[Report 1905] / Medical Officer of Health, Leicestershire / County of Leicester County Council.

  • Leicestershire (England). County Council.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1905] / Medical Officer of Health, Leicestershire / County of Leicester County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    supply is to be obtained from the Loughborough new reservoir at Blackbrook. At Melton Mowbray, after a prolonged period of shortage from the new scheme, the supply is now ample and adequate and of a high standard of purity. At Hinckley the public supply continues excellent, though hard in quality. At Market Harborough the public supply is good ; there are also 77 wells in use. At Ashby the supply has been satisfactory. It is of course the Rural Districts which largely suffer from the want of good water. At Measham, in the Ashby Rural District, the supply in the upper part of the town is most unsatisfactory, and shortage in the summer months is again feared. In the Hinckley Rural District most of the samples of well water analysed were con¬ demned. The Stoney Stanton Water Works are reported to have received attention. In the Market Bosworth Rural District the well water is reported to have been improved by the abolition of the deep privy pits. In the Barrow Rural District the Leicester Bor¬ ough Water has been laid on to 92 out of the 97 new houses. Reference to Table 6 shews that in the County 310 samples of water were analysed, and 178 of these were condemned. The wells closed were 45, and the number repaired 123. Public supply was substituted for well water in 441 instances, the greatest number of which were at Coalville, where the number was 393. In the Rural Districts, out of 221 samples analysed, 118 were condemned, and I believe I am right in stating that in most cases the standard of purity required was not a high one. This shews how bad the quality of well water is generally throughout the County. Privies, Pails, and Water Closets.—I am pleased to be able to Privies, Pails, and report that the work of converting the old-fashioned privy midden ^ ater Closets. into a more modern and healthy type of accommodation gradually goes on in most parts of the County. It is rather surprising, however, that such a number of privies were repaired and new ones provided in a town like Ashby-de-la- Zouch. In Table 6 it will be seen that out of 22 new privy middens provided in Urban Districts, no less than 16 were at Ashby-de-la- Zouch, and of the rest 4 at Coalville, and 2 at Shepsbed. Whatever may be the pattern of the new privies at Ashby I am quite confident