Rushden Echo, 31^st July 1964

Cesspools Are Danger To Health

Rushden Urban Council's cesspool emptying machine at work. The two men are Mr. Jim Walden (bending) and Bill Smith.

RUSHDEN is running the gauntlet of a typhoid outbreak. This alarming statement was made at Monday's Rushden Urban Council meeting.

The trouble stems from a ditch running along the front of properties on the Bedford Road near the Avenue Road. It is alleged that the ditch water is being polluted by cesspools in the immediate area, which are leaking or overflowing because they are not emptied often enough.

This week the "Echo" investigated the circumstances and the seriousness of the complaints.

We found that conditions are far from ideal on this comparatively isolated corner of the Court Estate.

Mrs. R. Hunt, of Bedford Road, lifts the cover of a well where all the family domestic water is drained. The cesspool is not large enough to take the water.

But there is no need for panic; the Urban Council has its finger on this sanitation trouble spot.

Disinfected

The surveyor, Mr. W. J. Anker, told the "Echo" that the ditch, most of which is covered, is regularly cleaned and disinfected. In fact, they were disinfected this week.

The real answer is a main drain from the estate and the council has, in fact, a £60,000 scheme before the Ministry.

However, even if the Ministry approved the scheme to­day, it would take something like two years to complete.

Urgent

This point was stressed at the council meeting by Mr. R. D. Gilhooley. He said the Ministry should be reminded of the urgency of the matter.

Mrs. R. Hunt, of Bedford Road, said her husband had organised a petition for a main drain two years ago.

She had to run her domestic water off into a well in the garden—the cesspool was not big enough to take the water as well. She added that her husband had also recently had the cesspool sealed.