Page 326 - Reading Mercury

rd
Sat 23 April
THE WOKINGHAM WATER WORKS
OPENING BY MR. WALTER, M.P.
The works, constructed by the Wokingham District Water Company (Limited), were
opened on Tuesday by Mr. Walter M.P., and the proceedings were of a very
successful character. The works consist of a well and pumping station near the
Finchampstead Road, between the brook and the South Eastern railway, and a
reservoir at Buckhurst, on a site high enough to supply water by gravitation to
Wokingham and nearly all the surrounding district.
The well is 408 feet deep, 260 feet being a brick and cement shaft, and the
remainder a 16-inch artesian boring. It passes through 270 feet of clay, and then
through the Woolwich and Reading sands, until the upper chalk is reached, and the
boring penetrates this 68 feet. Wokingham is on a great basin in the chalk, and there
can be no doubt that a practically unbounded supply of water will be assured from this
boring.
The water has been analysed by Dr. Shea (Public Analyst of Reading and
Newbury) and found to be soft, although from the chalk, and very free from any other
organic matter. The softness of the water’ s great advantage to housewives – is due to
the mixture of the water from the sands immediately above the chalk, which finds its
way down to the fissures in the upper chalk, and also to the fact that the water
contains a considerable portion of alkaline chlorides.
A 20-horse power engine, by Grover & Co., of Westminster, is erected, and has
been pumping regularly for some time, at the rate of 10,000 gallons per hour; while if
necessary almost double work could be got out of it.
The reservoir (covered) at Buckhurst holds 100,000 gallons, and thus a continuous
supply, day and night, will be afforded. To test the supply, the engine has been
pumping, at the rate of 10,000 gallons per hour, day and night for three or four days;
and the lowest to which the water level has been reduced below the surface by this
severe test was 50 feet; while, should any emergency require it, the company can
pump another 350 feet below this level. There are facilities for doubling both the
pumping power and the storage accommodation at Buckhurst.
An 8-inch main has been laid from the pumping-station to the reservoir, and from
Buckhurst to the centre of the town, the various streets being supplied by 6-inch, 4-
inch, and smaller mains. The pipes have also been taken to Bracknell and Binfield;
and the district over which the company has powers also includes Broadmoor,
Wellington College, and York Town. We understand that the governors of Wellington
College, the Royal Military College, and of Broadmoor, have asked on what terms
water can be supplied to those institutions; and a considerable number of consumers
have already had the water laid on.
The works, which are very satisfactory, have been carried out by Mr. T.M. Quill,
C.E., of Hammersmith, the engineer being Mr. J.W. Grover, C.E., of Westminster.
The total outlay up to the present has been between £12,000 and £13,000, and the
capital of the company, £20,000 (of which about £14,000 has already been
subscribed) allows plenty of margin to extend the works as may be found necessary.
A large company assembled on Tuesday at one o’clock, at the pumping station, and
viewed the engine and pumps at work, and a fountain jet showing the pressure from
the reservoir; and also inspected a section of the well, with illustrations of fossils
found in the sinking, and a plan of the district within the company’s powers. At a
quarter past one a jet of water about 100 feet in height was raised from an hydrant at
the railway station; and at 1.30 members of the Volunteer Fire Brigade took hose up

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