Dr. Blaxall's report to the local government board upon the sanitary condition of the urban sanitary district of Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn, Montgormeryshire.

  • Blaxall, F. R.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Blaxall's report to the local government board upon the sanitary condition of the urban sanitary district of Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn, Montgormeryshire. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    rendered unwholesome by the stench. (9.) Woolpaclc Yard.—Cesspit privy used by seven families. The privy adjoins the end house in the yard, and rats run to and fro from the the cesspit to the living room, through holes in the paved floor, which the poor people have endeavoured in vain to stop up. Meanwhile the whole house is pervaded with fsecal odour. (10.) National School at Newtown.—Cesspit privies in a neglected and filthy condition, seats, floors, and even the approach being strewn with excrement. Hitherto the sewerage of the town has been of the most irregular and imperfect description and little definite information can be obtained respecting it. But so far as I have been enabled to learn, the drains and sewers, six or seven in number, vary in construction, some being of rough stone or brick, others of earthenware pipes, either glazed and socketed, or porous and butt-ended. The sewers receive surface-water, also contents of house drains, and privies, and discharge into the Severn. Several privies and drains empty into the Green brook, which is culverted in part of its course through the town. No provision has been made for the ventilation of either the sewers or drains. The Authority, I am informed, have had under consideration, and have submitted to the Local Government Board, a comprehensive scheme for the complete sewerage of the district, and for the conveyance of the sewage to land situated a few miles down the valley, where they propose to dispose of it by irrigation. If in connexion with this scheme, means were adopted to rid the superficial soil of the water with which it is now- filled, it would be a great additional advantage, and the Sanitary Authority would do well to consult a skilled engineer as to the best way of doing this. Experience in other places, notably Salisbury, has shown the beneficial results of subsoil drainage upon health, and the laying down of the new sewers now contemplated would, I think, afford a fitting opportunity for carrying out this further and much-to-be-desired improvement. A few years ago water was introduced into the district from extraneous sources, but this supply is little used, the people continuing, as formerly, to derive their water mainly from a number of shallow wells by means of pumps, three of which are open to the public, namely, one on the Canal Road on the north side of the river, and the Lady Well and Park Road pumps at Newtown. The wells generally are greatly exposed to the risk of pollution from the soil around them being saturated with filth from privies, defective drains, refuse heaps, and slops thrown on the surface in imperfectly paved yards. This danger, it would appear, is recognised by many of the people, for they leave their own pumps, with the surroundings of which they are only too familiar, and have recourse to other wells which, in like manner, are deserted by the persons living in their immediate vicinity. The waters of certain of the wells have from time to time been analysed by Mr. Blunt, the county analyst, with the result that some of them have been found to be highly polluted (see Appendix), and on two or three occasions the late Medical Officer of Health connected cases of typhoid fever with drinking the water from one or other of these wells. With regard to the water from extraneous sources.—In 1871 or 1872 a com- pany was formed who obtained the right to abstract water from the Cwmyrhiehwdre brook, situated on the hills about four miles to the south-west of Newtown, and having a gathering ground of about 2,000 acres. The water of the brook is slightly diverted to a reservoir, whence it is conveyed to the two towns and thence distri- buted to the different streets ; the conduit pipes are of iron, but several of them terminate in dead ends, leaden pipes being used for the subsequent laying on of the water to the houses. The regulations as to the manner of supplying it to closets are the same as those in force in the metropolis. The reservoir is formed from a natural chasm in the rock by means of a substantial bank thrown across the lower end in order to confine the water. It is about 200 feet above the town, and is capable of storing 18,000,000 gallons. With regard to the purity of the water, I am given to understand there are two or three farms situated within the gathering ground, and that in one or two instances the company have had occasion to exercise the powers with which they are vested to restrain contamination of the water. The people at present are strongly prejudiced against using this water, owing, it would seem, to its occasionally looking turbid and discoloured. Once it was said to have an unpleasant smell, but the cause of this was discovered in trees having fallen into the reservoir, there decaying and polluting the water. Having examined the results of the analyses of this water, made by Dr. Frankland and Mr. Blunt, and appended to this Report, I am of opinion that this source is calculated, under proper supervision and care, to supply a very urgent necessity of the district; but in order to this, it is imperative that every precaution should be taken to< A 2 Sewerage. Water supply.