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37
In addition to the waste paper collected on the normal weekly refuse
collection a free waste paper and cardboard collection service is provided
by the fortnightly collection made to 3,339 shops and business premises.
Refuse Disposal
For some years now virtually all the refuse from this district has been
tipped at Harefield. The present contract expires on the 31st March 1964.
As three authorities—Harrow, Ruislip, Northwood and Uxbridge—are
using these tips it is probable that Uxbridge will not be able to provide
tipping space beyond the time in the present agreement.
Harrow has reserved sites for the construction of refuse destructors
at Rayners Lane, South Harrow, the site of a dis-used destructor, and at
the Great Stanmore Sewage Farm, Honeypot Lane.
The question of a single scheme for the three district has been considered.
No site suitable for a destructor of suitable size is available.
Other methods considered were the use of wet pits, the use of dry pits,
bulk handling and composting. There are serious objections to the use of
wet pits, though trials are being carried out of dewatering the pits and
filling them. The method of bulk handling involves the use of large
vehicles of forty cubic yard capacity and a system of transferring the
refuse from the collecting vehicles to these large vehicles with the aid of
one or more special loading platforms. It would also necessitate the
provision of a transfer station or stations where the collecting vehicles tip
the refuse on to a platform from which it is transferred through a chute
by the use of a bulldozer or chaseside shovel into one of the larger
collecting vehicles. The material would then be disposed of in dry pits.
The Highways and Cleansing Committee at their meeting in October
decided to defer the question of future arrangements for a few months
pending the report of the Royal Commission on Local Government.
SWIMMING BATHS
There are two open-air swimming baths in the district, one at Charles
Crescent, Honeybun Estate, Harrow, and the other at Christchurch
Avenue, Wealdstone. The former, constructed in 1923, measures 165
feet by seventy-five feet, with a depth of seven feet to three feet six inches.
The water, after being filtered, is treated by chlorination. Dressing
accommodation, shower and foot baths and sanitary coveniences are
provided. The Wealdstone bath, constructed in 1934, measures 165 feet
by seventy-five feet, with a depth of eight feet six inches to two feet six
inches; in addition, there is a shallow semi-circular beginners' pool.
Suitable dressing accommodation, with shower and foot baths, and
sanitary conveniences, are provided. The water is treated by passing
'Tough filters and is then chlorinated by the break-point method.
The duration of the turn-over period varies according to the extent
the baths are used, but it is at least once a day, and at busy times is every
eight hours.
Daily tests are carried out for the presence of free chlorine and to
determine the pH value.