On Fri, 1 Jan 2010 10:13:23 -0000, "John"
wrote:



You're right. Most of it comes from Thirlmere (Cumbria) via a 96-mile
pipeline. Most or all of the rest is from the Longdendale Valley in
the Peak District National Park, including Woodhead reservoir.


Some amazing engineering feats were done in order to provide water many
years ago.


Absolutely. And those Victorian feats are often still very visible.

The important reason for cities obtaining water from remote rural
sources was that local boreholes tended to be contaminated by sewage,
causing no end of public health problems. Clean water supply and
proper disposal and/or treatment of sewage helped make great advances
in the state of Britain's public health in Victorian times.

One of the greatest achievements of all was Bazalgette's mammoth
sewerage scheme in London, but the schemes to pipe clean water over
long distances to Britain's industrial cities rank not far behind.