[Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Swindon Borough.

  • Swindon (Wiltshire, England). Borough Council.
Date:
1954
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Swindon Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    26/82 (page 24)
    6 WATER SUPPLIES During the year many complaints were received mostly from the Penhill Estate regarding the quality of the water supply from the town mains. The complaints were all of the same nature, namely brown discolouration of the water which was depositing on fittings and utensils and in some instances the water was said to have an offensive smell. Five such samples sent to the Public Analyst for chemical analysis were not regarded as satisfactory for a public supply because of a heavy sediment of iron and lime compounds. It was found that the houses from which the complaints arose were either drawing water from the end of a main or from a section of new main in which the water was not freely circulating because of few houses being connected to it. Repeated flushing of the mains solved the problem and in the case of the new mains no complaints were received after sufficient houses were connected to ensure free circulation of water. Some 22162 houses, with a population of 69760 have water laid on from the public mains. Twenty-three dwellings, housing seventy-one people are supplied from stand-pipes, and a further eleven dwellings, housing forty-two people, are not connected to the public mains.