London's water supply infrastructure has developed over the centuries in line with the expansion of London. Beginning in the 16th century, private companies supplied fresh water to parts of London from wells and the River Thames. The New River Company pioneered the commercial supply of drinking water, extracting from the River Lea and distributing to customers' homes. Further demand prompted new sources, particularly when the Agricultural and Industrial Revolution caused a boom in London's population and industry. A crisis point was reached in the mid 19th century with the discovery that cholera arose from the extraction of water from the increasingly polluted Thames. The Metropolis Water Act 1852 banned this practice, allowing water companies three years to find other sources, but issues with contaminated water persisted. In 1904, London's water suppliers were taken into municipal ownership as the Metropolitan Water Board, which substantially upgraded the water infrastructure, building many new reservoirs. Ownership subsequently passed to the Thames Water Authority, before being re-privatised in the 1980s. Today, the population of Greater London is supplied by four private companies: Thames Water (76% of population), Affinity Water (14%), Essex and Suffolk Water (6.6%) and SES Water (3.7%). The London area is classified as "seriously water stressed", receiving less rain than Rome, Dallas, or Sydney, and continued investment will be required to counteract the effects of climate change and a growing population in the 21st century. Most of London's water is now supplied from five large water treatment works fed from the Thames and Lea, and to a lesser extent from aquifers and a desalination plant at Beckton. As of 2020, Thames Water's London zone, which serves the majority of London's water users, has the capacity to supply 2.3 gigalitres (510 million imperial gallons) of water per day.
Early London water supply
Through to the late 16th century, London citizens turned to the tidal Thames for much of their non-drinking water. For drinking, due to the brackish and perceptibly poor taste of the Thames, they tended to rely on wells and tributaries rising in around a dozen natural springs on the north side of the Thames, restricting the city's expansion south of the river. In 1247 work began on the Great Conduit from the spring at Tyburn. This was a lead pipe which led via Charing Cross, Strand, Fleet Street and Ludgate to a large cistern or tank in Cheapside. The city authorities appointed "keepers of the conduits" who controlled access so that users such as brewers, cooks and fishmongers would pay for the water they used. Wealthy Londoners living near the conduits could obtain permission for a connection to their homes, but this did not prevent their unauthorised tapping. Otherwise – particularly for homes which could not take a gravity feed – water from the conduits was taken to homes by water carriers, often called cobs, a term seen as dated by the 18th century. Records of frequent drownings prove many poorer citizens needed or desired water from the Thames and the larger tributaries; quite large quantities were needed for iron-smithery, cooking and brewing for instance. The Great Conduit system was extended over time, and in the 15th century sources were increased, firstly by a conduit from Westbourne springs at Paddington, and secondly by another from the upper Fleet at Highgate which supplied Cripplegate.
Sixteenth century In 1582, Dutchman Peter Morice, supported by the City of London, developed one of the first pumped water supply systems for the city, powered by undershot waterwheels housed in the northernmost arches of London Bridge, which eventually came to be known as the London Bridge Waterworks. A series of pipes and cisterns distributed the water across the city. The supply from the waterwheels was not constant, so the water mains were switched on periodically, on a weekly schedule. Around 1593, another pumping station was built, again with the backing of the city, at Broken Wharf on Upper Thames Street by Bevis Bulmer. Powered by four horses, the Broken Wharf Waterworks supplied Cheapside and a number of private households. While not a financial success, the waterworks continued to operate as a small independent company until it was purchased by the London Bridge Waterworks in the early 18th century.
Seventeenth century
The New River
The early seventeenth century brought the construction of the New River, a 42-mile (68 km) artificial waterway which still carries water into London from Hertford, where it is fed from the River Lea and several nearby springs. Initially proposed in 1602 by Edmund Colthurst, who had obtained a patent from King James I granting him the water rights, approximately 3 miles (5 km) of channel were dug before the project ran into financial difficulties. In 1606, the City of London petitioned Parliament, which passed a series of acts overriding Colthurst's patent and transferred the water rights to Hugh Myddelton, who helped fund the project. Construction of the New River resumed in 1609 and it was officially opened in 1613. The New River cost Myddelton a lot of money, but in 1612 he was successful in securing investment and assistance from the king. At completion, the New River had cost around £19,000 (equivalent to £4.06 million in 2025), and by 1620, the total expenses for the first fifteen years had reached £32,000 (equivalent to £7.97 million in 2025). The New River Company, incorporated in 1619 as one of England's first joint-stock companies, took over the New River and became an important force in London's water supply until the company was absorbed by the Metropolitan Water Board nearly 300 years later.
The Great Fire The construction of much of London's current water distribution infrastructure dates to after the Great Fire of London in 1666, which destroyed much of the city's previous wooden and lead water piping. The London Bridge Waterworks machinery was largely destroyed, but replacements engineered by Peter Morice's grandson remained under the bridge until the early 19th century, before the New London Bridge was erected in the 1830s.
New companies In the second half of the century, several new water works were established:
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