The Newcommen Society - The Mercenary River

Today we take water for granted. Turn a tap and the stuff gushes out. But for centuries London struggled to supply its citizens with reliable, clean drinking water.

Nick Higham tells the story of London’s water from the Tudor era to the 20th century. It’s a tale of remarkable technological, scientific and organisational breakthroughs, but also one of greed and complacency, high finance and low politics. London’s 19th century water companies operated a cartel which worked in their interests, not their customers’. The water they supplied was overpriced, deficient in quantity and frequently filthy – described by one scientist as “diluted sewage”. It took the best part of a century of campaigning to bring the water companies to heel.