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23
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE AREA.
WATER.
Apart from the small part of the south-western portion of the
district served by the Rickmansworth & Uxbridge Valley Water Company,
the area is supplied with water by the Colne Valley Water Company.
The water, originating in the gathering grounds in the Chilterns, is
pumped at a number of stations from wells about 200 feet deep in the
chalk. The main stations are at Aldenham Road, Bushey, Berry Grove
near Aldenham and Eastbury Road between Bushey and Rickmansworth.
The water is softened by lime or by the base-exchange process and
chlorinated. Its purity is ensured by the supervision carried out by a
staff of chemists and bacteriologists. The service reservoirs are at
Windmill Lane, Bushey Heath. A boosting station in Grove Hill Road
ensures adequate pressure on Harrow hill. The Rickmansworth &
Uxbridge Valley Water Company have pumping stations at Ickenham,
West Drayton and Mill End.
The statutory duty has been laid on all water undertakers who derive
their powers from special statutory enactments to ensure that the water
supplied by them to consumers is at all times wholesome. Section 111
of the Public Health Act, 1936, also lays it as a duty on every local
authority to take from time to time such steps as may be necessary for
ascertaining the sufficiency and wholesomeness of the supplies within the
district. The only complaints ever received as to inadequacy of supply
came from the small area supplied by the Rickmansworth Company, and
even from here there has been none of recent years. The Colne Valley
Company notify the authority of their intention to cut off the supply
of water to an inhabited house. Beyond an occasional criticism about
the hardness of the water and at times complaints of the chlorine taste,
few complaints are received about the quality. As a routine practice,
quarterly samples are submitted to both chemical and bacteriological
analysis. Below is set out one of these analyses of a sample taken in
January, 1945, which is typical of all those that have been submitted.
Appearance: Clear and bright.
Colour: Normal.
Odour: Nil.
p.H. Reaction: Neutral.
Chlorine as chlorides: 7.0.
Hardness: Total, 26.0. Temporary, 17.5. Permanent, 8.5.
Nitrogen in nitrates : 0.52. In nitrites—absent.
Free ammonia absent; albuminoid ammonia, 0.0020. Oxygen
absorbed in 4 hours, 0.020.
Free chlorine reaction: Absent. Metals absent.