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tion of water according to hardness is that those of under 50° of hardness
are soft, those of 50 to 100 p.p.m. moderately soft, 200 to 300 hard and
over 300 very hard. This district is being supplied with water which is
harder than that supplied throughout most of the country. But whatever
may be the objections to hard water and however great the disadvantage
to the housewife and to those in industry, there is probably no
direct relationship between the hardness of water supplied and the health
of the consumers of that water.
Harrow had agreed to join Wembley Borough Council and the
Watford Rural Council in a protest to the Colne Valley Water Company
about the hardness of the water supply. The company submitted:
(1) that the average hardness of the water supply compares favourably
with that supplied by adjoining undertakers, and that the
company is one of the relatively few undertakers in the country
which give a softened water supply; that the large new treatment
works at Clay Lane, Bushey Heath, which incorporates a
softening process has been under construction for two years,
but it will be another two years before it is ready for softening
water;
(2) that in the meantime to meet demands for water it has been
necessary to bring new sources into service notwithstanding
that the water cannot be softened and that it is likely that
greater quantities of such water will have to be used which will
have the effect of increasing the hardness of the water put into
supply;
(3) that the softening plants at the Eastbury and Bushey pumping
stations are used regularly; that in order to increase the amount
of softening at the Eastbury plant would necessitate heavy
capital expenditure which is not warranted as the Clay Lane
works will be completed in two years.
Fluoridation. In different parts of the world people have suffered
from discoloration or disfiguration of the teeth which has now been
recognised to be the result of the consumption of water containing fluorides.
The population in small areas of this country have been found to be
affected. It was later appreciated though that the teeth affected to lesser
degrees seemed to be more resistant to caries. This led to the suggestion
that water which contained no fluorides might have fluorides deliberately
added in such concentration as to give the consumer of the water the
benefit of this resistance to caries, but short of the amount that might
result in gross damage to the teeth. In parts of America this step has
been taken, apparently with gratifying results. A mission was sent
from this country in 1952 to study the procedure and the results. They
brought back evidence that dental caries is much less prevalent in people
who throughout their lives drink water with a natural fluoride content
of 1 p.p.m. or more than in those whose water supply is practically free
from fluorine. Surveys made in many parts of the world have confirmed
this. In five large scale experiments carried out in America since 1945,
fluoride has been added to the water as a prophylactic against dental