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
Carshalton 1956
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Carshalton]
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Section C—Sanitary Circumstances.
Water Supply
The greater part of the district is supplied by the Sutton District
Water Company which obtains its water from wells in the chalk situated at
Sutton, Cheam and Woodmansterne. These supplies can be augmented if
the need arises by the Metropolitan Water Board, the Epsom and Ewell
Corporation Water Works and the East Surrey Water Company. The
company has a statutory duty to soften to 9° of hardness. A small portion
of the northern end of the district comprising about 170 dwellings is supplied
by the Metropolitan Water Board.
All dwellings have a piped supply. The water is not considered to be
plumbo-solvent.
The following summary of the examinations carried out in the Company's own laboratory is supplied by courtesy of the resident analyst.
| Sample | Total No. of Bacteriological Examinations | Total No. of full Chemical Analyses | No. and % of samples showing Coli-Aerogenes in 100 ml. (excluding B. Coli 1) | No. and % of sample showing B. Coli present in 100 ml. of sample Type 1 | Total No. Coli-Aero-genes Organisms in 100ml. of sample | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | ||||
| Sutton Raw | 315 | 67 | 17 | 5.4 | 32 | 10.1 | 49 |
| Sutton Finished | 312 | 12 | 8 | 2.6 | 2 | 0.64 | 10 |
| Woodmansterne Raw | 298 | 67 | 3 | 1.1 | Nil | Nil | 3 |
| Woodmansterne Finished | 302 | 12 | 2 | 0.67 | Nil | Nil | 2 |
| Cheam | 311 | 67 | 2 | 0.64 | 23 | 7.4 | 25 |
| Reservoir | 293 | Nil | 1 | 0.34 | 8 | 2.7 | 9 |
| District | 281 | Nil | 1 | 0.36 | 1 | 0.36 | 2 |
| New Mains | 47 | Nil | 22 | 47.0 | 2 | 4.30 | 24 |
| Total | 2,159 | 225 | 56 | — | 68 | — | 124 |
The sanitary authorities in the supply area examined 11 chemical and
26 bacteriological samples during the year and all were satisfactory. The
following is the report on a sample taken by the Council and is a
representative one.
(a)
| Colour | Faintly blue | Taste none |
| Appearance | Settled Water | Smell none |
Bright and Clear but white chalk sediment present
20