[Report 1966] / Medical Officer of Health, Pontefract Borough.

  • Pontefract (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1966
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1966] / Medical Officer of Health, Pontefract Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    95/118 (page 87)
    PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES Water Supply - Sewerage, Drainage and Sewage Disposal Water Supply On 1st April 1962, the Corporation's Water Undertaken was trans¬ ferred to the newly-formed Pontefract, Goole and Selhy Water Board. Before the take-over it had been the practice of the Chief Public Health Inspector to sample at the several sources and record and classify the results in this Report. Whilst the Corporation no longer supplies water, it is still very much its concern that the water supplied within the Borough shall be satisfactory in quality and in quantity. Sampling within the Borough has therefore continued, and all waters taken for chemical analysis were reported upon as being of goed organic quality* During the year under review some 257 samples of piped water were submitted for bacteriological examination. Of the samples taken 24 were reported as unsatisfactory. All these occurred during the month of July, At the instigation of the Water Board and with their complete co-operation the Department carried out all necessary investigations to ascertain the cause of the unsatisfactory results; at the same time the Water Board took all practicable measures to protect the public water supplies. Mr. R. Hughes, one of the Department's senior inspectors was in charge of the investigation and he subsequently isolated the cause at the Water Towers at Knottingley and Pontefract and discovered that birds had gained access to the storage areas and had contaminated the water thus giving rise to the batch of unsatisfactory results. Quick and efficient action by Water Board staff eliminated all traces of contamination and ensured that there would be nc future recurrence. Since that time repeated samples throughout the Borough have produced satisfactory bacteriological results. All of the 9,397 dwellinghouses in the Borough are connected to the public supply and have water available within each dwelling; there are none supplied by standpipe. In the matter of supply, occasional difficulty in maintaining water pressures has occurred, particularly st times of peak demand. It is anticipated that this will be resolved when a major development scheme prepared by the Water Board is eventually brought into operation* A typical report on a sample of water is given as follows: Parts per million Total Solids • • • • • • 230 Chloride ... • • • • • • 27 Alkalinity as CaC03 • • • • • • 124 Total Hardness ... • • • • • • 180 Permanent Hardness • * • • • • 56 Temporary Hardness • • • • • • 124 Lead, Copper, Zinc © • • • • • Nil Iron ... • • • e • • 0.2 Manganese ... • • © • • • Nil Free Ammonia • • • • • • OoOl Albuminoid Ammonia • • • • • © 0.01 Nitrous Nitrogen * © • • «* • Nil Nitric Nitrogen • • <* • • © 2.25 Fluorine • e • • o 9 Nil pH • • • 7.4 31 -