London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Southall 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southall]
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been remedied. There were no complaint notes issued by other authorities and
no cases of infectious disease were notified upon any of the boats. It has
therefore not been necessary to detain any vessel for the purpose of cleansing
and disinfection.
Swimming Bath.
The swimming bath is normally open between the 30th April and the
30th September. The water is kept clean by a system of continuous filtration,
sedimentation and chlorination and subsequent aeration. The amount of
chlorine added varies with the number of persons using the bath, and an attempt
is made to keep the water with a content a little over 0.2 part per million of free
chlorine near the outflow. At the inflow, of course, the free chlorine content
has to be a little higher. During the season four samples of the water were
taken with the results shown in the table.
Table No. 34.
| Date | Gelatin 20 degrees for 3 days | Agar 37 degrees for 2 days | B. Coli | Streptococci | B. Welchii | No. of bathers in previous 60 hours | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| l | 8/6/37 | 77 | 40 | 0 in 100 c.c. | + in 30 c.c. | — | 1757 | Satisfactory |
| 2 | 13/7/37 | 22 | 5 | 0 in 100 c.c. | 0 in 30 c.c. | — | 558 | Satisfactory |
| 3 | 17/8/37 | 130 | 62 | +in l00c.c. | + in 10 c.c. | — | 600 | Satisfactory |
| 4 | 14/9/37 | 8660 | 2840 | + in 25 c.c. | + in 10 c.c. | — | 92* | Not Satisfactory |
*Previous 50 hours only.
Samples are taken regularly throughout the season, and to make them
more comparable they are taken at approximately the same time on the same
day of the week (a Tuesday).
The bacteriological count varies not only with the amount of chlorine
added but with the total number of bathers for the past few days. These are
shown in the above table. The free chlorine is increased during peak periods,
but if it gets beyond the usual maximum, complaints are made with regard to
the chemical effects produced on the eyes, nose, ears, etc., of bathers. The
unsatisfactory count found in the September sample was due to the fact that
the ehlorination plant was out of commission for a few days, but arrangements
have been made to avoid difficulty in future.
There are no privately owned swimming baths or pools used by the public.
40