Mains Water Supply

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Water Tower at Green Hailey

Also click Water to choose from 10 articles telling the full story of how mains water was brought up to the hills, recollections of living here before mains water got here and the uproar when Fleet Street sentenced Lacey Green to death.

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Research and drawing of Green Hailey Water Tower by Miles Marshall

Green Hailey Water Tower built by Bucks Water Board to replace Mr Wurger's iron one. Sketch by Miles Marshall

RURAL DISTRICTS WATER COMPANY It was sometime in the 1920’s that a German water engineer named Wurger founded the “Rural Districts Water Company”, based in Monks Risborough, to supply the district with spring water.   Many cast iron valve covers in Lacey Green are still marked RDWC, but on a manhole cover by the hydrant outside Pond Cottage in Main Road I was delighted to find the name spelled out in full.

FROM THE SPRING TO THE TOP OF THE HILL In those days the water taken from the spring was not actually pumped but forced alternately from two large cylinders by compressed air.   Later he sunk a borehole to augment the supply and built his first reservoir tank near Whiteleaf Golf Club.   He then built another iron tank on legs at the top of Whiteleaf Hill, on the present site of the Green Hailey Water Tower.   A concrete tower of rather more comely proportions was built to replace Mr Wurger’s iron one, by the Bucks Water Board.

THE RESIDENT ENGINEER The RDWC employed as its resident engineer, a man by the name of Hain, who was working on the Chequers Estate before Lord Lee gave it to the nation.   Happily I have been able to contact Mr. Hain’s son who, still living in the district, was born at Chequers, brought up in his father’s bungalow at the waterworks and very kindly filled in for me many threatening blanks in my story. Mr Hain retired in 1952, about the time the Bucks Water Board took over

THE MAINS EXTENDED The Green Hailey Tank enabled the RDWC to extend their mains to Redland End and then along to The Pink and Lily, down to Lily Bottom Lane and then from the inn, along Pink Road to Lacey Green village.   This was 1934.   Dick West very kindly looked up his old ledger for me and it was completed by Christmas to Stocken Farm.   His water rate then was two pounds for the half year.

THE CONTRACTORS Naturally all this took time; the mains were laid by a firm called Davis of Amersham who, I am told, did a very good job, but were bankrupted by the exercise so that another contractor had to called in to finish the work.   Newitts of Risborough did a lot of work on joining individual services to the mains.    Eventually they were run to Speen and Hampden Bottom, where another borehole and pumping station were established.

HOUSES HAD TO BE JOINED TO THE MAIN Naturally all this took time; the mains were laid by a firm called Davis of Amersham who, I am told, did a very good job, but were bankrupted by the exercise so that another contractor had to called in to finish the work.   Newitts of Risborough did a lot of work on joining individual services to the mains.   Eventually they were run to Speen and Hampden Bottom, where another borehole and pumping station were established.

MY STORY UP TO DATE

To bring my story up to date, I called by appointment at the Aylesbury offices of Thames Water.   I was most courteously received by Mr M.G. Ingham the Operations Engineer who willingly explained to me the changes that had taken place since and the basis of the present supply.   Mr. P. J. Crowe, the Area Manager, subsequently read through my first draft story and has been most helpful in clarifying many points in the later history.

THE WATER WORKERS’ STRIKE

Just how fortunate we are up here to have this indigenous supply of pure water from the Chiltern chalk hills was brought home to us during the water workers strike when, thanks to the valiant efforts of the Thames Water technical staff, the pressure and quality of the water was maintained in the village.

(Information Added Later) 10th JULY 1963 Land Purchased Extract from Deeds lent to Joan West

10th July 1963. Conveyance. The Bucks Water Board purchased from George Parker Jervis, Gordon Hope-Morley & Roger Parker Jervis (Hampden Estates) a piece of land, part of O.S. No. in the parish of Princes Risborough, and having an area of 6.42 acres.

NOTE This land lay to the east of Brimmers Road just before forking uphill towards Parslows Hillock ( The Holloway). There the Bucks Water Board constructed a reservoir. When completed the top soil was replaced so that all that can be seen is a grassy bank.

REORGANISED AUTHORITIES

In 1974 the water, sewage and river management services were all reorganised into 10 large regional authorities, whose boundaries were based on large river catchment basins  

By this time, the Bucks Water Board extended from Milton Keynes in the north to Marlow and High Wycombe in the south.   Large trunk mains called the Mid Bucks mains had been laid from the borehole sources near the Thames in the south to supply the fast expanding towns of Aylesbury and Milton Keynes.   Unfortunately for Bucks Water Board its territory lay half in the Thames area and half in the Great Ouse basin, so when in 1974 the Government did not know quite what to do with it, it was all given to the Anglian Water Authority, and then in 1976 it was split, so the bottom half, including Aylesbury, became part of Vales Division of Thames Water.

In 1982 the Lacey Green/Speen system became part of the Aylesbury Area of the new Western Division of Thames Water.   The southern borehole sources, however, stayed in the new Northern Division, which gives a large bulk supply to both Western Division and the Anglian Water Authority.

INADEQUATE SUPPLY

The 30 – 50 year old mains are now no longer able to supply all the needs of the villages.   This is particularly noticeable when people want to use their hosepipes.   A hosepipe or sprinkler left running for 3 hours can use over three times as much water as the average household uses in a day.   So it does not need many hosepipes in use to more than double the usual demand.   This is more than the mains can supply, so people in high locations, or are furthest away from supply input like Green Hailey Tower or Hampden borehole, get low pressure or no water at all.

LOCAL WATER SOURCE

The Green Hailey/Speen/Lacey Green Zone is supplied from the north by the Green Hailey Tower, fed from the Mid Bucks mains, and from Hampden Bottom borehole in the south east.

LEAKING PIPES

The old mains laid in the late 40’s and early 50’s were largely made of steel with thin bitumen lining.   These were cheap and available at the time, but have not proved a good ‘buy’.   The clay soils are highly corrosive, and many pinhole corrosion leaks occur.  These led to high levels of wastage, and a high cost of maintenance.   They will eventually be replaced by pipes made of non-corrosive material, such as asbestos cement, polythene or glass fibre reinforced plastic.

A TEMPORARY BOOST

In order to try to improve the supply to the zone during peak demand periods, a temporary booster pump was installed 3 years ago at Woodway, near Wardrobes Farm.   This required a mobile diesel alternator to drive it, with a man in attendance, but this was a cheaper temporary solution than paying several thousand pounds for a permanent electricity supply.

A PERMANENT BOOST

Further detailed studies using a computer have shown that for the next few years at any rate, a new permanent booster at Woodway Hill, near the temporary one, is a cheaper and more effective way of increasing supplies than by laying new mains.   The computer study also showed where air locks were occurring in the mains, and new valves put in last year have led to much improved supplies to the Lacey Green area.

Mr. Crowe told me that the new booster pumps are on order, and the new installation should be complete by June this year.

1983. LACEY GREEN RESERVOIR BUILT To read the full story click 1983 Lacey Green Reservoir.

THANKS

It only remains for me to thank Mr. Crowe and Mr. Ingham for their willingly given and vital assistance, and also to thank the many local people without whose memories I could never have pieced together the early history of our water supply.   I had much help from Messrs. Harry Floyd, Jack Newitt, Ted Thompson, Harold Weller, Dick West and in particular Eric Hain, whose first-hand knowledge of his father’s part of the story has been invaluable.