[Report 1955] / Medical Officer of Health, Portland U.D.C.

  • Portland (England). Urban District Council. nb2006017178.
Date:
1955
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1955] / Medical Officer of Health, Portland U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/16 (page 7)
    The pumps had been closed down at about 5 p.m. when the reservoir was full. When the pumps were started up at 10 p.m. that evening the degree of chlorination was wisely increased on the initiative of Mr. Carter, Maintenance Fitter, from 2 parts per million to 4 ppm. Shortly after midnight it was possible - through the co-operation of the Dorset Police - to get a message through to the Pumping Station to increase the chlorination to 6 ppm. A personal visit to Friar Waddon next morning revealed an alarming state of affairs in that a sample of water drawn off from a tap in Mr. Carter's house (which was in a sorry state) could best be described as liquid mud. Chlorination was at once stepped up to 8 ppm. and arrangements were made for householders in Portland to be warned by Police loud¬ speakers to boil all water for domestic purposes. This advice was not withdrawn until Saturday 23rd July when the Laboratory reported that the five samples submitted from the Portland sampling tap since the l9th July were all satisfactory. Unsatisfactory reports continued to be re¬ ceived on the Pumping Station samples submitted up to the 29th July. The degree of chlorination was gradually decreased until it was back to normal at 2.5 ppm. When one recollects the muddy discoloured appearance which persisted for several days in the public water supply in Portland, one is inclined to ask why this episode did not apparently have any adverse effect on the health of the inhabitants. The answer is that in the 10 miles of water mains between the Friar Waddon Pumping Station and Portland itself there is a whole day’s supply of water for the Island, By the time this was being used up, the super-chlorination at the Pum.ping Station had become effective and had destroyed all dangerous contamination of the supply, although we were not to know this until the first bacteriological reports came through. It is pleasing to record that throughout this anxious time there was complete co-operation and agreement between the Public Health Department and the Water Engineer and his staff, HOUSING During the survey required by the Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954 some 36 dwelling houses were recorded as being unfit for human habitation, although m*any others had some rising dampness due to the absence of damp proof courses. It is thought that much of the rising dampness can be remedied. A notable feature is the high percentage of people who are owner/occupiers who keep their houses in sound and weatherproof condition. Prior to the 1st September, 1939 the Council had been responsible for building 158 houses. Since the end of World War II a further 413 houses had been provided by the Council, HOUSING ACT. 1936 Under Section 11 of this Act eight houses were repre¬ sented as being individually unfit for human habitation, namely:- ,161 High Street . T^ nocc Notice of Time and Place served - December, 1955 ^8 Reforne Closing Order - Permission for use as store