[Report 1930] / Medical Officer of Health, Stourbridge Borough.

  • Stourbridge (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1930
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1930] / Medical Officer of Health, Stourbridge Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    *9 Most of the houses in the Borough have a water tap inside the house or wash-house. There are, however, a few houses, having a common yard, where the water supply is obtained from a tap jointly used by two or more houses. The supply pipes are galvanized iron. The Corporation Baths and several works pump water from their own wells. There are still a few houses procuring their water supply from pump wells. These wells are kept under observation. A consider¬ able number of the houses supplement the water supply by having rain water cisterns on their premises. Rivers and Streams. On 2nd June, 1926, a Meeting of representatives of Local Authorities in this locality was held at Stourbridge, and was called by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries for the purpose of considering a report made on the pollution of the River Stour. Many of the Local Authorities in the locality have formed a Com¬ mittee, known as the Stour Water Sheds Joint Committee of which the Town Clerk is the Honorary Secretary and it is hoped that the constitut¬ ion of such Committee will be legally effected in the near future. Drainage and Sewerage. The Tovn was sewered in 1887. The sewage flows by gravitation to a pumping station in the Borough and is pumped to the Stourbridge Main Drainage Board’s sewage farms at Whittington, in the Rural District of Seisdon (Staffs.) where it is treated on the Broad irrigation principle. With the exception of a few houses situate on the outskirts, all the dwelling houses are provided with water closets and efficient drainage, the drains being intercepted from the sewers with intercepting traps. Six houses have cesspools. Five of these being recently erected. Closet Accommodation. The conversion of privies into water closets was practically completed in 1909. About seven cottages and farmhouses together with one brick¬ works, on the outskirts, still have privies, these houses are situate in localities where there are no sewers. One house has an earth closet. Previous to 1901 some slop water closets were put in, many of these have since been removed and W.C.’s with fresh water flushing apparatus put in. For a considerable time past the Town Council have required a separate W.C. for each new house and additional W.C.’s required at premises where there was one W.C. for two or more houses. About 5 per cent, of the houses have slop water closets, including those houses where there is a fresh water W.C. inside the house and a slop W.C. outside. With the exception of the few privies mentioned, all the other houses are provided with fresh W.C.’s. The Sanitary Inspector’s report gives details of conversions and additional W.C.’s since 1901.