OPENING CITY BATHS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20058, 22 September 1928, Page 14

OPENING CITY BATHS.

WAY OUT OF DIFFICULTY. WATER TO BE CHLORINATED. HEALTH OFFICERS' APPROVAL. There is every prospect of the baths at Parnell and Shelly Beach being opened id time for the new swimming season, notwithstanding the refusal of the ratepayers last Wednesday to sanction a loan for the installation of filtration and sterilisation plants there. ■ "The City Council is taking steps, under the advice of the Health Department, to mako provision for purifying the water, and this, wo hope, will enable the baths to be openod at a very early date," said the Mayor, Mr. G. 'Baildon, yesterday. "If the water is chlorinated it is considered the baths will bo quite fit for use. Tests taken on September 3 showed the water, both at Parnell and at Shelly Beach, was quite good. It is proposed to chlorinate the water before it enters the baths, and we hope to arrange for the necessary plant without much delay." When an analysis was made of the water at Parnell last March, when the baths wcro closed, it was found that, bacilli coli were present in two cubic centimetres of water. Further tests were made, both at Parnell and at Shelly Beach, on September 3, in order to give tenderers for the proposed filtration and sterilisation plants an indication of the nature of the water. Those tests showed that no bacilli coli wcro present in two cubic centimetres of water, or even in 100 cubic centimetres. "It would not do to draw conclusions from one sample, however," said Dr. W. Gilmour, who made the tests. "The samples in each caso happened to bo good .ones, but it has to be remembered the Parnell baths had not been in use since they were closed in March. I supposo the differing results show the conditions in the harbour vary considerably. At any rate, 1 am 'not prepared to give an opinion on one sample, taken, perhaps, at a favourable time." The Mayor said he had conferred with Dr. T. J. Hughes, medical officer of health, that morning, and had been assured the new proposals would meet with the approval of the Health Department.