Sewage and sanitation.

Under the Sewage Utilization Act of 1865 the vestry was appointed as the “sewer authority”.[1] They had power to construct such “sewers and drains as they may think necessary for keeping their district properly cleansed and drained.” [2] The cost was to be met out of the Poor Rate. There is no record of any action that they might have taken. 

The earliest and simplest toilets were the privy middens. These were pits in the ground, brick lined, over which was a simple plank seat. They were dug out when they became filled up as required, perhaps once a year. Prone to leakage, the contamination of nearby wells was always a risk. Improvements in design were made and in May 1877 the Stapleford Parochial Committee reported that new improved designs were being insisted upon. [3] Privy middens were followed by the pail closets. These consisted of pails or buckets under seats and these by were emptied by the ‘nightsoil’ men into their carts every day. In September 1923 in was reported that there were still 122 privy middens and 1146 pail closets in Stapleford [4] and it was not until March 1935 that the Rural District Council could report that all the privy middens had been converted.[5]

Piped water came to Stapleford in 1890 but it was not until 1897 that an agreement was signed with the Stapleford and Sandiacre Water Company for a supply of water to a sewage system. Plans were made for a sewage farm by the Shardlow Rural Sanitary Authority but responsibility for sewage passed to Stapleford Rural District Council in 1894. There were a number of delays and it was not until October 1896 that the plans were finally approved by the Stapleford RDC. In May 1898 tenders were accepted for a total cost of £12,341. The scheme finally came to fruition in 1901. 

In 1928 it became apparent that the sewage farm could not cope with the increase in population which had doubled in the last 30 years.[6] Samples of the outflow from the sewage farm were described as “bad” and there was a desire to completely transfer to a water carriage system. An extension scheme was sanctioned by the Ministry of Health in 1930[7] and this reconstruction was completed in 1931.[8] 

In 1935 resposibility for sewage passed to the newly formed Beeston and Stapleford Urban District Councils. In 1973 responsibility for sewage passed to the newly constituted water authorities which, in the case of Stapleford was the Severn Trent Water Authority[9] In 1989 this Authority was privatized and Severn Trent plc was formed. [10] 

The other area which exercised the minds of the local authorities was the pollution of the Erewash. This was the responsibility of the Court of Sewers but they seemed to be very ineffective. The problem was particularly severe in the period before the Ilkeston Town Sewage Scheme came into operation. In 1908 it was reported that “during the previous hot weather the river has been most offensive and injurious to those living near”.[11] There were a number of joint meetings between the two county health authorities and the Court of Sewers and the “commissioners were urged to exercise their jurisdiction(which they have not exercised for a number of years ) in removing obstructions in the river.” 

The oversight of the “nightsoil men” or scavengers as they are more correctly described was in the hands of the Rural District Council which delegated it to the Stapleford Parochial Committee. The Minutes of this body indicate that their main business seems to have been the oversight of the scavengers and their duties. The horses, their purchase and care, the behaviour of the scavengers both in their personal lives and in the carrying out of their duties are all described in great detail. The problem of where to tip the nightsoil was ongoing. Someone would always complain about the smell. Even Sandiacre Parish Council complained about Stapleford’s nightsoil being tipped in their parish but it was pointed out that Stapleford’s scavenger lived in Sandiacre and he was tipping it on his own land. When the land for the Hickings Lane recreation ground was being purchased the transaction was put on hold until the nightsoil deposited on the land was removed.