| AdminHistory | During October 1872 the Council renamed the Sewage Inquiry Committee the [Sanitary and] Sewage Committee. In October 1872, the Town Clerk made a formal report in reply to the Sewage Inquiry Committee, highlighting the current legal confusion on the issue and several other points of law (see minute 229), recommending that a local act be presented to Parliament in order to consolidate the powers of the Corporation. Despite taking over the Saltley works, the Corporation was still being faced with litigation from, amongst others, Charles Adderley, as most of the liquid effluent was still being pumped into the River Tame.
Two important pieces of national legislation followed. Under the Public Health Act, 1875 the Council was permitted to carry sewers 'into, through, or under any lands whatsoever within their district', provided that reasonable notice in writing was given to the owner or occupier. The 1875 Act also declared that all existing and future sewers within a Local Authority district would belong to that Local Authority. Exceptions were to be made in the case of sewers which had been constructed privately for profit. Under the 1875 Act, urban authorities could, at their own desire, keep a map of sewerage in their districts. The Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) Act, 1876, prohibited the pollution of rivers by the discharge of sewage and other waste material. Weaknesses of this Act were that the local authorities which were made responsible for the enforcement of its provisions were often the very bodies which were causing the pollution, and each local authority was apt to be interested in river quality only within its own boundaries.
In 1877, a united district drainage board was established, under the 1875 Health Act. Named the Birmingham Tame and Rea District Drainage Board (see BCC 1/EM Tame Basin Joint Committee minutes), it included the districts of Birmingham, Aston, Smethwick, Balsall Heath, Handsworth, Harborne, Saltley, parts of Kings Norton and Northfield, as well as the parishes of Perry Barr and Aston (including Water Orton, Erdington, Witton, Castle Bromwich and Little Bromwich). The Sewage Committee went on to pass its functions onto the new joint Drainage Board or to the Council’s Public Works and Health Committees. The Sewage Committee remained active until April 1882, purely dealing with legal cases, mainly concerning Charles Adderley. |