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36
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE AREA
WATER
Supply. 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.
Safety. 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 April (parts per million):—
Appearance: Bright with a few mineral particles.
Colour: nil. Turbidity: less than 3. Odour: nil.
pH. 7.3. Free Carbon Dioxide: 18.
Electric conductivity: 690. Total Solids: 480.
Chlorine present as chloride: 45. Alkalinity as Calcium Carbonate: 255.
Hardness: Total 290. Carbonate 255. Non-carbonate 35.
Nitrate Nitrogen: 4. Nitrite Nitrogen: less than 0.01.
Ammoniacal Nitrogen: 0.021. Oxygen absorbed: 0.35.
Albuminoid Nitrogen: nil. Residual Chlorine: absent.
Metals: Iron: 0.03. Other metals absent.
"This sample is practically clear and bright in appearance, neutral
in reaction and free from metals apart from a negligible trace of iron.
The water is hard in character, but its hardness and its content of mineral
and saline constituents in solution are not excessive. Its organic quality
is of a high standard. These results are indicative of a water which is
pure and wholesome in character and 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: under 1 per ml.
Probable number of coliform bacilli: MacConkey 2 days 37°: not found.
Probable number of fæcal coli: not found.
Water Company's Bye-Laws. The Colne Valley Water Company
during the year modified their bye-laws which deal with the measures tor
preventing waste, mis-use or contamination of water, etc., to ensure the
greater protection of water fittings from the effects of frost. The new
bye-law reads: That so far as reasonably practicable, every water fitting
inside a building shall be so placed as not to render it liable to damage
by frost; and where a fitting, either inside or outside a building, is placed