View report page

32
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES
The main provisions relating to sewerage and drainage are contained in
Part II of the Public Health (London) Act, 1936, as amended by various London
County Council (General Powers) Acts Construction and maintenance of sewers
vested in the borough council is the responsibility of the Borough Engineer
and Surveyor's Department, but responsibility in relation to the discharge of
trade effluents into sewers is shared by the Borough Engineer and Surveyor's
Department and the Public Health Department. In the majority of premises of
all types in the borough both the surface water and sewage discharge into the
same drain. In a large percentage of premises in the Borough the combined
drainage system operates, i.e. the sewerage from more than one dwelling
discharges into a common outlet drain. The five cesspools still in use take
the drainage of one dwelling house, two business premises, a Civil Defence
Centre and dressing rooms on playing fields and are emptied by the Borough
Engineer and Surveyor's Department's staff as and when circumstances require.
In respect of four of the cesspools no cause for complaint arose but the fifth
cesspool was found to be seriously defective, and at the end of the year
consideration was being given to its renewal or to its replacement by an
extensive length of drain to the Council's nearest sewer.
Action under the various public health enactments was taken during the
year as follows:-
PUBLIC HEALTH (LONDON) ACT, 19 36
SECTION 34 (Drainage Bylaws). The Public Health Committee approved a total
of eighty-six plans of proposed drainage works. Informal notices were served
in respect of contraventions of the bylaws at eighty-two premises and a total
of sixty-five formal notices were served. Legal proceedings were instituted
in twenty instances.
SECTION 40 (Inspection of Drains). Under sub-sections 1 and 2 notice of
intention to examine drains was served in respect of 187 premises, and under
sub-section 4 sixty-four notices requiring the repair of defective drains were
served, followed in one instance by legal proceedings.