Dr. R.J. Reece's report to the Local Government Board on the general sanitary circumstances and administration of the urban district of Aldershot, with special reference to the prevalence of fatal diphtheria therein.

  • Reece, Richard J.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. R.J. Reece's report to the Local Government Board on the general sanitary circumstances and administration of the urban district of Aldershot, with special reference to the prevalence of fatal diphtheria therein. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    purposes, other than the flushing cisterns of water-closets, came under notice. The greater proportion of the houses have the water supplied inside the buildings, but there are several rows of cottages to which water is only laid on to a standpipe in the yard. The water is hard, about 16 Clark’s scale, but is reported to be of great purity. Local Wells.—The number of houses supplied from wells is becoming insignificant. The majority of the wells are presumably to be found in the out¬ skirts of the town at farm-houses, &c., and the water from these wells is often used for dairy purposes. Nevertheless wells are, as is mentioned below, to be found in the populous parts. Such private wells as came under inspection are all constructed after the same principle, and differed only in depth and in the degree to which they are liable to pollution. They are dry-steined surface wells. The depth of the well varies with its position in the district. On the high ground, at Queen’s Road, one well was observed which was said to be 36 feet deep, and where a windlass was used to lower the pail by an iron chain, the water apparently standing some 25 feet to 30 feet from the surface. From this to wells a few feet deep, where the water stood at the level of the surface of the ground, all varieties were observed. Most of them were imperfectly protected against surface drainage, the covers nearly always being dilapidated wooden structures, and often the well was so surrounded with organically polluted soil as to render the water almost certainly liable to gross pollution. Nevertheless, one well a few feet deep was observed where the water stood within a few inches of the ground level ; within some 20 or 30 feet and situated on slightly higher ground than this wel I was an undrained and filthy farmyard, where manure thrown from the cowsheds was allowed to collect: a sample of the water from this well is said to have been submitted for chemical analysis and not to have been condemned. From a study of the surroundings of this well it is almost impossible to conceive that the well water could escape pollution. One house* was observed where the water supply was derived from a hole in the ground ; immediately adjoining this hole, separated only by a fence, and on higher ground, was on one side a highly manured garden, and on another side ground which by use had become a sort of refuse tip. The houses in the immediate neighbourhood are not connected to the main sewerage system, and the excrement and slop drainage is disposed of on the land adjoining the houses. For some time past the District Council have submitted samples of well water for analysis, and of the samples so submitted some eighty per cent, have been condemned, and the wells ordered to be closed by the Council. Still, although the order has been made by the Council, it is quite manifest that it has not always been observed, owing, perhaps, to the popular prejudice in favour of the well water. In the most thickly populated part of the town one pump was seen, which is said to be connected with a surface well almost immediately below it. It stands in the roadway, the houses on one side of which are cottage property. The water from this pump was submitted for analysis, condemned, and the well closed by order of the Council. On the day of my visit a padlock and chain lay on the ground near the pump, from the spout of which water was trickling. There was nothing to prevent children from drinking this water. 9. Sewerage.—From the time that Aldershot began to be a town of import¬ ance, sewers have been laid down ; but the Sanitary Authority and later the District Council would appear never to have succeeded in completing a satisfactory scheme of sewerage. From time to time the authority have applied to the Local Government Board for sanction to borrow money for additions to, or alterations * Since this Report was written I have learnt this house has been closed as unfit for human habitation.