Nottingham is located on top of a huge layer of Bunter sandstone, and Hawksley masterminded plans to extract filtered water from this aquifer.

Takeover eventually happened in 1880, when the Nottingham Corporation Water Department was created, and Tarbotton commissioned the building of Papplewick Pumping Station, which was completed in 1884.

The Corporation co-operated with Derby, Leicester, Sheffield and Derbyshire County, to create the Derwent Valley Water Board in 1899.

Prior to 1696, water for the people of Nottingham was obtained from the river or from shallow wells, and carriers, known as Higglers, delivered it to those who wanted it.

The River Leen could no longer provide sufficient water to meet the need, and it also became polluted with sewage and industrial waste.

The wells were 230 feet (70 m) deep, from which water was pumped by steam engines, which also powered some lace making machines and saws to cut marble.

Hawksley had been born and educated in Nottingham, and at the age of 15 had started an apprenticeship with Edward Staveley, who ran an architectural practice and was Borough Surveyor.

He constructed brick tunnels in the beds of sand and gravel on the north side of the River Trent, which filtered the water before it was collected in a rectangular reservoir.

From there it was pumped by a single cylinder beam engine through an 18-inch (46 cm) cast iron pipe to a service reservoir at Park Row.

[7] Much of the country was affected by outbreaks of cholera in 1832, at which point the Trent Waterworks Company was supplying water to some 15,000 people, out of a total population of around 53,000.

The town's Sanitary Committee were convinced that a major factor was the availability of a clean, filtered water supply,[7] although the mechanism by which water-borne diseases such as cholera were transmitted was not clearly understood at that time.

[3] Writing in 1935, J. Holland Walker reported: At the northern end of Trent Bridge, about on the site now occupied by the Town Arms Hotel, stood the old water works of Nottingham, which were such a charming feature of the landscape forty or fifty years ago, but which have now completely disappeared.

The reservoir is a hundred and thirty feet above the Trent, and in 1850 the water distributed from it through about twelve miles of pipe to the neighbouring districts.

The water companies had been in open competition for more than a decade, with no legal boundaries to define which areas each could supply, but to meet the challenges of the enlarging city, the Nottingham Waterworks Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict.

[11] Nottingham sits on top of a huge area of Bunter sandstone, which holds large volumes of groundwater, which is prevented from seeping lower by an underlying layer of impermeable Permian marls.

There were two wells which were around 110 feet (34 m) deep, and each was pumped by a 60 hp (45 kW) compound beam engine manufactured by R and W Hawthorn of Newcastle upon Tyne.

6 acres (2.4 ha) of land were leased from the Duke of St Albans in Bestwood Park, and two wells each 176 feet (54 m) deep were sunk into the Bunter sandstone.

Two 125 hp (93 kW) rotative beam engines were supplied by J. Witham and Sons of Leeds, and the water was pumped to a new reservoir at Redhill.

As a result of subsidence from coal mining, the pumping station is now about 4 feet (1.2 m) lower than when it was built, but the settlement has taken place gradually, and has not disrupted the operation of the works.

Manchester was quoted as a town where such a takeover had significantly reduced the cost of water, and operating surpluses were being used to fund public works.

He faced rather more pressing problems, particularly the disposal of sewage, and issues with the infrastructure resulting from the overcrowding that had occurred before the St. Mary's Nottingham Inclosure Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict.

This was completed on 25 March 1880 with the formation of the Nottingham Corporation Water Department, during a period when the town experienced rapid growth.

The tour began at the public offices in Albert Street from where the large party rode to Trent Bridge in private trams supplied by the Nottingham and District Tramways Company Limited.

He set about improving the available supplies of water, constructing two wells at Papplewick, some 8 miles (13 km) to the north of Nottingham.

[3] Tarbotton, who had overseen its construction, died unexpectedly on 6 March 1887, though his colleagues stated that he had worked too hard, without adequate rest and recreation, and had shown signs of stress during his final two years.

[16] A report on 1898 identified the need for another pumping station, and a site at Boughton, 19 miles (31 km) north of the town centre was chosen.

Boreholes were then drilled from the adits to a depth of 350 feet (110 m), and water was raised by ram pumps powered by triple expansion steam engines.

[7] In 1967 a new reservoir and treatment works was built at Church Wilne, extracting up to 6 million imperial gallons (27 Ml) per day from the River Derwent.

In 1984, before filling of the reservoir began, there was a major structural failure of the dam, which had to be removed and rebuilt, delaying completion until 1992, when Queen Elizabeth formally opened it.

[21] A deed from 1878 states that John Elliot Burnside leased the farm to the Mayor, Alderman and Burgesses of the Borough of Nottingham for a period of 60 years, at an annual rent of £135,[22] but the estate at Stoke Bardolph was subsequently purchased.