A Thomas Annan photograph of members of the Corporation Water Works Office's Water Committee on an inspection tour of the Loch Katrine Reservoir, 1876. The members were photographed at the inlet to the aqueduct which carries water over 34 miles from the reservoir to Glasgow.
There had been prolonged investigations into the provision of a public water supply for Glasgow from 1834, as the water supplied from the River Clyde by private water companies was increasingly tainted by pollution and areas of the city lying on high ground were unable to obtain a supply. In 1855 an Act of Parliament approved a project to build a pipeline to carry water from Loch Katrine in the Trossachs to the city.
The first Water Committee was appointed in July 1855 to oversee the project, which was entrusted to the civil engineer Frederick Bateman. The new water supply was inaugurated by Queen Victoria on 14 October 1859 and the aqueduct carried up to 50 million gallons of fresh water to the city each day after the works were extended in 1885.
Reference: Glasgow City Archives, Water Department
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
aqueducts, civil engineers, councillors, inlets, inspections, Loch Katrine, pipelines, public water supply, reservoirs, Water Committee, Water Works Office
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