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vulnerable are not lagged, while the outside w.c. is a regular sufferer.
That there has been too great a tendency to place the blame on the weather
rather than on this bad design is suggested by the decision of the Minister
of Housing and Local Government to circularize local authorities
suggesting that Water Companies should adopt the Minister's model
byelaw requiring that wherever possible fittings should be placed where
they are unlikely to freeze, or if that is not possible that they should be
protected. Amongst the other suggestions made in circular 37/56 to
water suppliers and housing authorities is that wider use could be made of
polythene pipes for cold water services in new houses, particularly for
outside w.c.'s, wash houses and similar buildings.
DRAINAGE AND SEWAGE DISPOSAL
The soil sewage from the district flows to the West Middlesex
Drainage Works at Mogden. The surface water finds its way out of
the district by the various water courses. The Annual Report for 1954
set out the details of the arrangements for the disposal and treatment of
the sewage of the district and the drainage.
For some years low lying properties on the south side of Headstone
Gardens have been subject to flooding during heavy storms because of
the surcharging of the surface water sewers. At their October meeting
the Council approved the construction of a surface water sewer relief
overflow at Headsto'ne Gardens running from the road to a nearby water
course.
The especially heavy rainfall on some days in the summer led to a
crop of complaints from the occupants of numbers of homes. The
surface water drainage of Uxbridge Road, Stanmore at each side of
Chartley Avenue proved to be inadequate, there being a length of 500
ft. on the southern side of the road without gulleys. The Council decided
on the construction of a nine-inch surface water sewer complete with
man-holes and road gulleys.
New properties on the south side of Cuckoo Hill Road, Pinner
had also suffered from flooding, the surface water sewer being very
shallow at this point. The remedy here would seem to be the construction
of an additional surface water sewer from an existing manhole
to the River Pinn.
During the heavy storms the sewer in Kenton Lane surcharged
and caused the house drains to over flow, depositing quantities of
obnoxious matter around the homes and gardens particularly of numbers
671 to 679. Water also flowed into the gardens of houses at Weald
Rise. To avoid a recurrence of this trouble a 75 yard length of nineinch
overflow was to be constructed from the soil sewer in the Kenton
Lane to the soil sewer in the Avenue.
The Council in August, 1955, authorised the invitation of tenders
for the execution of the works involved in connection with the Pinner
soil sewer relief scheme. At their meeting in January, 1956 a tender was
accepted and the work was started in April.
Synthetic Detergents. Because of the very marked increase in
the use of synthetic detergents both of the foaming and of the non-foaming