[Report 1956] / Medical Officer of Health, Caithness County Council.

  • Caithness (Scotland). County Council.
Date:
1956
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1956] / Medical Officer of Health, Caithness County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    heavy expense but will prove of great advantage to many householders who have been unable to modernise their properties by the provision of indoor water supply and sanitary accommodation due to difficulty of providing proper drain- age facilities. The provision of new houses, improvements to existing ones and other premises by the introduction of water supply and sanitary accommodation called for the inspection and smoke testing of 84 new drainage systems during the year. Smoke testing revealed defective joints in quite a number of instances and while the defects were all made good and the systems passed as satis- factory, the fact that defects were found on testing proves the necessity of good and careful workmanship on this class of work. It also proves the need for the testing of new drainage systems as in two instances the defects were leaks on the joint connecting the W.C. pedestal to the branch from the soil pipe. Had no test been carried out on these two drainage systems it would have meant foul air from the drain escaping through the defective joints into the houses. In connection with these new drainage systems 127 visits were made for the arrangement of layout, drainage disposal, inspection and testing. SCAVENGING. ; , There are twelve Special Scavenging Districts within the County area, viz:— (1) Dunbeath. (2) Latheron and Latheronwheel. (3) Lybster. (4) Thrumster. (5) Papigoe and Staxigoe. (6) Keiss. (7) Janetstown, Milton and Haster. (8) Watten. (9) Halkirk. (10) Castletown. ^1) Scrabster. (12) Reay. The uplifting of household refuse is carried out under contract. In Scrabster the work is carried out by the Thurso Town Council Cleansing Department and in other districts by five private contractors. The service provided are three days per week in Lybster; two days per week in Castletown; and one day per week in the remaining districts. The work of the contractors was carried out in a satisfactory manner and the dumps kept in a tidy condition. Six refuse dumps are provided at (1) Dunbeath; (2) Lybster; (3) Halkirk; (4) Wester Links; (5) Castletown; and (6) Reay. The dumps were visited regularly by the County Pests Officer and treated with poison baits as found necessary to prevent danger of rat infestation. With the development of new housing schemes in districts not provided with refuse collection services, the disposal of household refuse created problems for the tenants of the houses in quite a number of instances.