[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.

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    sanitary services can be provided. The only part of the Health Area in which up to now water supplies have been generally unsatisfactory and a cause for some concern has been the Liskeard Rural District. This situation has been undergoing a rapid improvement, particularly in the past two or three years, and within the next twelve mohths a large proportion of the residents in the Liskeard Rural District will have available an adequate supply of good quality water. When this position has been reached almost the whole of south east Cornwall will have good water supply arrangements. In contrast with water supply progress in sewerage and sewage disposal has been much slower, and much still remains to be done. Now that Callington is provided with an effective sewage disposal system, the only sizeable inland town without proper means of dealing with sewage is the Borough of Liskeard. In this case all the engineering proposals for the provision of sewage disposal have been submitted to the Ministry of housing and Local Government from whom the next move in the matter is shortly expected. At Looe the question of pollution of the river and the foreshore adjacent to the river mouth by crude sewage from the town has continued to cause concern to the Urban District Council, and outline schemes for improved methods of disposal have been prepared by Consulting Engineers and are under active consideration by the Council. Although some progress was made during the year in providing sewage disposal schemes in the larger villages in the two Rural Districts many are still without adequate means for disposing of sewage. The arrival of more dependable water supplies in almost all parts of the Liskeard Rural District will undoubtedly increase the volume of domestic sewage to be disposed of and will aggravate nuisances which already exist in the neighbourhood of many villages and hamlets. In a world guided by Utopian principles I have no doubt that schemes for providing good supplies of water and those for disposing of waste matter adequately would proceed side by side. In our less, perfect society because of resources in materials, and finance would find it difficult to sustain simultaneous progress on both these fronts, schemes for water supply usually take precedence. I hope that the necessary supporting schemes for sewerage and sewage disposal will not be too long delayed. In concluding this general preface I should like to express my sincere thanks to those with whom I have worked during 1958 for their help and kindness to me at all times I have the honour to be, Mr. Chairman, Mrs, Tregartheo and Gentlemen, Your obedient Servant, P. J, Fox, Medical Officer of Health.