Dr. S.W. Wheaton's report to the Local Government Board on the circumstance of the sources of water supply for the borough of Carnarvon / [S.W. Wheaton].

  • Wheaton, S. W.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. S.W. Wheaton's report to the Local Government Board on the circumstance of the sources of water supply for the borough of Carnarvon / [S.W. Wheaton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    OFFICIAL COPY. Dr. S. W. Wheaton’s Report to the Local Government Board on the circumstance of the Sources of Water Supply for the Borough of Carnarvon. Richard T. Thorne, Medical Officer, July 15th, 1898. For some years past the unsatisfactory nature of the water supplied to the Borough of Carnarvon, more particularly its liability to pollution by liquid refuse from the village of Rhyd-ddu, has been before the Board. Attention was called to this liability to pollution of the Carnarvon water supply by the Medical Officer of Health for the Carnarvonshire combined districts in his report on the health of the Borough of Carnarvon in the year 1893. In 1895, Dr. Bruce Low, one of the Board’s Medical Inspectors, visited the Carnarvonshire combined districts and reported upon sanitary progress and administration in the districts. In his report, dated August 19th, 1895, a short account was given of the Carnarvon water supply, and it was shown that the water was liable to pollution from several sources, especially by liquid refuse from the village of Rhyd-ddu, by Fecal matter from privies, and by liquid matter from cesspools pertaining to various dwellings situated in the upper part of the valley of the Gwyrfai, from which river the water supply is derived. Since the issue of Dr. Low’s report the Board have received complaints as to the character of the Carnarvon water supply from private individuals, and the matter has also from time to time been referred to in the reports of Dr. Fraser, the present Medical Officer of Health for the Carnarvonshire combined districts. The Board have been in correspondence with the Gwyrfai and Glaslyn Rural District Councils, in whose districts the village of Rhyd-ddu is situated, and have urged them to take measures for dealing with the sewerage of this village so as to prevent the pollution of the river Gwyrfai, but hitherto without result. On December 28th, 1897, the Carnarvon Town Council wrote to the Board stating that nothing had been done by the Gwyrfai or Glaslyn Rural District Councils for the sewerage of Rhyd-ddu, and that they were not aware that they could themselves do anything more in the matter. Under these circumstances, I was instructed to make an inspection of the gathering ground from which the water supply in question is derived, and to report in detail as to the exact conditions under which the water is obtained. The water supply of the Borough of Carnarvon, as stated above, is derived from the river Gwyrfai. The valley of the Gwyrfai forms one of a number of valleys which run in a westerly direction from the Snowdonian range towards the Menai Straits. These valleys are nearly parallel to one another, and each contains one or more lakes. On the north, the Gwyrfai Valley is separated from the valley of the Seiont, containing lakes Padarn and Peris, by a range of mountains which attains a height of from 1,000 to 2,000 feet. On the south, the Gwyrfai Valley is bounded by a range of mountains of nearly equal height, by which it is separated from the valley of the Llyfni and the two lakes Llyniau Nantyllef. At the head of the Gwyrfai Valley are the steep western slopes of Snowdon, forming a deep hollow, Cwm Clogwyn, and a prolongation of the central ridge of LONDON: PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE, By DARLING <fe SON, Ltd., 1-3, Great St. Thomas Apostle, E.C. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from EYRE & SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, E.C.; or JOHN MENZIES & Co., 12, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and. 90, West Nile Street, Glasgow; or HODGES, FIGGIS, & Co., Limited, 104, Grafton Street, D tblin. LIBRARY No. 13 0. 16955—375—6/98 Wt 4847 D k S 1898. Price Tivopence. 19 WELLCOME General Collections j +P A o