Dr. S.W. Wheaton's report to the Local Government Board on diphtheria in the Enfield Urban District and on sanitary administration by the Urban District Council.

  • Wheaton, S. W.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dr. S.W. Wheaton's report to the Local Government Board on diphtheria in the Enfield Urban District and on sanitary administration by the Urban District Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    or dilapidation. Frequently the down pipes reach only to about 8 or 10 feet from the ground, and the rainwater is discharged on to the house wall. Cracks from settlement in house walls are not infrequent. Owing to these conditions dampness of houses is very pronounced, especially of the back rooms and the back kitchens or sculleries. Frequently the paper peels off the walls in the bedrooms, and in the back kitchens and sculleries the walls are often streaming with damp and covered with moidd. Wet rot in boarded floors, and dampness of brick or tiled floors are common. There are few courts and few dwellings which shoidd not obtain a fair amount of light and air if they were left as originally built, but the custom is to All up the back yards with outbuildings, such as fowl- houses and greenhouses, and to make collections of all kinds of rubbish in them. The free circulation of air, and the due lighting in the rear, are often greatly obstructed from this cause. The ground around houses is frequently unpaved and not covered with any impermeable material. Where an area adjoining the house has been intended to be laid with concrete and cement it is often found that loose rubble Avas used, and only a thin layer of concrete and cement laid on the top. This soon wears through, when a hollow cavity is left into which rainfall and liquid filth soak, thus fouling the subsoil of the house. The paving around sink gulleys is often badly done, so that filth thrown to or near the gulley soaks into the ground. In short much of the builders’ work has been scamped and done cheaply and badly. The surface water in yards often stands in pools on the surface, owing to the central part of the yard being the lowest and no exit being pro- vided for the surface water. Many rows of dwellings appear to have been built in depressions from which the gravel has been taken. The backs of the houses and the yards often appeared to be saturated with damp, especially where they had a north aspect. All these conditions are most marked in the Chase Side district but also are frequent at Enfield Lock and Ponders End. In residential areas, such as Hadley Wood, Bycullah Park and Bush Hill Park, houses are Avell constructed. Houses which have been built for the working classes in recent years are of much better construction and materials, owing to increased supervision by the council’s building inspectors. \\ ater Supply.—This is derived from the Metropolitan Water Board, under whose control several wells in the district formerly belonging to the district council have passed. Nearly all houses have cisterns. Separate flushing cisterns are now provided to nearly- all water-closets in the district. Water cisterns are fre- quently found without proper coverings. Sewerage. — Nearly the whole of the district is sewered on the separate system, the exceptions being houses in the rural portions which are drained to cesspools, and a number of the older houses in populous areas, the roof water from which enters the sewers. Nearly all the rain and surface water is conveyed by a separate system of drains to the watercourses. Unfortunately there has never been any com]>rehensive system of sewerage tor the district as a whole. Sewers have often been laid from tirne to time by estate owners and