The New River is an artificial waterway in England, opened in 1613 to supply London with fresh drinking water taken from Chadwell and Amwell Springs near Ware in Hertfordshire, and later the River Lea and other sources. Originally conceived by Edmund Colthurst and completed by Hugh Myddelton, it was operated by the New River Company for nearly 300 years until London's water supply was taken over by the Metropolitan Water Board in 1904.
A reservoir is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
The River Ching is a tributary of the River Lea, flowing from Epping Forest, in southeast England.
Puddling is both the material and the process of lining a water body such as a channel or pond with puddle clay – a watertight material based on clay and water mixed to be workable.
The William Girling Reservoir is located in the London Borough of Enfield and is part of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain that supplies London with drinking water. It is named after William Girling OBE, a chairman of the Metropolitan Water Board (MWB). The reservoir and the nearby King George V Reservoir are known collectively as the Chingford Reservoirs. The storage reservoir, which is owned by Thames Water, is bordered by Chingford to the east and Ponders End and Edmonton to the west, and covers 334 acres with a perimeter of 3.5 miles (5.6 km). There is no public access.
The Chingford Reservoirs are the King George V Reservoir and the William Girling Reservoir, which form part of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain in the London Boroughs of Enfield and Waltham Forest and Epping Forest in Essex. Construction of the King George V Reservoir was started in 1908 and completed in 1912. Work on the William Girling Reservoir was started in 1938, with John Mowlem & Co being the contractor, but owing to technical problems, and the intervention of World War II, the reservoir was not finished until 1951.
The Staines Reservoirs are two large pumped storage reservoirs sitting to the east of the King George VI Reservoir near Heathrow airport in Surrey within the Colne Valley regional park. The village of Stanwell is mainly to the north east, and the town of Staines is to the south.
The Queen Mary Reservoir is one of the largest of London's reservoirs supplying fresh water to London and parts of surrounding counties, and is located in the Borough of Spelthorne in Surrey. The reservoir covers 707 acres (2.86 km2) and is 45 ft (14 m) above the surrounding area.
The Queen Mother Reservoir is a public water supply reservoir that lies between the M4 and the M25 to the west of London, close to Datchet. It is 475 acres (1.92 km2) in size or about 1 km in diameter - making it one of the largest inland areas of water in Southern England. It is managed by Thames Water.
The Bessborough Reservoir is an embanked storage reservoir south of the River Thames in Surrey adjacent to the Knight Reservoir. To the south lies Queen Elizabeth II Reservoir and to the north the now disused Molesey Reservoirs. The A3050 runs to the north of the reservoir and the neighbouring town is Molesey to the east. It forms part the green buffer between Molesey and Walton on Thames. The reservoir is in the borough of Elmbridge.
The Knight Reservoir is a large pumped storage reservoir located in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey. It was inaugurated in 1907 and stores up to 2,180 million litres of raw water abstracted from the River Thames prior to its treatment and supply to London and north Surrey. It is located south of the River Thames, west of West Molesey, and between Hurst Road (A3050) and Walton Road (B369). It is adjacent to, and west of, its twin Bessborough Reservoir.
The Island Barn Reservoir lies south of the River Thames in England at West Molesey and north of Lower Green, Esher. The reservoir is 122 acres (0.49 km2) large with a capacity of 992 million gallons and is managed by Thames Water. It is within the borough of Elmbridge and is surrounded by the River Mole to the west and the River Ember to the east. Queen Elizabeth II Reservoir is a larger reservoir to the West.
The Queen Elizabeth II Reservoir lies to the south of the River Thames and to the west of the Island Barn Reservoir. To the north are the Bessborough and Knight reservoirs. The A3050 runs to the north of the reservoir and it is situated in Walton on Thames. It is managed by Thames Water.
London's water supply infrastructure has developed over the centuries in line with the expansion of London.
The Lea Valley Walk is a 50-mile (80 km) long-distance path located between Leagrave, the source of the River Lea near Luton, and the Thames, at Limehouse Basin, Limehouse, east London. From its source much of the walk is rural. At Hertford the path follows the towpath of the River Lee Navigation, and it becomes increasingly urbanised as it approaches London. The walk was opened in 1993 and is waymarked throughout using a swan logo.
The River Lee Diversion is located in the Lea Valley, close to Enfield Lock and to the north east corner of the King George V Reservoir.
The Lee Valley Reservoir Chain is located in the Lee Valley, and comprises 13 reservoirs that supply drinking water to London.
The King George VI Reservoir sits between Stanwell Moor and Staines upon Thames, south-west of Heathrow, England. It is between Staines Moor and a north–south road abutting the Staines Reservoirs. The reservoir was opened in November 1947 and named after the then reigning monarch George VI. It is owned by Thames Water.
Tunstall Reservoir was a water supply storage reservoir completed in 1879, and now used solely to maintain minimum regulatory flows on the River Wear in northeast England. It is situated in the north Pennines of the United Kingdom, and lies 3.5 km north of the village of Wolsingham, in Weardale, County Durham. The earthen embankment dam, which impounds the reservoir, is recognized as the location where pressure grouting with cement grout was first utilized in 1876 by engineer Thomas Hawksley, to reduce leakage within the rock foundation under an earth dam. Pressure grouting has since become normal practice for construction and remediation at dams and related water resource projects.
The Humphrey pump is a large internal combustion gas-fuelled liquid-piston pump. They were used for large-scale water supply projects. They were only popular for a short time, from around 1910 to the outbreak of World War I, but they continued in service for a long period afterwards, some lasting into the 1970s.
