[Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Wigan County Borough.

  • Wigan (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1958
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Wigan County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    127/132 (page 119)
    Waters During the year 41 samples of water were examined. They included 38 samples of tap water for routine analysis and 3 samples of water from the Thirlmere Supply. The organic condition of the routine samples was satis¬ factory and all were safe for domestic use. The samples from Thirlmere supply were taken to investigate the cause of discolouration of the water drawn from a tap at the mess room at Worthington Works. Two of the samples were quite clear and colourless and their organic quality was perfectly satis¬ factory. The third sample was strongly coloured and turbid : the dis¬ colouration was due to contamination with iron. Some local re-organisation of the mains had recently occurred and water in a short stretch of old 12-inch main was receiving rather a heavy dose of chlorine. It was concluded that iron bacteria, which are commonly found in old mains, had been destroyed by the chlorine and had released iron into the water. Thorough flushing of the main ultimately brought this water up to its normal standard. J. GRAHAM SHERRATT, Public Analyst.