[Report 1934] / Medical Officer of Health, Worcestershire / County of Worcester County Council.

  • Worcestershire (England). County Council.
Date:
1934
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1934] / Medical Officer of Health, Worcestershire / County of Worcester County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    141. The principal difficulty in the Rural District of Evesham is in connection with the recently added parishes. There is a very definite need for improved supplies in the extreme north and west of the Rural district. I feel confident the matter is being seriously considered by the Rural District Council, who have always been most progressive. It is, however, a most difficult and costly procedure to extend the lengths of unremunerative mains and so far no local supply has been found which would provide a remedy. Pershore Rural District. 142. Dr. G. E. Harthan, Medical Officer of Health, states : “ In this second year of drought scarcity of water was more widely and severely felt than in 1933. It was fortunate that the Overbury water was brought to Pershore that year : for except in those parts supplied from water works there was shortage in most of the District, and in some parishes it was acute. 143. Throckmorton, Naunton Beauchamp, Flyford Flavel and Dormston suffered badly. The whole area in which these villages lie is one in which it is difficult to get good water : shallow wells are liable to contamination, and in times of drought many run dry and if sunk deeper they generally yield mineral water unfit for use. 144. Yet it is only from local sources that these places can get water except at burdensome cost. The small population is widely distributed and the rateable value is so low that the cost of a supply piped from a distance could not be borne. 145. A system of small separate village supplies seems the only economical solution of the water problem in this part of the District if only water could be found locally for the purpose. No large quantity of water would be needed for any one village : in my opinion any source that could be counted upon to yield in times of drought a minimum of not less than five gallons per head of the population daily to augment existing supplies would be ample to prevent any serious shortage. 146. Near most of these villages there are spots where local repute suggests water is to be found. This talk is only vague but in some cases it might be well to make exploration. If water were found it would not be very expensive to raise it by means of a windmill into an iron tank whence it could be conveyed to stand pipes placed at convenient points in the village.