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Section C—Sanitary Circumstances.
Water Supply
The district is supplied by the Sutton District Water Company
except for approximately 200 dwellings on the northern boundary which
are served by the Metropolitan Water Board. The Sutton Company's
supplies are derived from wells in the chalk sited at Sutton, Cheam and
Woodmansterne and by arrangement they can be augmented by water
from the Metropolitan Water Board, the East Surrey Water Company
and the Epsom and Ewell Corporations undertaking. The supply having
naturally a high content of temporary hardness, the Company is under
a statutory obligation to soften the raw water to produce a finished
product with not more than 9° of hardness.
All dwellings in the district have a piped supply and the water is
not regarded as being plumbo-solvent.
Extensive and comprehensive arrangements exist for ensuring and
maintaining the purity of the supply which include chlorination. The
Company employs a full-time chemist equipped with laboratory facilities
in addition to which testing is carried out periodically for the Company
by a firm of independent water chemists and also by the public health
departments of the Councils in the supply area on an agreed rota.
Quality and quantity were satisfactory during the year, but the
growth of the area of supply would appear to be creating a need for
additional sources of supply. The Company in exploring the possibilities
have discussed with the Councils concerned the question of increasing
the abstraction from the Cheam wells. Since in 1936 these particular
wells suffered a gross accidental pollution the proposal must be examined
with great care. Much however has happened since 1936, particularly
in the institution of effective safeguards against a repetition of the
catastrophe of 25 years ago. Throughout this period, following the complete
overhaul of the purification and of the testing and warning arrangements,
the supply from the Cheam wells has been satisfactory and there
is reason to believe that the present practice can be relied upon either
to cope with an unforeseeable pollution or to prevent the water contaminated
by such pollution from reaching the consumer.