Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch]
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workplaces, the interference with the constant supply meant that
for 18 out of 24 hours, in addition to the inconvenience of being
deprived of water in dwellings for drinking and domestic purposes, the
flushing of w.c.'s. and drains was seriously interfered with.
(3) That the demand for disinfectants at the Town Hall for use in connection
with offensive w.c.'s and sinks, had been markedly increased since the
interference with the constant supply.
(4) That the inconvenience experienced by the consumers was increased owing
to their lack of knowledge as to the exact time when the water was turned
on and off; a matter, it was pointed out, which ought to receive the
immediate attention of the Company.
(5) That the standpipes erected by the water company, although useful, did
not sufficiently meet the requirements of the people generally, being
few in number and only provided in the principal thoroughfares where
there are arterial mains. To help supply this deficiency it had been
decided to station water carts at certain points in the more crowded
localities.
(6) That the vast majority of the people affected were poor, a fact borne out
by the numerous applications made at the Town Hall for storage
receptacles.
The extreme importance from a public health point of view of a constant water
supply in poor localities and the need of supplementing the present sources of the
water supply for the East End of the Metropolis, were strongly urged upon the Water
Examiner on behalf of the Vestry.
With a view to sending timely information of serious defects in the water supply
at public institutions to the Water Company if necessary, the chief sanitary
inspector made enquiries as to the condition of the water supply at the public
elementary schools and other large buildings in the East London Water Area,
and it was found that at Scawfell Street School water was turned on at 10.30 a.m.
and off at 1 p.m., on at 4 p.m. and off again 7 p.m.; at Fellows Street Middle
Class School the times when the water was on and off were the same as at
Scawfell Street; at Brooke Road Middle Class School the water was turned on early
in the morning and off at 9 a.m., on again at 1 p.m. and off at 3 p.m. At the Priory
Great Cambridge Street there is a large cistern at the top of the building, and there was
no complaint. At Maidstone Street Board School the supply had not been stopped at
any time. At the North Eastern Hospital for children, there are good storage cisterns
and there was no complaint. Goldsmiths Buildings, Goldsmiths Bow, containing
58 tenements are supplied by meter, the water had not been stopped at any time.
Pennybank Chambers containing 24 tenements, and Calvert Avenue containing 32
tenements are provided with storage cisterns and there were no complaints.