Dr. R. Deane Sweeting's report to the Local Government Board on the sanitary circumstances and administration of the Ramsey Urban District, with special reference to the prevalence of scarlatina.

  • Sweeting, R. Deane.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dr. R. Deane Sweeting's report to the Local Government Board on the sanitary circumstances and administration of the Ramsey Urban District, with special reference to the prevalence of scarlatina. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ll<0 obtaining of good water for the town, and securing the “ ballast pit against pollution, have remained unacted upon. Dr. Wilkinson’s more recent report of 1908 gives a full description of the conditions existing at that time. I am able to corroborate its accuracy entirely. To briefly recapitulate these conditions. First, as to housing, the report of the Rural Housing and Sanitation Association of 1906 is substantially correct as regards certain properties in the town, viz., George Hotel Yard, Ridgley’s Row, Gladstone Row, Denham’s Yard. Thus, at these and other parts of the district, there are cottages below ground level, dilapidated, with defective roofs, damp walls and floors. Some houses are back to back, others without through ventilation, many are overcrowded, and a few are without proper means of separating the sexes. Many back yards are very foul, and a large number of them are unpaved or badly paved. Fowls are kept in many back yards so as to be a nuisance. No closing orders have been made in the last five years j but three houses have been closed voluntarily and five made fit for human habitation, all in 1907. Several notices to abate over- crowding have been recently served. Next, as to water-supply. The “ ballast pit ” described by Dr. Airy still forms the chief supply of the town. It virtually contains impounded ditch water, gathered from ground liable to human and animal excremental pollution. There is some gravel filtration of the ditch water at its inlet into the “ pit,” and also some filtration through coai'se and fine gravel and sand (six feet in depth) before the water reaches an adjacent well to which a pump is fixed. This filter is said to be cleaned out twice a year. This “ pit ” holds 700,000 gallons, and is 10 to 11 feet deep. Its sides and base are unlined. At my visit it was full of vegetable growth, and contained numerous beetles and newts. I append an analysis of this water of January 31st, 1908, showing it to be highly polluted and unfit for drinking purposes. No analyses of other sources of supply in Ramsey were available during my visit. The urban district council have posted a notice on the pump supplying this water, recommending it to be boiled before drinking. It is largely used in the town, being either fetched in pails, or bought from a local hawker. Besides this source, there are three public and many private pumps in the town, all drawing water from shallow wells sunk in the gravel, the depth of none of which exceeds some 15 feet. Similar notices as to boiling are affixed to these public pumps in the town. The use of water from the private pumps is discouraged ; but this cannot be altogether prevented, for I found children using them largely. In the outlying fen country there are four public pumps, which supply dyke water, previously filtered through gravel and sand. The filters are said to be cleansed yearly. Some dyke water is drunk directly, after boiling. Rain water is also collected and used for drinking in some parts of the district; but it is seldom filtered. As regards sewerage and drainage. Dr. Airy’s account of this, written in 1875, holds good to-day. The Bury brook is still culverted in the Great Whyte, receiving surface water and there