View report page

1913.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THIS MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
for the URBAN DISTRICT OF BEXUTY in respect of the year 1913.
To The Chairman and Members of the
BEXLEY URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL.
Gentlemen,
I beg to submit to you my Twenty-third Annual Sanitary Report, viz,
that in respect of the year ended 31st December 1913.
A. NATURAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF TH5 DISTRICT-
(1). Physical features and general character. There is little to comment
upon under this heading. The making up of Broomfield Road has been completed
and a locality occupied by good class residences thereby much improved. The
continued activity of factories in the adjoining districts has created a good
demand for small houses, and unemployment has been practically non-existent.
The building of new houses, however, has been almost at a. standstill.
(2). Population. I estimate the population at the middle of the year at
17,000 against 15,895, at the time of the last Census. Residents in the
District may be divided into three principal classes, viz:-
(a) Those engaged in Engineering works in adjoining Districts:
(b) Those engaged in Market gardening, Fruit Growing and Agriculture in
the District: and
(c) Those who travel daily to business in town.
B. SANITARY CIRCUISTANC OF THE DISTRICT.
Water supply. With the exception of three houses the whole District is
supplied with water from the mains of the Metropolitan Water Board. The
water is derived from deep wells sunk into the chalk and the water, though
hard, is of great purity.
Of the three houses supplied from other sources one has spring
water laid on to the house, another has a well and the third used rain water.
Rivers and Streams. The practical completion of the sewerage of the
whole District (except small out-lying areas) has caused an almost complete
cessation of the pollution of streams, which was a very unsatisfactory feature
of the district some years ago.
Drainage and Sewerage. With the exception of a low-lying area (one of those
above mentioned) practically the whole of the District drains by gravitation
to the valley of the River Cray, and a smell tributary thereof.
In the valleys of these streams ere laid the West Kent Main Sewer
and the Cray Valley branch thereof, and the whole of the Council's sewers
discharge into one or other of these main sewers, the sewage being disposed
of by the West Kent Main Sewerage Board at their outfall works at Joyce Green,
near Dartford.
The Councils sewers are of stoneware pipes, and are sufficient for
the needs of the District.
The low lying area, which forms part of the Eest Wickham Ward, will
not drain by gravitation into the Council's main system of sewers* This
area,which lies in the watershed of a smell stream flowing from the Bexley
District through the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich and discharging into
the River Thames,comprises about 200 acres. The population of this area
is approximately 150 persons, and the dwellings are drained into cesspools.
The higher part of the water-shed is unpopulated at present, but as the area
adjoins the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich future developments may be expected.
There are 110 cesspools in the District receiving sewage. The
number is being gradually reduced as connections are made to the Council's
sewers.
The Council undertake the cleansing of cesspools, and influence is
constantly brought to beer on owners of property to connect their premises
to the sewers.
Closet Accommodation. The water-carriage system is almost exclusively used
in the District. A very few privies now exist.
Scavenging. The removal of house refuse is supervised by the Sanitary Inspector
and the cleansing of cesspools, earth closets, and privies, by the
Surveyor.
From time to time the Council have discussed the advisability of
adopting a weekly in lieu of fortnightly collection of house refuse. The
additional service involves considerable increased cost owing to difficulties
in the matter of cartage of the refuse, but the Council, carried out an experimental
weekly collection in one of the Wards during the summer months of 1913
and upon the information thus obtained it is to be hoped that they will see
their way to put into operation a weekly collection throughout the District
all the year round.
The refuse is disposed of on arable land and ploughed in.
BEX1