suffolk water type private industry water supply services parent northumbrian water group website www.eswater.co.uk essex and suffolk water is a water supply company in the united kingdom . it operates in two geographically distinct areas one serving parts of norfolk and suffolk and the other serving parts of essex and greater london . the total population served is 1.8 million . essex and suffolk is a water only supplier with sewerage services provided by anglian water and thames water within its areas of supply . it is part of the northumbrian water group . contents 1 history 1.1 southend waterworks company 1.2 south essex waterworks company 1.3 joint projects 1.4 suffolk water plc 1.5 essex and suffolk water 2 supply area 3 bibliography 4 references 5 external links history edit the south essex waterworks company and the southend waterworks company merged to form the essex water company in 1970 . in 1994 the essex water company merged with suffolk water company to form essex and suffolk water . since 2000 it has been part of northumbrian water but continues to trade under the essex and suffolk water name in the area . 1 company history of essex and suffolk water southend waterworks company 1865 1970 essex water 1970 1994 south essex waterworks company 1861 1970 essex & suffolk water from 1994 suffolk water plc 1991 1994 great yarmouth waterworks company 1853 1962 east anglian water company 1962 1991 lowestoft waterworks company 1948 1962 lowestoft water and gas company 1897 1948 lowestoft gas water and markets company 1853 1897 southend waterworks company edit the southend waterworks company had its origins in southend on sea in 1865 when a private undertaking constructed a well in milton road . a pumping station pumped the water to a reservoir on cambridge road . in 1871 the southend waterworks company limited was formed and bought the works . the company became a statutory undertaking in 1879 2 which restricted the amount of money they could borrow the profits they could retain and the dividend payable to shareholders 3 but gave them powers to lay pipes beneath public streets and on private land . by 1924 the company were supplying an area of 160 square miles 410 km2 bounded on the south by the river thames on the north by the river crouch and stretching westwards to the outskirts of shenfield . as the volume of water required increased additional wells were sunk until there were 36 wells or boreholes in operation . they penetrated a layer of london clay near the surface and continued into the sands of the lower london tertiary deposits below that but the yields obtained were generally poor and gradually diminished over time . in 1921 the company started to look at extracting water from rivers but failed to obtain parliamentary approval for a joint scheme with the south essex waterworks company to obtain water from the river stour on the border between essex and suffolk . they therefore developed a scheme to extract water from the river blackwater the river chelmer and its tributary the river ter . an act of parliament was obtained in august 1924 to enable construction of langford works to the west of maldon . 2 the project involved the construction of intakes on the chelmer and ter so that water from either or both could be fed into a concrete pipeline which was 33 inches 84 cm in diameter and 2.5 miles 4.0 km long . the water flowed by gravity along the pipeline to two sedimentation reservoirs each covering 10.1 acres 4.1 ha and capable of holding 30 million imperial gallons 140 ml . water from the blackwater intake at langford mill is pumped to the sedimentation reservoirs . from there the water flows by gravity to the langford pumping station . in order to maintain the quality of the water effluent discharged from the chelmsford sewage treatment works on the chelmer and the witham sewage treatment works on the blackwater was piped to new outfalls below the intakes . 2 when built the langford pumping station contained two triple expansion steam engines with room for a third which was fitted in 1931 . 4 there were used in pairs and each drove a low lift pump to transfer water to the treatment works and a high lift pump to take treated water and pump it along a 28 inch 71 cm cast iron pipe to southend . the pipe crossed below the river crouch at hullbridge where shafts were built on either side of the river and a tunnel was constructed between them . the water main is formed of twin steel tubes within the tunnel . the engines were normally worked in pairs and a pair could deliver 8 million imperial gallons 36 ml per day . in august 1927 water from the chelmer started to be used and between then and 1945 96 per cent of the water supplied by southend waterworks came from langford . the wells and boreholes were maintained to provide a backup supply when necessary . 2 in 1960 work began on replacing the steam engines at langford pumping station with semi automatic electric pumps . the project cost 260 000 and was formally inaugurated on 31 october 1963 when sir george chaplin the chairman of essex county council switched on the new pumps . in the late 1960s construction of a new treatment works next to the storage reservoirs began . the works cost 1.5 million and were opened on 30 june 1970 . they can produce 12 million imperial gallons 55 ml of treated water per day . earlier that year the essex water order act was passed by parliament and on 1 april southend waterworks company amalgamated with south essex waterworks company to become the essex water company . negotiations between maldon district council essex and suffolk water and other interested parties in 1996 resulted in the langford pumping station and its one remaining engine dating from 1931 becoming the fledgling museum of power . 