THE TEPID BATH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9789, 4 March 1910, Page 1

THE TEPID BATH.

COMPLAINTS AGAINST THE WATER SUPPLY. There has been a good deal of complaint, recently regarding the water in the municipal tepid baths. It is generally of a grey appearance, very diHerent from the water in baths that are supplied from artesian bores. Yesterday morning the swimming pool presented so uninviting an appearance that a number of ladies who had had their admission tickets punched refused to enter the water. Although the bath had been cleaned out on tlfe previous day and refilled, the water was apparently dirty. A "Lyttelton Times" reporter met two ladies as they were leaving the baths, and was told by them that the water was most objectionable. A large proportion of the water is obtained from the Avon. The water which is used in the condensers at the city destructor is partly artesian water and partly water .pumped from the Avon from the vicinity of the Manchester Street bridge In the condensers the water is heated up to between 160 deg and 170 deg, and is then passed on to the baths, which it reaches "at a temperature of about lOOdeg. This heating is probably sufficient to destroy any malignant element in the water, but a good many visitors to the baths havo commented on the fact that in a city where there is an ample supply of artesian water a public swimming pool should be filled with water from a river in which horses are washed and into which storm water from street channels flows. The Mayor (Mr C. Allison) told a reporter last evening that the Baths Committee was satisfied that the heating to which the water was subjected rendered it perfectly innocuous. The heating, however, appeared to discolour the water, and instructions had been given by the committee that the bath should bo painted with a special preparation that would give the water a better appearance. Extensive altera tions to the heating apparatus would be required before water could be obtained from the city high-pressure supply, but this alteration would probably be mada.