Dr. S. Monckton Copeman's report to the Local Government Board on prevalence of measles, enteric fever and diphtheria in the borough of Lowestoft, and on general sanitary administration in that town / [S. Monckton Copeman].

  • Copeman, S. Monckton (Sydney Monckton), 1862-
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. S. Monckton Copeman's report to the Local Government Board on prevalence of measles, enteric fever and diphtheria in the borough of Lowestoft, and on general sanitary administration in that town / [S. Monckton Copeman]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    had obtained from Mr. West Knight, the Public Analyst for Cambridge. As the result of his analysis, Mr. West Knight stated that he considered the water to be polluted with organic matter and quite unfit for drinking pur¬ poses. This being so, the Town Council did not enforce closure of the well. A somewhat similar opinion was expressed by Mr. Bernard Dyer, Public Analyst for Leicestershire, after examination of a sample of the Company’s water obtained on December 19th, 1895, from a tap at St. John’s Vicarge, where just previously there had been cases of typhoid fever. It is only right to state, however, that all these analyses, with the exception of Mr. Sutton’s, were made previously to the new filter beds at Lound being in working order. The marked turbidity of some of the samples is therefore probably, as I was iuformed, to be explained by the fact that as the old filter beds were unequal at times to the filtration of the total quantity of water required, a certain amount of unfiltered water was, on occasion, turned directly into the mains. Although none of these analyses show any very large amount of organic contamination in the water, I came to the conclusion, as the result of my visit to Lound, that occasional danger in this respect was to be anticipated from the fact that a small brook which originally entered the upper end of the “ Mill-water” close to the waterworks, passes just beforehand through a tract of swampy land, which in places is heavily manured with privy- midden and pigsty refuse, derived in part, at any rate, from a number of cottages in the immediate vicinity. Above this particular spot, the water of this brook or “ run,” as it is called, is used by cottagers for drinking pur¬ poses, being collected from a small pool where the roadway crosses the “run.” This water, as I was told by persons on the spot, is liable to cause diarrhoea and sore throat in those drinking it, unless it has previously been boiled. At the present time, the point of outfall of the “ run ” into the “ Mill- water ” is blocked by a wooden barrier, and a new channel has been excavated parallel with the edge of the lake, by which its water is carried off, being finally turned into the lake at a point about 60 feet further on, and below the position of the waterworks intake. The manager of the waterworks assured me that it was improbable that any of this water could be taken up in pumping, as more than the quantity required daily was supplied by springs in the bed of the lake, thus obviating the possibility of any backward flow of water derived from the “ run.” As, however, he had not instituted any float or lithia experiments in reference to this point, his mere expression of opinion cannot be regarded as altogether decisive. A not inconsiderable proportion of the houses in the Borough, about 1,000, as I was informed, obtain their water not from the Company’s mains, but from surface wells, generally within their own curtilages. In many instances which came under my own notice these wells, the sides of which for the most part are by no means watertight, were in proximity to privy middens, the floor and sides of which are seldom or never properly cemented. As the natural consequence, the intervening soil and eventually the contents of the well become fouled with organic matter of excremental origin, so as to render the well water unfit for human consumption. That this is so has been shown repeatedly as the result of chemical analysis of the water drawn from these surface wells. In a number of cases in which, up to the present time, evidence of contamination of wells has been obtained, orders have been made for closing them and for the provision of a better water supply. Latterly, how^ ever, orders have not iu all cases been made, or, if made, compliance with such order has not always been insisted on, in consequence of serious doubt which, as I have already stated, has arisen as to the desirability from the hygienic standpoint of the water supplied by the Waterworks Company being brought into more general use for drinking purposes than is the case at present. It is to be hoped, however, that the increased facilities which the Company have recently provided for the efficient filtration of their water supply may have the desired effect, in which case it will be desirable to close, at any rate, the greater number of the surface wells at present existing in the town. E 92395. 375.-8/96. Wt. 4312.