The Metropolis Water Act 1852 was an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

which introduced regulation of

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...

companies in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

("the Metropolis"), including minimum standards of water quality for the first time. The Act was enacted in order to "make provision for securing the supply to the Metropolis of pure and wholesome water." Under the Act, it became unlawful for any water company to extract water for domestic use from the tidal reaches of the Thames after 31 August 1855, and from 31 December 1855 all such water was required to be "effectually filtered". The Metropolis Water Act 1852 was followed by four more Metropolis Water Acts enacted over the next 50 years: the Metropolis Water Act 1871, the Metropolis Water Act 1897, the Metropolis Water Act 1899, and the Metropolis Water Act 1902. Section 1 of the Metropolis Water Act 1852 was repealed by the Water Act 2003.

Compliance

The

Lambeth Waterworks Company The Lambeth Waterworks Company was a utility company supplying water to parts of south London in England. The company was established in 1785 with works in north Lambeth and became part of the publicly owned Metropolitan Water Board in 1904 ...

was amongst the first to comply with the act; they were ahead of the act, having decided to move their waterworks to

Seething Wells Seething Wells is a neighbourhood in southwest London on the border between Surbiton in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in Greater London, and Elmbridge in Surrey. The area was historically a waterworks that supplied London with water ...

in 1847. The

Chelsea Waterworks Company The Chelsea Waterworks Company was a London waterworks Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water sup ...

was the last; they relocated in 1856.

References

United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1852 Environmental law in the United Kingdom Water supply and sanitation in London {{london-stub

Compliance

See also

References