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14
Behind houses in Fairfield Place, Mill Street, and the
adjacent land, persons are in the habit of throwing debris
into the stream. The difficulty is to identify the actual
culprits, who deserve severe punishment. It is found
necessary to periodically clear out the stream at this spot.
The open ditch coming from the old mill into the water
splash has been piped in and made up, which is a great
improvement, since formerly it often became stagnant and
offensive.
It is the practice for youths to bathe in this river near
its entry to the Borough, but in my opinion this pastime
is to be strongly deprecated.
CLOSET ACCOMMODATION.
All Closets in the Borough are on the Water Carriage
System.
SEWAGE DISPOSAL.
The Sewage Disposal Works are situated just behind
the Canbury Gardens.
«
These works have been in operation since 1888, the
process adopted being known as the A. B. C. system of
chemical precipitation, and this method is still in use, the
only essential difference being that, whereas originally the
tank effluent was discharged direct to the River Thames,
it is now subjected to further treatment through percolating
filters and humus tanks.
The works deal with a population of approximately
44,000 from Kingston and Hampton Wick, the average
daily flow being about two million gallons. The sludge
deposited in the tanks is pressed, and subsequently dried
and ground into a fine powder, and sold to farmers, market
gardeners, fruit growers, etc., as a fertilizer. This product
has been marketed by the Native Guano Company,
under the name " Native Guano " for the past thirty-eight
years, but on the termination of the contract in November,
1925, the Corporation have undertaken the sale direct at a
considerably reduced price.
During the past five years the whole of the filters have
been cleaned. Three 50-feet percolating filters have been
added, together with humus tanks of a capacity equal to
two hours' dry weather flow.