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13
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES.
Section C.
io WATER SUPPLY.
The Metropolitan Water Board is responsible for the supply
of water in the Borough. The service provided by the Board is
excellent in all respects, and during 1950 no action was
necessary on the part of the Corporation. The Board exercises
day-by-day routine control over the supply which is maintained
at a high standard of purity.
At the end of the year 1949 there were only two houses in
the borough known to be entirely dependent upon wells for their
supply of water for domestic purposes. During 1950, the owner
of one of the houses accepted the advice offered and late in
the year he gave instructions for a water supply to be laid on
to his house from the Metropolitan Water Board's mains. Thus
only one house dependent upon a well remained on the records at
the end of 1950. In this case samples of the water examined
have proved satisfactory.
Well water is used for industrial purposes in two premises
in the borough.
2. DRAINAGE AND SEWERAGE.
The arrangement whereby sewage from the Borough is pumped
over from the pumping station in Down Hall Road into a sewer of
the West Middlesex Main Drainage Board at Teddington, for ultimate
treatment at the Mogden Disposal Works, continued during the year.
Work on the preparation of the scheme for the new disposal
works for the Hogsmill Valley Joint Sewerage Board, was continued
by the Board's consulting engineers during the year.
3. RIVERS AND STREAMS.
Apart from the River Thames which forms the Western boundary
of the town, and which is controlled by the Thames Conservancy
Board, the only other water course in the borough is the Hogsmill
River. This tributary enters the Thames a little South of
Kingston Bridge, It is fed by a spring situate at Ewell and
receives effluent from sewage works.
An Improvement Scheme for the Hogsmill River has been
prepared by the Surrey County Council. The object of the scheme
is to assist drainage of the water shed by straightening the
course of the river. Work on a portion of the scheme was commenced
during the year under review but was not completed during 1950.
The improved section extends from Athelstan Bridge in Villiers
Road across land owned by the Corporation in an Easterly direction
to the borough boundary.
The use of river craft for housing accommodation has been
continued, and there is no reduction in the number habitually
used throughout the year. It is understood that available mooring
sites are very limited in number so it is unlikely that any considerable
increase in the use of boats for human habitation can
take place in the future in the Kingston Reach.