4 south essex waterworks company edit the south essex waterworks company was formed in 1861 and supplied drinking water to an area of 103 square miles 270 km2 stretching from grays to east ham and from brentwood to the river thames . water was obtained from boreholes sunk into the chalk aquifer underlying the area but by the time of the first world war these supplies were not sufficient to meet the demand for water and so the company looked further afield . following the failure of the joint scheme with southend waterworks company they obtained an act of parliament in 1928 for a revised scheme which included a water treatment works at langham with an intake from the river stour . treated water was pumped from the works to tiptree works and was pumped from there to a reservoir at danbury . it then flowed by gravity to another storage reservoir at herongate and then into the distribution network . one condition of the act was that the company had to supply water to other local authorities which were outside their original supply area . 5 the 1930s style pump house at abberton reservoir although the langham works could supply 12 million imperial gallons 55 ml per day and came online in 1932 they estimated that they would still be facing a shortage by the end of the decade . the company obtained another act of parliament in 1935 for a second abstraction point on the stour . this was located at stratford st. mary about 1.5 miles 2.4 km downstream from the langham intake . a pumping station pumped up to 35 million imperial gallons 160 ml of water per day to the new abberton reservoir and a new treatment works was built at layer de la haye near its northern shore . treated water was pumped to tiptree where it was blended with water from langham . 5 the pipeline from stratford st. mary was 11 miles 18 km long while abberton reservoir covers an area of 1 210 acres 4.9 km2 and lies in the valley of the layer brook . when full it could hold 5 700 million imperial gallons 26 000 ml . layer treatment works could process 27 million imperial gallons 125 ml per day and the system was designed to store water from winter rainfall for use in the summer months . 6 construction of the reservoir began in march 1936 and continued until the start of the second world war in 1939 . to pass under the river colne shafts were constructed on either side of the river and a 12 foot 3.7 m diameter tunnel was excavated between the shafts . the miners worked in compressed air and twin pipes of 32 inch 81 cm diameter were run through the tunnel . the original pipeline consisted of bitumen lined steel tubes some 34 inches 86 cm and some 36 inches 91 cm in diameter . a second pipeline of 40 and 42 inch 102 and 107 cm diameter pipes was subsequently installed . 7 filling of the reservoir began in 1939 and was completed by the end of 1940 . 8 some minor commissioning work including the abberton pumping station was delayed until the end of hostilities . the project cost 500 000 . many of the construction workers came from durham and some stayed on to run the works including stanley aldridge who had been the engineer and became the general manager of the layer works . 9 joint projects edit the sluice on kirtling brook where water from the great ouse is discharged from the ely ouse to essex transfer scheme into the river stour system although the southend waterworks company and the south essex waterworks company did not formally unite until 1970 they co operated on two major projects prior to that date . these were the construction of hanningfield reservoir and the ely ouse to essex transfer scheme . the construction of hanningfield reservoir which was authorised by the hanningfield water act 1950 10 and began in 1951 was a joint venture between the two companies . it was built in the sandon valley to the north of wickford and covered the hamlet of peasdown . a 1.25 mile 2.01 km mass earth dam with a puddle clay core was built across the north east edge of the site and a new 9 mile 14 km pipeline was built from the langford pumping station to supply the reservoir . the main contractors for the project were w & c french and it took around 5 years to complete with the treatment works beginning production in august 1956 . the formal opening took place over a year later when henry brooke mp the minister of housing and local government performed the ceremony in september 1957 . the total cost of the project was 6 million and when full the reservoir can hold 5 736 million imperial gallons 26 075 ml . if supplies around 33 million imperial gallons 150 ml or treated water per day although the maximum throughput of the works is 49 million imperial gallons 225 ml per day . water levels fluctuate seasonally and during the winter months up to 53 million imperial gallons 240 ml per day are pumped into the reservoir via the langford pipeline . 11 in order to meet the rising demands for water faced by both companies the next major project was the ely ouse to essex transfer scheme . surplus water in the river great ouse which would otherwise flow into the sea was to be diverted via a series of channels tunnels and pipelines to augment supplies to the abberton and hanningfield reservoirs . at the northern end the cut off channel carries the headwaters of the river lark the river little ouse and the river wissey to the great ouse at denver sluice when those