1^ 



The Water Supply of Bournemouth. 



By W. Temple Gardner, Esq. 



(Read 6ih February ^ 1909). 



Before the year 1864 all the water used for drinking, domestic 

 and trade purposes in Bournemouth, was obtained from shallow 

 wells and springs, so that every consumer provided his own supply. 



In 1864 the Bournemouth Gas and Water Company came into 

 existence, and their first supply of water was derived from the little 

 river Bourne, which gives its name to the town. The water was 

 filtered at the Bourne Valley Works of the company, pumped to a 

 reservoir on adjacent high ground, and gravitated to the town. Th6 

 daily consumption of water in Bournemouth at this time was 

 between forty and fifty thousand gallons, compared with the present 

 supply which is about two million gallons. This method of pro- 

 cedure soon proved insufficient to cope with the demand due to the 

 growth of Bournemouth, and furthermore the water was of uncertain 

 character. Ihe company consequently decided to obtain another 

 supply, and ultimately settled that the most suitable source was to 

 be found in the gravel beds of the Valley of the Stour, near the 

 small village of Longham. Operations were commenced at 

 Longham in 1886, but ten years later (1896) the company obtained 

 powers to again extend their source of supply in order to safeguard 

 the town for all time. At present the town is supplied from two 

 sources — the gravel beds at Longham and a large, deep well near 

 W^imborne. At one time, besides these, a supply was obtained from 

 a well at Southbourne, but this has been purchased by another 

 company. The Wimborne supply is the more important as it is 

 from thiere that the greater quantity of water is obtained and 

 softened. The well, which is sunk in a natural basin formed by the 

 chalk hills, has a depth of 207 feet and extends for about luo feet 

 into the chalk. At the depths of 155 feet and 195 feet respectively, 

 headings or tunnels, six feet in height and four feet in width, extend 

 horizontally 480 feet along the chalk, and serve as feeders to the 

 well. The average diameter of the well is ten feet, and for a depth 

 of 165 feet it is enclosed in an iron casing very similar in con- 

 struction to the Tube railways in London, except that in the case of 

 the well the position is vertical instead of horizontal. Below the 

 iron tube the chalk is so firm as not to necessitate any strengthening 

 to the walls of the bore-hole. The capacity of the well provides at 

 least four million gallons per day. 



The water is brought to the surface by two sets of double-acting 

 pumps, which are situated at the lower end of the well. The 

 engines at the top which work the pumps, transmit the power by 

 means of steel rods enclosed in two steel tubes extending from top 

 to bottom. The compound condensing type of engine is used, and 

 each has an indicated horse power of no. When the water reaches 



