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28
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE AREA
WATER
Almost the whole of the area obtains its water from Colne Valley
Water Company, coming from wells supplied by gathering grounds in the
Chilterns. Full particulars of the places at which the water is collected
and details of the purification processes carried out were set out in the
Annual Report for 1954.
Responsibility for the wholesomeness of the water supply rests with
the Water Company. Following the outbreak of typhoid fever in
Croydon some years before the war, the result of pollution of the town's
water supply, responsibility for ascertaining the wholesomeness of the
water supplies in their districts was placed on District Councils by Section
111 of the Public Health Act, 1936. To this end the Council instructed
that samples of water be submitted periodically for chemical and
bacteriological analysis.
Apart from these routine analyses, samples are submitted for analysis
of water collected from houses in which there are persons suffering from
complaints which might have been water borne. Particulars of these
cases are passed by the Public Health Department to the Water Company.
The following is a summary of the chemical analysis of a sample
submitted in May (parts per million):
Appearance: Bright with a few mineral particles.
Colour: 3. Turbidity: less than 3. Odour: nil.
pH.7'3. Free Carbon Dioxide: 14.
Electric conductivity: 580 Total Solids: 390.
Chlorine present as chloride: 43. Alkalinity as Calcium Carbonate: 190.
Hardness: Total 235. Carbonate 190, Non-carbonate 45.
Nitrate Nitrogen: 4-8. Nitrite Nitrogen: less than 0-01.
Ammoniacal Nitrogen: 0.000 Oxygen absorbed: 0-45.
Albuminoid Nitrogen: 0.027. Residual Chlorine: absent.
Metals: absent.
" This sample is practically clear and bright in appearance, since it
carries only a few particles of mineral matter in suspension. The water is
neutral in reaction, hard in character but not unduly so and it contains
no excess of salinity or mineral constituents in solution. It is free from
iron and other metals. It is of very satisfactory organic quality."
From the aspect of the chemical analysis these results are indicative
of a pure and wholesome water suitable for drinking and domestic purposes.
The following, a copy of a bacteriological examination of a sample
submitted for analysis in December, is typical of other reports—
Plate count. Yeastrel agar 2 days anaerobically: 2 per ml.
Probable number of coliform bacilli: MacConkey 2 days 37°: not found.
Probable number of faecal coli: not found.
Each year many householders suffer great hardship and material
damage from burst pipes. The very severe weather in February magnified
this problem last year. According to a reply by the Minister of Housing
and Local Government, in a survey of nearly one million Council houses
18 per cent, were found to have been damaged by frost early in the year.
Much of the trouble is the result of bad design of the plumbing systemSo
often the rising main is on the external wall, pipes in places especially