company industry water supply founded 16 july 1846 headquarters bristol england area served 2 600 km2 1 000 sq mi of south west england products drinking water production output 0.257 gl day drinking revenue 112.3 million 2012 13 105.3 million 2011 12 parent capstone infrastructure website bristol water.co.uk bristol water supplies 257 million litres of drinking water daily to over 1 million customers in a 2 600 km2 1 000 sq mi area centred on bristol england . it is regulated under the water industry act 1991 . sewerage services in the bristol area are provided by wessex water . approximately half the water is taken from the mendip hills particularly chew valley lake blagdon lake cheddar reservoir and barrow gurney reservoirs with the other half is piped from the river severn via the gloucester and sharpness canal . there are 6 382 km 3 966 mi of local water mains . 1 2 contents 1 history 2 archives 3 references 4 external links history edit the company was formerly known as bristol waterworks company which was formed on 16 july 1846 by an act of parliament . 3 4 the first general meeting was held in the white lion hotel on broad street . 5 members of the first committee included william budd a physician who helped control cholera outbreaks in bristol and francis fry of the fry family . 5 women were first employed at bristol waterworks during the first world war . 5 by april 1942 female staff had entirely replaced men on night telephone duty . 6 on 28 july 1939 the company began construction on the chew valley lake scheme as a reservoir for the city . it was the largest and most expensive project in the company s history . the first sod was cut on 10 july 1946 . queen elizabeth ii inaugurated chew valley lake on 17 april 1956 accompanied by the duke of edinburgh . 6 on 24 november 1941 the bristol blitz caused 95 fractured water mains in the city but by 28 november the water system in the city was restored to normal . 6 between 1952 and 1963 the company increased the total supply area from 123 square miles to 929 square miles to include portishead long ashton clevedon axbridge shepton mallet glastonbury west gloucestershire water company clutton weston super mare tetbury frome somerset burnham on sea and bathavon rural district . 6 the severe winter of 1962 caused 668 burst mains across the company s supply area in 76 days . water had to be carted through the streets of bristol to try and meet demand . in april 1963 a reception at the council house thanked staff contractors drivers and volunteers who had helped . 6 on 5 october 2011 a subsidiary of capstone infrastructure corporation acquired a 70 % interest in bristol water from grupo agbar who retained a 30 % interest in the company . on 10 may 2012 a subsidiary of itochu corporation acquired a 20 % indirect interest in bristol water . today bristol water is owned by capstone infrastructure corporation 50 % grupo agbar 30 % and itochu corporation 20 % and is a plc with company number 02662226 . 7 archives edit records of bristol waterworks company and bristol water are held at bristol record office ref . 40619 online catalogue . further records are held at the the national archives united kingdom 8 references edit water suppliers . u switch . retrieved 14 november 2015 . cheddar reservoir two . bristol water . retrieved 14 november 2015 . hodgson alan 1991 . the story of the bristol waterworks company 1939 1991 . our history . bristol water . retrieved 14 november 2015 . a b c jones frederick c the bristol waterworks company 1846 1946 3rd edition st stephen s bristol press ltd 1993 a b c d e hodgson a the story of bristol waterworks company 1939 1991 1991 uk companies house the national archives discovery catalogue page bristol waterworks co . retrieved 12 april 2016 . external links edit official website v t e bristol reservoirs the reservoirs chew valley lake blagdon lake cheddar reservoir barrow gurney reservoirs litton reservoirs chew magna reservoir related topics bristol water v t e united kingdom water industry water and sewerage companies in england anglian water northumbrian water severn trent water southern water south west water thames water united utilities wessex water yorkshire water water only companies in england affinity water albion water bournemouth water bristol water cambridge water company cholderton and district water company essex and suffolk water hartlepool water portsmouth water south east water south staffordshire water sutton and east surrey water scotland scottish water government northern ireland northern ireland water government wales dee valley water welsh water not for profit crown dependencies jersey water guernsey water isle of man water and sewerage authority english regulators consumer council for water drinking water inspectorate environment agency water services regulation authority ofwat this article about an english company is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title bristol water & oldid 733826024 categories companies based in bristolcompanies established in 1846water companies of england1846 establishments in englandenglish company stubshidden categories all stub articles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 august 2016 at 10 24 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and 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