The River Tees

The River Tees

Rivers

The Thames was not the only river that was affected by pollution, and since smaller towns and rivers were not as carefully scrutinized, poor water quality could go unaddressed for a much longer time than would be tolerated in a larger city. Anthony Wohl writes that the Tees was condemned as an open sewer by the Local Government Board, even as late as 1893. He reports " 'Seldom, if ever,' it wrote. . "has a case of the fouling of water intended for human consumption, so gross or so persistently maintained come within the cognizance of the Medical Department.' "(235). The towns of Darlington, Stockton, and Middlesborough continued to have outbreaks of typhoid into the 1890s (128).

Frances Thielman

Wohl, Anthony.  Endangered Lives.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1983.  Print.