of
the river water at fixed points at monthly intervals and two
points have been selected in the Borough, one near where the
River Brent enters and the other near where it leaves the
Borough. The results of chemical examination by the County
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