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Annual Rep°rt of the Medical Officer of Health—1992. 25
SECTION II—GENERAL.
The Water Supply in the Parish.
According to the report by the official examiner of the results of monthly
nalyses and examinations of the water supplied to the parish during 1892. the
Apply has been efficiently filtered, and, except in December, was much more
niformly good and less subject to violent fluctuations than during the previous year.
In times of unfavourable weather there is great need of additional storage
??? eservoirs and of larger filter areas, and it would be well, particularly in view of the
robable advent of cholera, were a system of double filtration introduced, as an extra
recaution, against the risks attending the use of our sewage-contaminated companies'
water. This additional measure, however, is not in my opinion, an all-sufficient
uarantee against the occasional possible passage of cholera germs through the filter,
??? nd into the stomachs of those who drink the water.
The only filter I am acquainted with —and that a domestic one—capable of
reventing the passage of disease germs and their spores, is that of M. Chamberland,
??? nd in use for bacteriological research and drinking purposes in the laboratory of
1. Pasteur, of Paris. In this filter, the water, under pressure, is passed through
??? ne or more solid porous earthenware cylinders affixed to the water tap or taps.
The only real way out of the difficulty will be eventually to substitute another
??? ource, such as deep-well or uncontaminated lake, for imperfectly filtered Thames
water.
The water we drink in St. George, Southwark, is supplied by the Lambeth,
??? nd by the Southwark and Vauxhall Companies, who draw their supplies from the
??? iver Thames, above Teddington Lock, at West Molesley, and Hampton respectively.
The river above these points receives "various contributions of organic matter of
??? nimal origin, such as the drainage from manured land, the effluent from sewage
works, and even raw sewage itself." This evil has largely increase of late years
With an increase of population in the Thames Valley, and by means of the numerous
??? isitors brought daily, and in large numbers on Sundays and public holidays, to the
??? arious reaches of the river in Summer by a cheap and frequent service of trains.
The dangers of raw, unfiltered Thames water, particularly in times of cholera
??? nvasion, are described by Professor Frankland when he says:- "The transport of
??? athogenic microbes renders efficient filtration of the river waters supplied to the
Metropolis of the very greatest importance from a hygienic point of view, a statement
which has been enforced by every visitation of cholera to the Metropolis. In 1832
??? nfiltered water was distributed, and 5,275 people died of cholera, or 31.4 per 10,000,
In 1849 water, for the most part unfiltered, and much more polluted, was supplied.
and 14,137 persons, or 61.8 per 10,000 perished. In 1854 water of initially less
Polluted character, but either unfiltered, or very ineffectually filtered, was sent out,