East London Waterworks Company

3. c. viii) the company acquired existing waterworks at Shadwell (dating from 1660) Lea Bridge (pre 1767) and West Ham (1743).

The Hackney Water Works Company was established in around 1760 at Lea Bridge Mills.

4. c. cxvii) The water supplied by the company was taken from the Lea, with waterworks on 30 acres (0.12 km2) of land at Old Ford.

In 1829, the source of water was moved further up river to Lea Bridge as a result of pollution caused by population growth.

[4] In 1845 the limits of supply were described as "all those portions of the Metropolis, and its suburbs, which lie to the east of the city, Shoreditch, the Kingsland Road, and Dalston; extending their mains even across the river Lea into Essex, as far as West Ham.

"[3] In 1866, during a cholera pandemic outbreak, where 5,973 Londoners perished, the East London Water Company was found guilty of supplying contaminated water taken from River Lea and stored into open reservoirs.