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58
SECTION C.—SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES
OF THE AREA.
Water.
There is nothing to add to the particulars of public
water supply as given on page 43 of my Annual Report
for 1935.
The following details have been extracted from the
Metropolitan Water Board's Report for 1936, showing
results of bacteriological and chemical examinations of
deep well water, being averages for twelve months ended
31st December, 1936:—
Shortlands Wells.
Bacteriological Examinations—
No. of samples 31
Average No. of microbes per ml. 0.02
B. Coli test 100 per cent. negative in 100 nil.
Chemical Examinations— Averages for 12 months
ended 31st December, 1936 :
Shortlands.
No. 1. No. 2. No. 3.
No. of samples 3 2 2
Ammoniacal Nitrogen 0.0005 0.0005 0.0006
Albuminoid Nitrogen 0.0019 0.0017 0.0021
Oxidised Nitrogen 0.44 0.41 0.53
Chlorides expressed as Chlorine 1.79 1.79 1.79
Oxygen absorbed in 3 hours 0.006 0.006 0.001
Total Hardness 26.5 26.3 26.0
Permanent Hardness 6.5 6.2 6.5
The analyses show that the steps taken by the Metropolitan
Water Board to safeguard and provide a pure
water supply are effective, and that water taken direct
from the main is safe to drink. In actual practice the
public not infrequently take water direct from the household
cistern which for many reasons cannot be guaranteed
a safe water to drink without being previously boiled.
This is especially true in times of typhoid epidemic. The
same can be said of water that passes through water
softeners, and a case in point occurred during the year in