[Report 1929] / Medical Officer of Health, Bath City & County Borough.

  • Bath (England). City and County Borough Council.
Date:
1929
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1929] / Medical Officer of Health, Bath City & County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/68 (page 16)
    Bye-laws, other than those made under the Bath Corporation Act, have not yet been drawn up. Maternal Mortality. See pages lo and 28. Legislation in Force. No addition was made during 1929 to the list of Local Acts, Orders and so forth given in my 1925 Report, pages 19-21, 1926 Report, page 13, 1927 Report, page 14, and 1928 Report, pages 15 and 16. SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE AREA. Water. Works in connection with the extension of the supply to the south side of the City, which were commenced in 1928, were completed during 1929. They include a pumping station, a service reservoir on Hampton Down, and approximately eleven miles of distribution mains. The Council will take over the supply to the new area in 1931. Monthl}^ analyses of each of the five main sources of supply have been obtained by the Waterworks Engineer, who has kindly kept me informed of the results. In more than half the samples B. coli was absent but occasionally this organism was present to an extent which was definitely undesirable. The Waterworks Committee, therefore, arranged for sterilisation in certain cases and the results have proved to be thoroughly satisfactory. A few years ago and in less thickly populated areas it might not have been practicable to aim at complete freedom from coliform bacilli (which though not necessarily dangerous in themselves, are an indication of possible harmful pollution). With the higher standard now recognised as desirable, however, and with a cheap and efficient system of sterilisation available, I feel strongly that we should not rest content until we can say of all Bath drinking water “ no coli in 100 c.c.” To l)e able to guarantee a water of this quality would be an asset of great value to the City and would give us a freedom from anxiety to be obtained in no other way.