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Bristol Water supplies drinking water to over 1 million customers in a 1000 square mile area centered on Bristol  66 million gallons are supplied daily. 68 Sources include 14 reservoirs (the largest, Chew Lake, can hold 4,500 million gallons), rivers, springs, wells and boreholes. There are 139 Covered storage reservoirs - the largest, Pucklechurch, can hold 25 million gallons. Bristol, originally 'Brigstowe' - the place of the bridge, and has always had an association with running water. In medieval times, monks and friars acted as the first water engineers, supplying water from local springs through wooden and lead piping known as conduits. The Jacobs Wells pipe supplied water to Bristol Cathedral, and the St. Johns conduit can still be seen today, running down Nelson Street. Wealthy people used the services of a water carrier to bring water to their homes. These men would claim that their water was fresher than the water from the conduits and would charge a penny a pail. Leders St. Johns conduit Water was piped in as early as 1695. Neither ever provided enough clean water to satisfy the cities' needs or to help prevent the outbreak of disease. It was said that the local beer was safer to drink than the water! A fresh, reliable supply of water was needed. In 1841, the Society of Merchant Venturers, a collection of prominent Bristol businessmen, established the Merchant Venturers Water Works. With Isambard Kingdom Brunel as a backer, the group sought to supply water to Clifton and the wealthier parts of Bristol. In 1845 a rival group formed. Prominent local citizens involved included William Budd, a pioneer in sanitation; Francis Fry, the industrialist and philanthropist; and George Thomas, the Quaker merchant who founded Bristol General Hospital. Their plan was to supply the whole city, not just Clifton, by bringing in fresh water from the Mendips. The government weighed up the plans of the two groups, and narrowly came down on the side of the new group. On the 16th of July 1846 the Bristol Waterworks Company was formally established by an Act of Parliament. Only fifteen months later, the first 'sweet clear waters' travelled from Chewton Mendip, via Barrow and the engineering feat of the 16km Line of Works conduit, into the heart of Bristol. THE GROWING COMPANY Water flowed into Bristol from the Line of Works - so much so that a reservoir was required to hold the extra water. The first of three Barrow Reservoirs was built in 1850. Over the years sand filters were added, to treat the water, and chlorination was begun in 1935. In 1888 the Bristol Water Works Company gained parliamentary approval to build a reservoir at Blagdon. As the company continued to expand, so did the surrounding area's demand for water. Cheddar springs were first tapped in 1922, and a full reservoir created in the 1930s. Cheddar reservoir holds 1350 million gallons and in 1947 became the first supply reservoir to allow sailing. The Second World War delayed the creation of a new reservoir at Chew Stoke. Chew Reservoir was eventually opened in 1956 by Her Majesty the Queen, and has a capacity of 4,500 million gallons. |
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