[Report 1939] / Medical Officer of Health, Todmorden Borough.

  • Todmorden (England). Borough Council
Date:
1939
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1939] / Medical Officer of Health, Todmorden Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    62/92 (page 56)
    or evidence is obtained as to the unsuitability of any such supply for drinking purposes. The Corporation must take action, even though it cannot enforce the ultimate decis¬ ion, v/hich indeed may go against it. But the responsi¬ bility for any disaster that may befall cannot then be as¬ cribed to the negligence of the Corporation or its officials. I am of the opinion, however, that some change should be made in the procedure that a Bocal Authority has to adopt when it seeks to have a particular water supply dis¬ continued on the grounds of impurity of the water as a source for drinking purposes. When a Bocal Authority declares a block of houses to be a clearance area a public local enquiry is held by an Inspector specially appointed by the Minister of Health to enquire into the merits of the case, the Inspector being a person with some special know¬ ledge of housing. The Minister of Health gives his decision after considering his Inspector’s report. It appears to me that a similar procedure coiild well be adopted in the in¬ vestigation of private water supplies. The final decision as to whether a water supply is or is not satisfactory should be made by one or more persons having special experience and knowledge of water undertakings and of the methods of water analyses. But that, of course is my own opinion. SECTION IX. SWIMMING BATHS. Swimming Baths. The only swimming bath in the Borough is owned by the Corporation. It was built in 1905 and is situated in Shade Council School. The Bath is covered and is 39 feet long, 17J feet wide and - 5f feet deep : it has a capacity of, approximately, 14,000 gallons. It is of the fill and empty type. During the year the Bath was open daily, except Sat¬ urday afternoons and Sundays, from 17tli April, 1939 to 30th September, 1939. Details of the number of bathers using the Bath are given in the following table :— Total number of bathers m 1939 Average no. of bathers per day Highest no. of bathers in any one week 7966 25 43 641