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The Health of Barking
WATER SUPPLY.
Over the last few years attention has been called to the temporary hardness of
the water supplied in the Borough. Investigations are I know being carried out
as to the losses in money suffered by residents due to this hardness, but I am more
concerned with the public health aspect. From my own experience of using soft
water for domestic purposes I know how much easier it is to bathe and also to
wash clothing.
As an aid to cleanliness I must support every effort to reduce the present
temporary hardness.
So far our supply has been unrestricted but the continued increase in the
quantity used by reason of the improved facilities in the homes causes us to consider
at what stage and when limitation must occur.
All the samples submitted, monthly for bacteriological examination and
quarterly for chemical examination, have been found to be pure and wholesome.
RIVERS AND STREAMS.
On page 36 I have given a description of the water of the River Thames as
it was found in 1848.
Notwithstanding we are now writing of 1948, which is one hundred years later,
this description is still true except that there are now many more steamers.
With the fall in the quantity of water passing over Teddington Weir during
the periods of drought and the substantial increase in the quantity of sewage effluents
discharged from the L.C.C. Works at Crossness and the Northern Outfall, conditions
have deteriorated so far as to give rise to a public nuisance.
The saturation of the beaches of the River with decomposing organic matter
has reached the stage where the quantity of hydrogen sulphide produced is not only
offensive, but is tarnishing metals and discolouring paintwork.
Improvement of the river is a matter of urgency, and can only be brought about
by the construction of new capital works for sewage disposal by the L.C.C.
I am satisfied that the Works as at present existing are operated efficiently.
The River Roding, more familiarly known as Barking Creek, joins the River
Thames in the vicinity of the Northern Outfall Works and the conditions in this
river are consequently similar.
Both rivers are within the area of the Port of London Sanitary Authority.
There are other streams and water-courses in the area controlled either by
the Essex Rivers Catchment Board, or the River Roding Catchment Board, who have
not commenced any works of major improvement during the year.
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