View report page

38
but this station is seldom used. Water supplied from the Company's
other pumping stations contains only a trace of fluorides, a concentration
of the order of 0.1 p.p.m. Analysis of samples collected in different parts
of the district showed that in one part six out of twenty samples had a
fluoride content of 0.4 to 0.7 p.p.m. In another area two samples out
of seventeen had 0.3 p.p.m. In all others, as in every sample from the
Harrow part of the district, fluoride could not be detected. Occasionally
the Company takes water in bulk from another Water Company, but this
water contains either no fluoride at all or only the smallest traces of under
0.1 p.p.m.
DRAINAGE AND SEWAGE DISPOSAL
The soil sewage from this district flows to the West Middlesex
Drainage Works at Mogden. Surface water finds its way out of the
district by the various water courses. The Annual Report for 1954 set
out the arrangements for the disposal and treatment of the sewage of the
district and the drainage.
Soil Drainage. In August, 1955, the Council authorised the
invitation of tenders for the execution of the works involved in the Pinner
relief soil sewer scheme designed to relieve the main sewers serving Pinner
which have become overloaded because of the development which has
taken place in the district since the war. The work started in May, 1956;
the contract period is two years. The new sewer which will be two miles
long starts in Paines Lane, runs along Barrowpoint Avenue, Avenue
Road and Love Lane, through Bridge Street and Marsh Road, then along
Eastcote Road and Cannon Lane to discharge into the existing trunk
sewer south of the old sewage farm. The sewer varies in diameter from
27 in. in Paines Lane to the 42 in. in Cannon Lane. When this work
is completed, it is anticipated the pollution of the River Pinn will be
lessened, and also the flooding in certain parts of Pinner.
The Minister of Housing and Local Government intimated he would
be prepared to consider a scheme for the construction of a new deep
soil sewer to relieve the present overloaded Wealdstone sewerage system.
Properties not connected to the Main Drainage System. Of
the 64,000 units of accommodation in the Borough, the drains of all but
42 are connected to the general sewerage system. Those not so connected
discharge either into cess-pools or to small treatment plants. Nearly all
of these are in the northern part of the district. Since the war there has
been some reduction in the number of these properties. The unsatisfactory
conditions caused by the overflowing of cess-pools and inefficient disposal
plants of a group of properties, including The City Cottages at Old
Redding, led to some properties being connected to the sewer. Other
properties were drained into the soil sewer when it was extended along
Oxhey Lane.
Sewage Disposal at the Coast. The problem which a district such
as this is not faced with, but which is of concern to many districts bordering
or near the sea, is that of pollution of the sea water by sewage. This is
a matter which is raised periodically more particularly because of the