SPECTRE OF DROUGHT

Evening Star, Issue 22047, 5 June 1935, Page 11

SPECTRE OF DROUGHT

NEW: FEARS IN BRITAIN where danger lies A dry March has suggested to many that we shall suffer once again from drought in the near future. No man can give an. accurate forecast of rainfall, but those who have been watching flic work carried out in England during the last two years to inect water shortage may well be convinced that danger of real trouble is limited (writes S. L. Bensusoti in the 1 Observer ’). Great cities are fairly well supplied, their reservoirs arc in better state than they were tin’s time last year. The pooling system has been extended, in many parts of the country pipe lines have been laid, old ones are being tapped to serve new areas. Trouble will attack the town if at all through the villages, though the danger centres have been mapped out in the past two summers. Consider essentials. We want rain for thirst, fields, cattle, washing, street cleaning, drain flushing, fire control, and factories. In great cities 30 gallons a head is a reasonable allowance for all purposes, including trade. London provides 40. Military requirements are higher, but rainfall, even in drought years, is more than sufficient to meet all demands if only proper measures of conservation be adopted. STORAGE CISTERNS. Even hard hit villages, those to be found in parts of rural Essex, Suffolk, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Cambridge, and Hunts could be helped effectively if they had proper storage cisterns of galvanised iron, cement," or slate; lead should not be'used. Wc have considerable supplies of river water available, too. if we could he sure that it is not contaminated, ;jnd this assurance could be given if the authorities would take necessary steps, In England to-day shallow wells serve over 10 millions of our rural population. These wells, like the-• surface-water ponds, dry up quickly in hot summers; many are fed by drainage from fields dress’ed with arsenic, lead, copper, and tar distillate. You can still find shallow wells to-day in farm yards, in the immediate neighbourhood of manure heap* or cesspits. If you inquire why these conditions persist you reach the root of the trouble. The real control of the rural water and of the sanitary inspector is in the hands of people who for the most part are incompetent or rateconscious. In the last couple of years rural district councils have shown clearly that they are unable to tackle their problems. they fear expense, and will travel far to avoid it. That is why in certain counties you meet the procession of farm workers carrying their “cowl’ to the nearest pond, which may be a mile away from their cottage, after a long day’s work. Then again many big suppliers are taking water from rural districts, and this practice should he regulated. For example, within a mile or two of reservoirs filled by the river Stour, on the Essex-Suffoik border, yon may find the village folk tramping with pails to get what- they can from ponds or springs. You may also notice that the local authority does nothing to save watei that runs by night and by day from the springs to which the village brings its pails. There are places where u tank, a pump, and a water carl would put :?u cud to tronh'e iu a ur-arby hamlet, hut (he local authority will not- stir.

THE HANGER CENTRE. For the town the danger centre is. the farm. When water fails in remote districts the farmer cannot, get enough to supply his stock, keep cows ami cow houses clean, and cool his milk. This milk may go to great cities. There are farms where cows must drink from thick, slimy, green ponds, where the village baker cannot get clean water to mix his flour. In Lincolnshire, where children get blisterpox from bad water, you may find men and women going to the delpbs or drains that intersect the flat fields; this water is notoriously bad for farm stock. Last year arid the year before people were drinking from at least three rivers that are admittedly dangerous, the Huntingdon Ouse, the Trent, and the Witham; doubtless there are others - . In some villages women could be found walking two miles to a spring in order to wash a few clothes. Authorities admit that every cottager with wife and family needs a minimum of fir® gallons a day. . The best way out of the difficulty would be to make the County Council responsible for the water supply, hud to give them a free band; they alone should engage and maintain all sanitary inspector's;.This is important. Medical officers of health for the counties have been doing splendid work; some hare organised a service by motor lorries on effective lines. In Buckinghamshire the county was soiling watei from .tanks fitted with hosepipe, at the rate of 15 gallons a penny, to be used for domestic purposes only;" in thp East Riding. Hull, that progressive city has been carrying 1,000 gallon loads of water to dairy farmers for Is 6d. Years must pass before a water sup ply organised on effective lines can be everywhere available. But while > we are waiting therg need be no serious trouble if power be given to county councils, and if the worst of the stricken areas receive special attention. In the interests of public health the claims of dairy farmer and country baker shonlu be met. England's gravest danger lies less-in her dry areas than in her district councils; the' other menace to her security is to be found in unrestricted ribbon building and the ineffective water and drainage systems often associated with it.