View report page

154
surcharging of sewers.
The surcharging of the sewers in times of heavy rain, complained of in
my report of 1887, has still continued at frequent intervals, and there does
not appear to have been any special effort on the part of the Council to
reduce it; for instance, the complaints which have reached me of flooding
in cellars on Sunday week last, the 19th July, shows the water in the
sewers to have been at about the same level as in 1886.
Dawes Road Sewer.
This sewer also appears to especially require the attention of the County
Council. It is known as the low level sewer, and passes through the
Dawes Eoad, draining a very large portion of Hammersmith.
I have, from time to time, had to make connections to it, and on almost
every occasion it has seemed to be surcharged, and has frequently caused
the trenches to be flooded; for instauce, on the 26th inst., the water from
it backed up to the first manhole in a sewer being constructed in Colehill
Lane, a distance of 2,400 feet from the Dawes Road; the water showed a
rise of 13 feet 6 inches, and a head of 9 feet 6 inches above the top of
the Dawes Road sewer.
These facts point to the advisability of the London County Council,
1st.—Providing additional ventilation to the sewers in the district.
2nd.—Enlarging some of them, especially that in Dawes Eoad.
3rd.—Preventing the surcharging of the sewers of the district.
In consequence of this report I was instructed to write the following
letter to the London County Council.
Dear Sir, 28th November, 1891.
I am directed by the Vestry of the Parish of Fulham to ask you to
lay the following information before the Main Drainage Committee:—
On the 11th November, the Claybrooke Eoad sewer was surcharged
so that the water rose 3 feet in the manholes.
This was due to the surcharging of the low level sewer, which
passes through Fulham Palace Eoad and Dawes Eoad. This sewer
was charged to within 13 feet of the surface of the roadway, or about
8 feet above the crown of the sewer.
It was also found that the ventilator in the Fulham Palace Eoad
at the end of the Claybrooke Eoad sewer was stopped up, so that the
ventilator in Claybrooke Eoad acted as a ventilator to the Fulham
Palace Eoad sewer.
Acting under the instructions of the Vestry, I wrote you on the
30th July last, calling the attention of the Council to the inadequacy
of this low level sewer, and stating that on the 26th July the sewer
was surcharged to the height of 9 feet 6 inches above the crown,
causing the Colehill Lane sewer, belonging to the Vestry, and situate
at a distance of 2,400 feet, to be surcharged.
You replied to that letter on the 5th October, stating “the Council's
Officers did not remember any flooding of houses, “and that under
existing conditions the capacity of the sewer appears to be sufficient.“
With respect to the flooding of houses, I beg to inform you that
shortly after my appointment in 1886, I received a complaint of certain
basements of the houses in the Broadway, Walham Green, being