HH62/1/DUMFRI/13

Transcription

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the condition of the river not only within their own precincts but
also below them.
The Annan in its course receives the sewage of most of the
farms on its banks, as well as from the Burghs of Moffat, Locker-
bie, and Annan. The entrance of the sewage from Moffat and
Lockerbie is of importance. In the case of Moffat there are dairy
farms whose cattle are watered in the Annan below the point at
which the sewage enters, and I have myself come upon one placed
on the Register before our duties as District Officers began which
takes water for all dairy purposes from the river. It would be
well if the County Council or District Committee of Moffat were to
call upon the Police Commissioners of the Burgh to purify their
sewage before discharging it into the river, and there is no doubt
that, in the interests of the public health as well as of the farms
to which I refer, this is the proper thing to do. The Lockerbie
sewage does not enter the river direct. It passes through settling
tanks and filters into the Turnmuir Burn, a tributary of the Annan.
There is no precipitation attempted at the tanks, and the filters can-
not be said to be acting properly or even to be adequate to deal
with the sewage that comes to them. In consequence a very con-
siderable nuisance is caused in summer: the Turnmuir Burn is
seriously polluted, and from a complaint sent me by the late
tenant of Shillahill, it would appear to be the only water supply
he had during a certain part of the year for his cattle. In con-
sequence of this complaint I have recommended to the Lockerbie
Commissioners a purification scheme, which is at present under
consideration. The scheme is known as the International, and my
recommendation of it has been based on the fact that it appears to
be at once the most efficient and economical of those at present in
use for small centres of population. Some details regarding it
were given in the Report on Sewage Works visited by the Sani-
tary Inspector and myself last autumn. In my next Annual
Report I hope to be able to announce that the evil has been
remedied. It seems doubtful whether the sewage of Annan
Burgh can be said to be hurtful below the town, and I am
not at present prepared to express any definite opinion upon it. Of
the tributaries of the Annan, the one to which our attention has
been most frequently drawn is the Ecclefechan Burn. it is really
a secondary tributary, the Mein Water intervening between it
and the river. Into this burn, as it passes through the village,
the contents of several water-closets are discharged. Solid and

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liquid refuse are also thrown in to such an extent that in warm
weather, and particularly when the stream is low, a very serious
nuisance is created, an unsightly open sewer, abominably odori-
ferous, being formed, to which very naturally certain of the
inhabitants strongly object. It has been recommended that that
part of the burn which remains uncovered at the lower end of the
village should be covered over. I am not inclined to support this,
as it will simply put the sore out of sight without remov-
ing it. Two courses are open to the District Committee. The first
and cheapest would be to compel all who at present have water-
closets discharging into the stream to take them out, and to prevent
as far as possible the emptying of solids and liquid sewage into
it. The second would be more effectual but more costly - to form
Ecclefechan into a Special Drainage District and purify the sew-
age before it is discharged into the burn. If need be, the purifi-
cation could be done well below the village, but our experience
leads us to the conclusion that a very little attention indeed will
prevent properly constructed sewage works from becoming a
nuisance or even causing an occasional unpleasant odour.
The Esk receives the sewage of the Burgh of Langholm in an
unpurified state, and, I believe, also the mill wastes. I have not,
however, given as yet the same attention to the pollution of the
Esk as to that of the Nith, and cannot therefore go into details.
Of the smaller streams which do not fall into the Nith, Annan
or Esk, probably the Pow Water and the Water Beck suffer most
from contamination. The importance of the contamination of the
Pow is due to the fact that it is used by certain houses as a domestic
supply. One of its tributaries, the Hitchel Burn, from which a
part of the supply for Cummertrees is taken, is polluted by farm-
yard drainage. I am not prepared to say that there is any con-
nection, but it is an interesting point that in recent years there
have been cases of typhoid both in the village of Cummertrees and
in houses taking their supply from the Pow. The Water Beck, as
it passes through the village, receives the discharge of one or two
water-closets, but the principal pollution is caused by the amount
of solid refuse which is thrown in. These by no means exhaust
the list of polluted streams that might be brought under the notice
of the Council, but they are perhaps the worst of those to which
our attention has been drawn during the year.