[Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Liskeard R.D.C.

  • Liskeard (England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1958
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Liskeard R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/32 (page 13)
    work, and it is gratifying that considerable success has been met. Nevertheless, much remains to be done, and this work will undoubtably remain a major task for some time, particularly as the mains pass through sparsley populated areas, as well as the villages, with the result that consideration will have to b© given to supplying isolated cottages which are on the route of the mains. The Council resolved to close public pumps in the various villages after giving adequate notice. This, in itself, will have its effect in forcing owners of cottages to connect to the mains. Many of these wells are of doubtful quality and the quicker they can be put out of use the better it will be, from the public health aspect. An obstacle in some cases, has been the existence of small groups of houses which are scheduled for slum clearance, in which cases it would not be equitable to require owners to incur expenditure on water services. In these limited instances the only answer will be to provide public standpipes until the houses concerned are dealt with under the Housing Acts. The enforcement of Section 138 of the Public Health Act is very much re' stricted by the fact that an owner cannot be required to pay more than £20 on the provision of water supply to any house. When one compares the value of £20 in 1936 with that in 1958, the ridiculous position in which we find ourselves can be appreciated. This is a problem which must be a great obstacle in the piovision of piped water supplies in rural districts all over the country, and one cannot understand why this figure has not been amended. It is to be hoped that the position may be rectified in the proposed Public Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. (a) Quality. The extension of public water mains throughout this Rural District has obviated to a large extent the consumption of water that is unfit, or which must be regarded as suspect. Almost every village well or spring is liable to contamination, and adequate protection at all times and under all conditions is impossible. These sources are gradually falling into disuse, as more and more houses are connected to the public mains. The following is a report on the result of examination of water samples during 1958. 1 Lanreath 2 Pelynt ... 3 Liskeard 4 Lanreath 5 Morval .. 6 Morval ... 7 Morval .. 8 Menheniot Public mains at 1, St. Marnarchs Road, Lanreath Bacteriological Examination—Satisfactory. 30,5.58. Public mains tap at Summer Lane, Pelynt. Bacteriological examination—satisfactory. 30.5.58 Public Mains tap. Kerkins Dairy, Dobwalls. Bacterio¬ logical examination-satisfactory. 30.5 58 Public mains tap. 1, Myrtle Cottage, Lanreath. Bacterio¬ logical examination—unsatisfactory. 31 5.58 Land Spring, Higher Trenode, Widegates. Bacteriological examination—some bacterial contamination due to organ¬ isms. 18.8.58. Also from storage tank near source Tap over sink in cottage, Higher Trenode—some bacterial contamination due to excretal organisms. 15.8.58 Land Spring. Tap over sink. Bacteriological examin¬ ation—some bacterial contamination due to excretal organisms. 15.8.58 Shallow well. Merrymeet Village. Bacteriological examination—satisfactory. 19.9.58