Report to the General Board of Health on a preliminary inquiry into the sewerage, drainage, and supply of water, and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants of the parish of Alverstoke, in the county of Southampton / by William Ranger, Superintending Inspector.
- William Ranger
- Date:
- 1852
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report to the General Board of Health on a preliminary inquiry into the sewerage, drainage, and supply of water, and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants of the parish of Alverstoke, in the county of Southampton / by William Ranger, Superintending Inspector. Source: Wellcome Collection.
22/78 (page 20)
![The SRWEnAciK and Dratnagr—By tlie existing Local Act the ])rovisions for the sewerage of the district vuider the jurisdiction of the Commissioners are inadequate for tlieir intended oliject. They liave power to pave or cleanse the surface of the streets, but the want of power to raise money prevents them from undertaking the construction (,i sewers. The refuse from the liouses and the storm-v/atera are carried oft by open surface channels, which are dis- charged into the harbour or the moats round the town by/ means of short covered drains, but these are so trifling iu extent that there are not 1,500 feet of covered drains iixi, the whole of the town. j And whilst the arrangements for the removal of tlieir sewerage are thus objectionable, those provided for its'i outfall are not less so. Several of the witnesses have drawn attention to the' state of the moats round the town, and have pointed out that their present stagnant condition is made still worse by the discharge into them of much of the town sewage. Amongst other evidence on this subject I may be permitted to quote that of Mr. Adams, who said,— That the house refuse was chiefly discharged into open chan- nels, the contents of which were delivered by 11 outlet di-ains. Two of these were to the east, near the public landing place ; the smell from these was very offensive, and the nuisance they occa- sioned was very great, besides which a bad impression Avas created in the minds of strangers w'hen they first entered the town. Tlierc were three other outlets on the south, and one on. the west, with their outfalls into an old mill pond. Tlic last named outlet received the contents of several common privies, but it was not Avithin the Commissioners' jurisdiction. There was not a single projjerly constructed seioer in the tvholc town. The bad state of the drainage was one of the chief ' evils of the dislrict, and this was rendered still greater by I lie trifling amount of fall that could be obtained. The drains, emptied themselves near high water-mark, there being only a I difference of level of 13 feet between this point and the head of, Iligli-street, which was 1,600 feet in length. The average lift of [' tide was about 13^ feet. 1 This general absence of fall in the channels was attended; with many bad results, and it rendered it quite impossible to keep ■ them in a cleanly or wholesome condition. | After evidence like the above, it is needless for me to| dwell at length upon tlie extent of the evils arising from ^ the absence of proper sewerage. The cause of them is to be found in the defective nature of the Local Act, Avliich . prevents the authorities from adopting any efficient re- medial measures, though there appears to have been every](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20423597_0028.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
