HH62/1/BANFF/11

Transcription

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paramount condition of healthy habitations; and it must over-
ride all other conditions."

(b) Inquiries and Proceedings.

As stated in the District Reports I have devoted the time
since my appointment principally to making a general survey
of the county, especially of the villages, because there the
insanitary conditions most commonly exist and are most apt to
prove hurtful.
In the Report for the Keith District, reference is made to a
complaint as to pollution of the river Isla.
Under the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889, section
55, the power of enforcing the provisions of the Rivers Pollution
Prevention Act of 1876, is conferred on County Councils.
The compaint was received by the County Sanitary
Inspector, through the Chief Constable of the County, in the
end of last June. The complaint stated that the fish in the river
were dying, and that some of the complainant's cattle were
suffering through drinking the river water.
We took an early opportunity of calling on the complainant,
who repeated verbally the complaint already made in writing,
adding that dead fish were not unfrequently seen in the river. I
asked him to be good enough to let the Sanitary Inspector know
at once should he see any more dead fish in the river. We have
received no communication from him since.
Further inquiries on the subject brought out very conflicting
statements.
That the Isla is polluted to a greater or less extent there
seems to be little doubt.
The sources of pollution are:-
1. The sewage from the Burgh of Keith.
2. The waste liquids from a Woollen Manufactory, from a
Distillery situated within the Burgh, and from a
Manure Manufactory situated further up the stream in
the landward part of the Parish of Keith. (To this
latter source of pollution reference is made in the
District Report, p. 7.)

The pollution of rivers in Scotland, especially in the North,
has not hitherto attracted the same amount of attention that it
has done in England, and I think it best to here quote the law
on the point.
Section 83 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1867, is as
follows:- "The owners or occupiers of distilleries, manufactories,
and other works shall be compelled, where possible, to dig, make,
and construct pools and reservoirs within their own ground, or as
near their works as possible, for receiving and depositing the

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refuse of such works, so far as offensive or injurious to the health
of those living in the vicinity thereof, or to use the best practical
means for rendering the same inoffensive or innoxious before dis-
charging it into any river, stream, ditch, sewer, or other channel."
In this Section "offensiveness" is to be construed as distinct
from "injury to health" (see Dr Skelton's Handbook of Public
Health, p. 77).
Section 3 of the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act, 1876,
states - "Every person who causes to fall or flow, or knowingly
permits to fall or flow or to be carried into any stream any solid
or liquid sewage matter shall (subject as in this Act mentioned)
be deemed to have committed an offence against this Act"
"When any sewage matter falls or flows or is carried into any
stream along a channel used, constructed, or in process of con-
struction at the date of the passing of this Act for the purpose of
conveying such sewage matter, the person causing or knowingly
permitting the sewage matter so to fall or flow or to be carried
shall not be deemed to have committed an offence against this Act
if he shows to the satisfaction of the Court having cognisance of
the case that he is using the best practicable and available means
to render harmless the sewage matter so falling or flowing or
carried into the stream." Then follows a clause granting time to
any sanitary authority to enable it "to adopt the best practicable
and available means." Section 4 of the same Act repeats Section
3, substituting for the words "solid or liquid sewage matter,"
"any poisonous, noxious, or polluting liquid proceeding from any
factory or manufacturing process."
The enactments quoted above have, I fear, been frequently
offended against.
Under the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act, there is no
reference whatever to injury to health, The mere fact of turning
"sewage" or "polluting liquid" into a stream without using the
"best practicable" and "reasonably available" means for render-
ing it harmless seems to be a breach of the law.
The Isla is a small stream, and the fact that Keith is
steadily increasing in size and population means that, in the near
future, if no steps are taken to prevent it, the river must become
seriously polluted.
I am glad to hear, however, that a new scheme for the
sewerage of the Burgh has been recently under consideration,
and is now in process of being carried out in one district within
the Burgh. I trust that this scheme will, when carried out in
its entirety, include proper sewage disposal works, and thus do
away with any cause for complaint in the future.
In no part of its course below Keith is the water of the Isla
used for dietetic purposes, so far as I have ascertained. Cattle
grazing along the banks drink it, but we failed to get evidence
of illness amongst them in consequence. At the same time, the