HH62/1/DUNBAR/25

Transcription

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words, whether it is liable to contamination from human beings
and their diseases. It is of use to know whether a water is hard
or soft, whether it has much or little solid matter, whether it
is filtered or not, and so on; but if one had to judge of the safety
or danger of any given supply from one single enquiry regarding
it, that enquiry would be, how does it stand as regards pro-
pinquity to or distance from inhabited dwelling-houses? In a
village supplied from local sources - from sunk wells on streets or
in back yards or gardens - a good deal will depend on whether
the wells are open dip wells or are properly covered and provided
with pumps; whether they are well puddled or otherwise rendered
impermeable to moisture near the surface of the ground; whether
there are any ashpits or drains close at hand; whether the wells
are in manured ground, &c. But in spite of all precautions to
the contrary, water from local sources will be liable to risks of con-
tamination, which may occasionally have very disastrous results
on the health of the consumers; and, with rare exceptions, an
open mountain stream, unprotected and unfiltered, will be found a
safer source of supply than the most carefully guarded water taken
from the soil of a populous village.
At the other end of the subject is the question of the facilities
provided for utilising the supply. Cleanliness should be made
easy to the population. Where village water has to be got say a
quarter of a mile away, the villagers are sure to be dirtier in their
houses and persons than if the water were piped into every individual
dwelling-house. There is even a difference between having to go
to a pillar well on the street, or to a water tap on a stair head,
and having the water led right into the kitchen sink. In so far,
therefore, as I have gone into the question of water supply in
the county, I have followed these lines of enquiry. Mr. Dunbar
will report in greater detail regarding both water supply and
drainage.
Western District. - Special Water Supply Districts are four in
number -
(1) Alexandria, Bonhill, and Jamestown (population about
14,000). Water is pumped from Loch Lomond into a reservoir,
and filtered. The storage accommodation is insufficient and is to
be greatly increased before the summer. Most of the houses have
the water conveyed in by pipes, and only in the poorer parts of

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the villages are there public taps or pillar wells. In the large
terraces of workmens' houses in Jamestown the water is piped into
the dwellings.
(2) Renton (population 5,255). Upland surface water is collected
in a reservoir and filtered. About one-half or nearly so, of all the
houses have the water led into them, and the remainder have it in
pillar wells in the back courts, often near the washing house.
Street wells have been mostly done away with, owing to the
obstruction they caused at the sides of the narrow footpaths. A
very few of the old wells are still in use.
(3) Row has a gravitation supply impounded from springs and
uncultivated moorland. It is stored in reservoirs at the head of
Aldownick Glen, 700 feet above the sea level. It is piped into all
the houses. Mr. Buchanan of Clarinish informs me that the
population within the Water District is about 862. In addition,
the Training Ship "Empress" is, by arrangement. provided with
the same supply, so that the total population using the water is
about 1300.
(4) The Burgh of Cove and Kilcreggan has charge of the
Special Water Supply District there. The District incudes about
80 houses in the parish of Roseneath outside the burgh, with a
population of probably 400 or thereby.
At Shandon Hydropathic (average inmates, including staff and
visitors, about 150), water for drinking and cooking purposes is
got from a spring on the hills behind. It is led by an iron pipe
into storage tanks, and is passed through filters constructed by the
late Mr. Robert Napier. It is plentiful at all seasons of the year.
Thus of the 28,723 inhabitants of the Western District, about
21,000 have a systematic water supply, led from a distance, and
not readily liable to serious pollution. I have not yet had
opportunity of making detailed investigation into the nature of
the various supplies that are in use in the remainder of the District.
Steps are being taken to form the village of Garelochhead into a
Special Water Supply District, and there can be no doubt about
the desirability of this being carried out.
Eastern District. - There are two Special Water Supply
Districts:-
(1) Duntocher and Dalmuir. This, in addition to the places
so named, includes Hardgate, Faifley, and Radnor Park, all in