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60
Smoke Nuisance.—From time to time serious nuisance is caused by oil fuel
vessels in the docks emitting dense black noxious smoke over long periods, sometimes
hours.
The nuisance can be obviated by the preservation of such a head of steam in
a boiler of an oil burning vessel during the stay in dock as shall permit of the use
of forced draught during the process of raising steam for sailing. A prosecution
in the case of an offender would have salutary effect. The nuisance clauses of the
Public Health Act require that an " Intimation " be served ; by the time the offender
receives this, steam is raised and the nuisance abated not to recur in this
Port on the same ship perhaps for years.
OIL SMELL NUISANCE AT THAMESHAVEN.
Dr. Bullough, M.O.H. Essex County Council, was in communication with me
in the matter of offensive smells in the Thameshaven district. On the 19th April
I met Dr. Pugh, M.O.H. for Southend, and Dr. Bullough, and we proceeded to
Thameshaven, where the oil works are situated. It appeared certain that there was
no other source of the nuisance complained of than oil. Crude oil has long been
dealt with in bulk for distribution at Thameshaven and the complaints were recent.
This trade is not a likely source of the nuisance.
Of recent years discharge of light oils and refinement of crude oil has been
undertaken at Thameshaven. The process of refinement consists of a heat distillation
of crude oil and condensation and successive collection of the lighter and
vapourisable products, namely, benzenes and paraffins. In this process still lighter
vapours are driven off—gases, which while heavy in comparison with air, do not
condense and would disturb the orderly flow of the condensing light oils in the
pipes, unless vented. These gases are vented, stink complexly in conformity
with their chemical constitution and hang together in the air by reason of their
relative weight.
The possible sources of the nuisance are:—
1. The ventilation of tank ships on discharge of light or heavy oils.
2. The venting of gases from empty tanks in the process of filling
with these oils.
3. The venting of gases from the condensation pipes during the
distillation process.
4. The emptying of residues into and from lighters in the process
of dumping.
The third and fourth sources are probably the ones to which complaint is due, and
the problem of removal of the nuisance is that of burning the gases, or of dissipating
them in the atmosphere, so that they are not swept over the surrounding district
" en masse " whenever the barometric and wind conditions become adjuvant to
such mass distribution and the careful disposal of residues far out to sea.
From time to time your Worshipful Committee has in the past received
complaints of oil floating on the surface of the river. This has not been considered
to be a nuisance of that particular biological flavour which is covered by the nuisance
clauses of the Public Health Act. The Port of London Authority has a successful
barge and apparatus at work for fractional separation of oil and water ; this
obviates the difficulty which formerly arose on cleansing the tanks of oil vessels
after discharge.
The nuisance most bitterly complained of, however, is hardly touched by the
recent enactment ; it is that of a line of thick oil or oil in patches which may drift
ashore at seaside bathing resorts from miles out at sea, plastering or spotting the
foreshore with soft and tenacious tar. The nuisance is common to Shoeburyness
and the remote Cornish Coast in your Medical Officer's observation, and its origin
is probably the bilges of oil fuel burning ships rather than the tanks of the carrier.
The Oil in Navigable Waters Act, 1922, is intended to control nuisance whether
arising from ashore or from a ship where oil is discharged or allowed to escape
negligently.
The maximum fine is £100.
The discharge of oil is limited to daylight hours, unless notice has been given.