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38
3. RIVERS AND STREAMS.
The Borough is bounded on the West by the River
Thames and the only other watercourse in the Borough is
the Hogsmill River, a small tributary which, rising at Ewell,
joins the Thames a short distance South of Kingston Bridge.
The Hogsmill River receives the effluent of certain sewage
purification works before it enters the Borough boundary,
and occasionally other types of contamination have been suspected,
such as that which caused so many fatalities amongst
the fish population during the year under review. The
proposed widening of the Hogsmill River and diversion of
part of the stream had not been commenced at the end of the
year.
There is no change to report in the number of boats
used for human habitation and moored within the Borough
boundary. The number seldom exceeds twenty. Control of
these craft by the Corporation is very limited as the boats
do not legally constitute "houses" within the meaning of all
parts of the Public Health Act, 1936. That some degree of
pollution of the river does take place as the result of the
use of these boats for human habitation, there can be little
doubt, but appropriate action to prevent this pollution can
be taken only by The Thames Conservancy Board with which
authority your officers co-operate to the fullest possible
extent.
4. CLOSET ACCOMMODATION.
Without exception, all closets in the Borough are
on the water carriage system.
5. PUBLIC CLEANSING.
The collection and disposal of house and trade
refuse is the responsibility of the Borough Surveyor, who
states that, after salvable articles have been recovered,
the refuse is disposed of partly by burning and partly
by tipping, the proportions being approximately 30 to 70
respectively. Some 100 tons of materials are salvaged each
month, including waste food suitable for pig-feeding.
In pre-war years, much of the waste food was
deposited in the household refuse bins, where quite often
it proved to be a cause of nuisance and annoyance. This
fact is often forgotten by aggrieved occupiers of houses
who have reason to complain about waste food bins placed
in proximity to their houseso Until a more satisfactory
method of collecting the waste household food is evolved,
it will be necessary to continue the present method, for it
is inconceivable that this material should be burned or be
disposed of by tippingo Burning would be an expensive
method, and when it is tipped, it encourages the breeding
of rodents.
In an endeavour to find a more satisfactory method
of waste food collection than that of bins at the side of
the footway, which so frequently give rise to cause for
complaint, an experiment in the use of individual waste food
pails was made in a small area in the Borough. These pails
which are specially made for the purpose and are provided
with lids, were supplied to individual householders who were
prepared to place them out with their contents on the
appointed days ready for the collectors. The available data,
whilst not indicating any greatly increased collection, did
show that the individual pail system was more hygienic.