London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Paddington 1871

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington]

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32
Flushing and Ventilation of Sewers.
This subject is now occupying the attention of a
Joint Committee, composed of the Highway and
Sanitary Committee. A series of inquiries into the
condition of the Sewers in the Parish, the causes of
offensive Smells from Gullies, methods of Ventilation,
&c. have been referred to the Surveyor and myself
which, if worked out, may lead to extremely valuable
results. Sewers of deposit exist in several places where,
in my opinion, the Sewer gas is a very dangerous
nuisance, and calls for an immediate remedy.
Whether that remedy consists in ventilation by additional
openings, or by flushings, or by amending the
fall, are questions not yet determined.0
The Metropolis Water Supply.
The present and future sources of the London
Water Supply is a subject of such deep importance
that it calls for some brief remarks.
The most economical and judicious methods of
obtaining and of distributing water for towns, the
employment of water as an agent in removing from
our presence impurities that endanger life and
health, and of restoring to the soil those precious and
fertilizing ingredients which belongs to it, are great
public questions yet unsettled.
The threatened advent of cholera,and the theory
of its propagation by water, evokes a more general
appreciation of good drinking water ; whether also
* Since writing the above my report has been made, dated July 15, 1872.