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57
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE AREA.
WATER.
The District is supplied with water by the Metropolitan Water
Board, the sources being the River Lee and the New River. The
Central Public Baths' supply is derived from an artesian well—at a depth
of 453 feet—at the rear of the Town Hall; the amount of water pumped
and used for the Public Swimming and Slipper Baths at The Green,
Tottenham, and for the supply of hot and cold water for the Town Hall
and School Clinic amounting, approximately, to 30,300,000 gallons per
annum. The water from these sources is of great purity.
The Metropolis Water Act requires that in all premises in which
water is used there shall be supplied a cistern for the storage of water,
and the Council have made Bye-Laws imposing upon occupiers of premises
the obligation of cleansing these cisterns half-yearly. Complaints are
received from time to time respecting the purity of the water. Invariably,
it has been found that the cause of the complaint has arisen from these
Bye-Laws being honoured in the breach rather than the observance.
RIVERS AND STREAMS.
The streams in the District are all tributaries of the River Lee.
The Metropolitan Water Board are responsible for the condition of the
portion of the Pymmes Brook in this District, and the County Council
for the remainder of the streams. As has been pointed out in the
foreword to this Report, complaint has been made respecting the pollution
of the River Lee below Tottenham Lock. The condition of the
water above the Lock is entirely satisfactory; but for a period of years,
the water below the Lock has been grossly polluted. This pollution—so
far as Tottenham's contribution to it is concerned—has arisen mainly
from the Pymmes Brook, which enters the River Lee about 50 yards below
Tottenham Lock. It is the opinion of your Medical Officer that if
Pymmes Brook were purified and the bed of the river below the Tottenham
Lock dredged and cleansed, the water below the Lock would be
almost as good as that above it, except perhaps after storm, when there
is some slight pollution from the Stonebridge Brook, arising from
overflow at the Pumping Station. This qualification is deliberate,
for this portion of the river receives the surface-water drainage from
Tottenham and neighbouring districts, and the pollution from the
road surfaces finds its way into this part.