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 town of bromyard, in the county of Hereford / by Benjamin Herschel Babbage, Superintending Inspector.

Babbage, Benjamin Herschel.

Date:: 1850

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 town of bromyard, in the county of Hereford / by Benjamin Herschel Babbage, Superintending Inspector. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$bitaiits remember when the drain at the lower end of Bh< street was formed, but it was covered in up to the turn] about the year 1812. The lower part of this drain wasi proved about the year 1842. Many alterations and imprfl ments have been made from time to time by diflfcrentt dividuals at their own expense. No certain information cn be obtained as to the time when the present system of hoo drains came into general use. In conclusion, I consider that the existing system of se\ve at Bromyard is sb inefficient, that it is worse than no sewc at all The house-drains, as I have shown, are, for the part, so badly constructed as to allow the foul smells ar: from them to escape into the houses, whilst the street-sc: themselves are not much better. The inhabitants of the h( along the line of the sewers, relying upon Ihe supposed o bility of the sewers to carry oif the sewage^ unconsciously Ji deposits of decomposing matter to accumulate within t and to become a source whence poisonous gases are difi- through their houses ; whereas, did no sewers exist, the se would be retained in the cesspools, which are generally^ small distance from the houses, and would have a chanr: least of being from time to time removed, whilst the ; arising from them would escape into the open air, inste.' entering directly into the houses. Existing Water-supply.—^rovay^rii derives its water-s^i from pumps, of which there are three or four public ones> upwards of 70 private ones. These pumps are all constrr with wooden pipes, or trees as they are called, which are. stantly decaying and becoming a source ot expense, quality of the water is very bad for domestic purposes, ai very hard. Most of the water which 1 exammed exc. 160 of hardness ; but as there appeared to be a good dl magnesia in the water, the soap-test was not sufficie^ indicate its real hardness, which however is not material,, is quite unfit for use, being excessively hard and ot don ^Sy complaints were made lo me of the hardness water, which was supposed to be injurious for dnnkln^s wa s^id to induce disease of the Indtieys ; it was also s a;, mb, n evidence, that the women in BtbmyaM ^re subj, swellings in the neck, of the nature of g^^tre, which was hj aUributed to the hardness of the water; tb^e^^^•ct, ho-, o haid water in producing goitre is still ^ disputed qu. and possibly this tendency to glandular swellings ought as> to b^ attributed to the very defective ventilation a houL a. to the hardness of the wate. T^^^^^^^^^^ trees to the pumps, independently of the constant$