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72
The Scheme allows for purification of about the same standard as that in vogue in London at the
present time, but the discharge of a lesser effluent is into a vastly greater and less confined body
of water.
The difference between the present position and that Of 1909 is that, owing to the growth of
Southend, the shell-fish from the layings in the neighbourhood were, in 1916, no longer deemed fit
for direct consumption, expression to which fact has been given by your Worshipful Committee in
the orders relating to those layings.
It appears that the Engineers' difficulty is that objection might conceivably be taken to the
temporary discharge of effluent which has only been screened and sedimented for sludge removal.
the effluent not passing through the filter beds.
On Thursday, the 17th February, by the courtesy of Dr. Calvert, of the Ministry of Health,
I was enabled to be present at a consultation at Southend and examine the temporary Scheme which
is now under Ministry of Health enquiry. On being asked my opinion, I gave that which is embodied
in the recommendation following:—
"That the temporary Scheme be not postponed by any action of the Port of London
Sanitary Authority, seeing that the functions of this Authority are not interfered with in the
Scheme and that the proposed effluent, during constructional work, would be of the same degree
of purity as the final approved effluent, and that the Minister of Health be SO informed."
"On Thursday, the 21st April, your Medical Officer attended an enquiry in connection with
a portion of the Southend Sewage Scheme, the site of this portion bordering on the River Roach.
It had not been understood by the Corporation of Southend-on-Sea that the jurisdiction of the Port of
London Sanitary Authority extended to the waters of the Roach, and therefore to the shell-fish beds
therein, but by chance the advertisement of the enquiry was brought to my notice. The Treasury
Minute runs as follows: —
'and the said Port of London shall include the Islands in Havengore Creek aforesaid, called
Potton and Rushey Islands, and so much of the said Creek and watercourse as extends from
it to the town of Rochford. . .
It is proposed that 160 acres of land be acquired for the purpose of treating the sludge from the
sewage of Southend; 110 acres of this is to be used for the purpose. A band of 250 feet in depth)
next the River does not come into use, nor does a 'Y' area from which a ditch empties itself at low
water by tide valve, and which is low ground. Only one-quarter of the proposed 110 acres would
come into use in any one year, so that each portion of the ground would remain unused over a period:
of three years. There is no possibility of crude sewage getting into the River, the water only draining,
into ditches after considerable percolation through soil. Much of the liquid would never reach the
ditches at all, but would be lost by evaporation. The soil is loam, clay, sand and gravel, and for the
most part very suitable to the purpose of sludge treatment. The situation of the farm is within one
mile and to the North-East of Barling village. The Engineer expressed the opinion that only gross
carelessness on the part of those working the system could permit of crude sewage entering the River,
and that the oyster fisheries lying in the Roach are safe as far as the Scheme is concerned.
On behalf of the Fisheries, it was urged that nothing in the Order preserved the 250 feet band next
the River from use should it be so desired by the Southend Authority, and that the present intention
not to use this band was not sufficient safeguard. With adherence to this intention, it seems probable
that the River Roach will not be polluted further than is its present state by reason of the town of
Rochford situated at its tide head. The point having been emphasised, your Medical Officer saw no
reason to raise any objection on behalf of your Worshipful Committee."
SEWAGE WORKS.
Strood Rural District Council.
In connection with this matter, reported upon on page 67 of my Annual Report
for 1926, in November your Medical Officer received a letter from the Ministry of
Health stating that the Minister would be prepared to consider any representation
that the Port of London Sanitary Authority desired to make regarding the proposals
of the Strood Rural District Council.
An official enquiry had already been held, and as a matter of urgency your
Medical Officer wrote to the Ministry to the effect that some details of a Scheme for
Sewage Disposal submitted to the Port of London Sanitary Authority in June of 1926
showed provisions for works which it was proposed were to be placed within 300 feet
of the staff residence and wards of this Authority's Hospital at Denton; that the
suggested site of the works under the Scheme was to the West of the Hospital and in
the direction from which the prevailing winds blow across the Hospital grounds and
the prospect of the Hospital being bounded on two sides, first by the Gravesend
Sewage Works to the South, which are a source of serious nuisance to the Hospital
Staff from time to time, and the proposed Strood Urban District Council's Works
close by on the West, was a matter of concern to the Port Sanitary Authority, and,
therefore, the Authority would be glad if this could be taken into account in connection
with any decision on the Strood Urban District Council's Scheme at Denton.
A different site has since been decided upon for the sewage works.