Rivington Waterworks
Waterworks built to supply Liverpool
1869 'THE SUPPLY OF WATER TO LIVERPOOL. THE HILTON HOUSE TUNNEL, BLACKROD.
At the meeeting of the Liverpool Water Committee, on Monday, the Chairman said a report had been prepared by Mr. Councillor William Wlliams, on the supply of water from Rivington through the Hilton House tunnel. It was a very interesting document, and would bear perusal; and the course he (the chairman) suggested the committee should adept with regard to it was this — that the report should now be read, and that a special meeting would be held next Monday to consider it. The report, from which the following is an extract, was then read:- In the execution of the works for conveying the water from the Rivington reservoirs to Liverpool, it was considered expedient as a matter of economy to make a tunnel at a distance of two miles from the reservoir, through the high ground at Hilton House, about 1,470 yards in length. About two or three years since the attention of the water committee was directed to fractures in this tunnel from settlement of the ground, caused by partial working of the coal measures underneath. Serious apprehensions were entertained that the farther working of these coal measures would be to endanger the stability of the tunnel by farther subsidence and fracture, whereby the water might not only escape but cause a risk of flooding the mines. The late Mr. Duncan, the water engineer, was therefore instructed to devise a scheme for the remedy or prevention of these evils, which he accordingly prepared and submitted to the committee. They had two alternative proposals — the first being to construct an entirely new tunnel, parallel to the present one, but of larger dimensions, wherein was to be laid a line of 44-inch pipes; the second was to lay the pipes at the bottom of an open cutting along the same course. The latter scheme was the one finally recommended by the engineer, on account of the greater cost of the other, and it was subsequently adopted by the committee and the council. The engineers' estimate for these works amounted to nearly £40,000, exclusive of compensation to coalowners, and it was considered by the committee that the ultimate coat would certainly not be less than £50,000. It now appears that this was not at all over estimated, as there are no less than four lines of colliery tramways crossing the site of the proposed open cutting. Upon my examination of the plans and details of the proposed scheme, it struck me very strongly that it might possible to avoid this great outlay by continuing to utilise the existing tunnel, and a statement to that effect was made by me in committee at the time — viz, by placing a line of pipes in the tunnel. Having devoted much consideration to the matter, I found this apparently impracticable on account of the difficulty of joining pipes in so confined a space. Certainly a rigid line of pipes with joints turned and bored might have been laid; but, owing to the uncertainty the ground, this would have been unsafe, and subject to the same evil results as the tunnel itself. This difficulty turned my attention to the oonsideration of some means of improving the joint, and I was thus led to the invention of a simple and flexible joint, which I brought before the notice of the water committee, and they immediately passed a resolution authorising me to have a model made at the expense of the corporation, which I did on a small scale. The result of tests applied to that model gave the committee satisfaction; but it was considered by practical engineers that in a matter of such importance, and involving interests of such magnitude, it would be safer to be guided by the results of experiments made upon the largest size of pipes in use by the corporation, and the matter was again submitted to the committee, who showed themselves anxious to have the most practical test, that they passed a resolution authorising me to have five 12-foot lengths of 44-inch pips prepared and fitted up with the new joint. The order was therefore given to D. Y. Stewart and Co., Glasgow, to execute the same, which they have done most satisfactorily. When supplied, the pipes were united in one length and subjected to test under the full head of pressure (52 lb. per inch) which could be had from the mains, and they still remain on view in the yard at the Municipal Offices. These practical experiments have been made in public on more than one occasion, and as a result it has been exclusively shown that a complete line of pipes so laid may be distorted, elevated, or depressed beyond anything that can possibly occur at Hilton House tunnel, or any other similar work, without destroying the joints, or leakage, fracture, or injury in any way. ....'[1]
By 1881 water was collected from about 10,000 acres of moorland, and stored in eight reservoirs containing 4268 million gallons[2]
1892 '.... The constant system of supply, introduced from Rivington, North Lancashire, in 1858, failed in 1865, not from inadequacy, but from a waste of water in transit through defective fittings which the Corporation did not possess statutory powers to abandon. A system, however, of waste-detection was inaugurated which, before the end of 1875, enabled a constant flow to be resumed, while, in the next succeeding years, the waste was still further diminished, but still allowed no margin for years of very alarming drought. It was, therefore, imperatively necessary to have an additional supply. Different schemes were proposed, and as early as 1871 Mr. Duncan, the then engineer, recommended Bala Lake. Lake Haweswater, in Cumberland, was also surveyed five years later by Mr. Deacon, who was also, perhaps, the first to bring forward the greater natural advantages of the Vyrnwy Valley, Montgomeryshire. An exhaustive survey was therefore made - the mean rainfall for a series of years was averaged, and found excessive. Geologically, also, the district was found distinctly favourable towards the formation of an immense artificial lake by damming the neck of the valley at its eastern end. The Corporation, therefore, sent separately to report on the Vyrnwy scheme two eminent civil engineers, Messrs. Bateman and Hawksley, and their verdict was so distinctly in favour of the North Wales site that, in 1879, Mr. Deacon was instructed to prepare the plans for Parliamentary powers to construct the present Lake Vyrnwy. ...'[3]