HH62/1/DUNBAR/29

Transcription

[Page] 28

In Cumbernauld parish, at Auchinstarry (population, 698) there
is a supply by means of pillar wells at convenient distances. The
water ran short during last summer's exceptional drought. The
source is a spring a few hundred yards to the south of the houses.
At Croy Row (population, nearly 200) the supply is very
defective. The water has often to be carried from an open burn,
situated in private ground, about 500 yards distant. In winter a
pipe at the head of the row sometimes discharges surface and
subsoil water in sufficient quantity, but this source is very
intermittent and of varying quality.
At Smithston (population, 418) also the supply was very de-
ficient last summer. The water is led from a distance, and is there-
fore not so liable to pollution as are dip wells. But it is not
filtered, and the pipes get choked. The row is a very long one,
and should have several wells at convenient distances. Instead,
it has only one, at least for part of the year. At the head of the
row there is a spout discharging water from the fields, but the flow
is very irregular, and in dry weather ceases altogether.
At Condorrat, (population, 606) the chief supply is from a large
open well at the road-side, and exposed to pollution. It is from a
spring. There are besides several private wells, mostly dip wells,
some in garden ground, and liable to pollution from manure.
At Cumbernauld village (population, 956) there is a gravitation
water supply. It is led into a large tank at the side of the burn
running through the village. But the levels are such that it
cannot be distributed by pillar wells on the streets, so that the
distance from some places is inconvenient. In addition, there are
a few private wells, some provided with pumps, and some situated
in garden ground.

DRAINAGE.

Western District. - In the Vale of Leven the natural drainage is
into the Leven, which is used for this purpose by all the towns on
its banks. In no case does the sewage undergo treatment of any
kind before entering the stream. Fortunately the volume of water
is so great that the sewage is very much less of a nuisance
than it would be in any ordinary stream, and it is, of course,
quickly carried into the Firth of Clyde.

[Page] 29

Bonhill, Alexandria, and Renton have all been formed into
Special Drainage Districts, and they are the only such districts in
the western division of the county. In Alexandria the sewage
finds its way into the river by means of the burn of Bonhill, which
is simply an open sewer, and very offensive in hot weather. The
drains in the district are not ventilated excepting at the manholes,
which are not sufficiently near each other to provide proper venti-
lation.
The villages and residences along the shores of the Gareloch
drain into the loch. The sewage is not treated, unless by settling
in cesspools and overflowing into pipes leading to the shore. The
pipes terminate at various distances between high and low water
mark. The excrement from the population on board the
"Empress" training ship (over 400 boys) also enter the loch
without being previously treated. This is the case too with the
numerous steamers plying on the loch.
At Cardross station, a drain which conveys the sewage from a
number of the neighbouring houses, discharges at a point above
the ordinary high water mark, and only twelve or fifteen yards
distant from the window of a dwelling-house. The sewage spreads
irregularly over part of the foreshore and causes a very offensive
smell in warm weather. A Sub-Committee of the Local Authority
has charge of the extension of this drain to a point about fifty
yards further out. The plans have been prepared by Mr. Dunbar.
Eastern District. - Bowling drains into the Clyde by means of a
main sewer which passes under the railway. The sewer does not
appear to be ventilated unless at the gratings in the surface
channels. The houses are, as a rule, connected by drain pipes
with the main sewer. The West Kilpatrick villages drain into a
burn which enters the Clyde. The sewage is not treated in any
way. Radnor Park drains into a burn which passes through
Clydebank, and a question of alleged nuisance from this cause
has recently arisen.
Bearsden drains in two directions - westwards into a settling
tank, which overflows into an adjoining burn, and eastwards
into a ditch which empties into Garscadden burn. Well grounded
complaints were frequent during last summer, regarding the foul
smells arising from the drains in Bearsden, and the subject is at
present in the hands of a committee who have under consideration