[Report 1929] / Medical Officer of Health, Batley Borough.

  • Batley (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1929
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1929] / Medical Officer of Health, Batley Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    21/82 (page 19)
    SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE AREA. WATER SUPPLY.—Particulars are given in the Medical Offi- cer's Annual Report for 1925. The new reservoir has l)een com- pleted, and it is stated the Ratley Corporation has now sufficient water to supph' its own requirements and those of other areas should application be made. The long drought of 1929, commenc- ing before the new reservoir had been filled, caused a shortage of water in the town. An additional supply was obtained from the Borough of Ossett, but owing to its hardness and peculiar taste, due to the presence of a variety of mineral salts, many persons w(ndd not drink this water, which was obtained from old colliery workings. Actually it was of the highest organic purity and could be recommended as distinctly beneficial to the health of con- sumers. Unfortunately housewives condemned it because when used for cooking purposes the effects of chemical action were seen through the blackening of potatoes boiled in it, and in other ways. Recourse was then made to springs and wells throughout the area, most people patronising the stream flowing down the hill close by the Fairy Steps at the top of King Street and Dale Street, Batley Carr, the stream at the top of Howard Street, Batley Carr, and the spring at Knottingley Wells, at which places queues of people with bojbtles, buckets and other receptacles could be seen daily for many weeks. These sources of supply were well known to be polluted, but warnings were ignored. Bacteriological analyses of this water shewed the presence of the bacillus coli, an organism found in the intestines of all animals, human and otherwise, to a tremen- dous extent, thus proving the entrance of sewage into these wells and streams. Warning notices were erected and promptly de- faced, whilst officers of the Public Health Department were objects of derision and insult by those waiting for supplies should they appear on the scene. The drinking of water heavily charged with human excrement could have only one result, and the expected outbreak of in- testinal disorders soon followed. Large numbers of persons were affected with illness, the chief symptoms being diarrhoea and sick- ness. Typhoid and Parpvtyphoid fever also appeared, causing much suffering, expense, and two deaths from Paratyphoid Fever. This seemed to have no effect upon the public, whose numbers at the infected water supplies appeared to increase. Unfortunately support of the efforts of the staff of the Public Health Depart-