Dr. S. Monckton Copeman's report to the Local Government Board on the sanitary condition of the River Brent, in the county of Middlesex / [S. Monckton Copeman].

  • Copeman, S. Monckton (Sydney Monckton), 1862-
Date:
[1893]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. S. Monckton Copeman's report to the Local Government Board on the sanitary condition of the River Brent, in the county of Middlesex / [S. Monckton Copeman]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    at r, 93 Dr. S. Monckton Copeman’s Report to the Local Govern¬ ment Board on the Sanitary Condition of the River Brent, in the County of Middlesex. LLCOME LIBRARY r R. Thorne Thorne, Medical Officer, November 8th, 1893. uring the autumn of last year (1892), and since then at intervals up to resent time, numerous complaints have been received by the Board, more particularly from private residents in its neighbourhood, as to the foul condition of the River Brent. In consequence of these communications, and after prolonged correspondence with the various Sanitary Authorities within whose districts the various portions of the river are situate, the Board determined to institute an inquiry into the present condition of the river, which I received instructions to make accordingly. As a first step, I met by appointment the officials of the Willesden Urban Sanitary Authority, at the offices of the Local Board at Kilburn, having learnt from previous correspondence that general opinion indicated this Authority as principally concerned in the pollution of the Brent by discharge of the effluent from the Willesden sewage farm into the channel of the river at several different points. At this meeting I was informed that the greater portion of the water, which at one period had been accustomed to find its way into the Thames along the river channel, was now diverted by the Regent’s Canal Company, which had obtained Parliamentary powers to ,c head up ” the water of the Brent by building a dam across the Brent valley at a point just north of Kingsbury - Neasden. In this way has been formed the body of water known as the Brent, or “ Welsh Harp,” Reservoir. Prom this the Regent’s Canal is fed by a separate conduit, the water which is not needed for this purpose being dis¬ charged over a weir about 70 feet in height into the old channel of the River Brent. It was further stated that the result of these works is that, while in dry weather, such as has persisted for some time past, no water at all finds its way from the reservoir into the river below, at times of heavy rainfall, when the flood gates are opened, the rush of water is so great as to tear up the river bed, and often to bring about considerable diversions of the normal course of the stream. Numerous holes and pits, it was stated, are at the same time formed in the channel, in which debris of all kinds which may be carried down by the water tends to accumulate. This being the case, when the water supply is scanty that portion of the river which divides the Willesden and Hendon districts is represented merely by a series of stagnant pools, the intermediate portions of the channel being practically dry. According to the statement of the deputy clerk to the Willesden Board, this state of things would be more frequent than at present but for the effluent water supplied from the Willesden sewage farm. On my asking him for information as to the nature and composition of such effluent, he handed me a copy of a report on a series of analyses recently made by Dr. Midwinter of samples taken from different points. A table (A) showing the result of such analyses I append to this report. Learning further that no water whatever had been passed on to the river from the reservoir for about four months, I decided, after consultation at office, to restrict, in the first instance, my proposed survey of the river to that portion which lies south-west of the “ Welsh Harp,” since it was obvious that, whatever might have occurred in the past, any contamination of the upper portions of the streams by which the reservoir is fed could have but little concern with the condition at the present time of the portions of the Brent below that reservoir.