[Report 1946] / Medical Officer of Health, Solihull U.D.C.

  • Solihull (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1946
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1946] / Medical Officer of Health, Solihull U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/28 (page 17)
    A census taken in Se])teinber showed that on 8 sites 210 persons had firmly established themselves in o8 huts and were settling down to make themselves as comfortable as the circumstances allowed. As the Council had no jurisdiction in the matter, all the affected camps being Crown property, little could be done except to secure by regular inspection and the giving of advice, the carrying out of which was supervised, that nuisance did not arise. Subsec^uently the ^m.s-ition was regularised by the appropriate Ministry asking the Council to take over the camps and administer them on the Government’s behalf, at the same time suggesting w^eekly rentals considered suitable to the type of accommodation occupied. The Council accepted the Government’s suggestion and these camps are now under the supervision of the Housing Committee. RIVERS POLLUTION. Two cases of pollution have occurred within the year under re¬ view. In one case a sewer storm overflow discharged into a stream in times of heavy rainfall causing nuisance to nearby houses because the bed of the stream had become silted up and was holding back the discharged sewage. The bed and banks of the stream were cleaned and regraded by prisoner labour and the complainants satisfied. A more serious matter was the discharge of a presumed cyanide solution into the sew'er, which passing through the Barston sewage works seriously affected the purification processes and then passing into the River Blythe killed fish in the river for se\'eral miles. .Although the Department did not know of the occurrence for some time afterwards, as soon as it was known a complete sur\ey Avas undertaken of factories in the drainage area and three were found to be using cyanide solutions as electrolytes in electro-plating pro¬ cesses. Enquiries Avere pursued at these premises and circumstantial evidence discoA'ered Avhich left little doubt of the responsibility for the discharge. Precautions were then taken at the three factories using the pro¬ cess to prevent a recurrence. Later cn([uiries eAmked the information that tAvo of the factories concerned were expecting to remove their premises out of the district in the foreseeable future, Avhen the plating processes Avoukl be discontinued. PETROLEUM. During the year, 98 licences have been issued coA'ering the storage of 1(18,220 gallons of petrol and 56,000 lbs. of Carbide of Calcium, and the income received from the payment of licence fees was £69 5s. Many neAv petroleum storage tanks are being installed and whilst every structural precaution is taken and tanks tested by air ])ressure before being brought into use, the time is opportune to review the Avhole subject of petroleum installations. The authority’s main poAver of control is derived from the conditions subject to which licences are granted and these conditions are therefore being reAuewed, so that draft regulations may be considered by the Council. L. \'AUGHAN, Chief Sanitary Inspector.