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8
SANITARY AREA.
POSITION AND LOCALITY.
The Sanitary District of Walthamstow has an area of 4,355 acres,
and is divided into five Wards for administrative purposes, but the
character of the population is practically the same —the artisan and
labouring classes predominating in all the Wards.
It lies between the River Lea and Epping Forest from the west to the
east, extending from Leyton on its south to Chingford on the north.
The sub-soil is mainly gravel, the London clay showing itself in
various parts on the surface, notably at Church Hill and portions of
the Hoe Street and Northern Wards adjoining.
The district has two small streams—the Ching and the Dagenham
Brook. The former enters the district at Highams Park, and winds its
very sluggish course through Hale End and Chapel End to the River
Lea. The latter, the Dagenham Brook, is the outlet for the drainage
of the district, and having received the effluent from the Sewage Farm,
winds its course through the neighbouring parish of Leyton and joins
the River Lea near Temple Mills. Neither stream, at any point, is used
for drinking purposes.
The whole district has a duplicate system of sewers, and practically
every house water-closet accommodation. The drinking water is
supplied by the Metropolitan Water Board, formerly East London
Water Company, and is practically constant. The amount used per
head per day is about 30 to 35 gallons.
The five Wards into which the district is divided are :—St James
Street, varying from 18 to 54 feet above ordnance datum ; High Street,
21 to 60 feet; Hoe Street, 50 to 140 feet; Wood Street, 50 to 170 feet;
and the Northern Ward, 25 to 220 feet.
The Sewage Farm, about 182 acres in extent, is situated in the
St. James Street Ward, and the reservoirs of the Metropolitan Water
Board, about 367 acres in extent, are in the High Street and Northern
Wards.
VITAL STATISTICS.
POPULATION.
The Registrar-General has estimated our mid-year, 1910, population
as 141,748—an increase of 5,146 over that of 1909.
The natural increase, or excess of births over deaths during 1910,
was 2,011, or 3,135 less than the estimated total.