Little-Known London: Killer Water Pumps

To combat the plastic bottle plague, scientists and environmental groups are urging Sadiq Khan to install water fountains and pumps throughout the city. It’s a great idea that saves pennies, plastic and people but there was a time when London’s water pumps distributed death with the drinking water.

Soho’s Sewer

Thames Water didn’t always have such a monopoly on our water supply. In the 19th Century there were several companies competing to operate pumps around the city. These water pumps were a vital lifeline to the fast-growing number of Londoners; the city’s population more than doubled between 1800-1850.

Soho in particular saw a huge influx of domestic and foreign immigrants and steadily became a focus of crime and poverty. St. Giles was one of the poorest slums in the entire capital and needless to say, it was filthy. The pump serving this growing multitude of Soho residents was on Broad Street.

Apart from the rubbish produced by so many people living in such close quarters, London’s sewer system had yet to reach Soho. Human and animal excrement, food waste and slaughterhouse run-off filled the gutters and ran under cellar floorboards. As the problem worsened and spilled over into other areas, the Government decided to take the waste to the Thames.

Unfortunately the public fountains took water directly from the river, which was already horrifically contaminated. As Londoners drew up water from the pumps for washing, cooking and drinking, they unknowingly brought up a whole lot more than they wanted.

Cholera Conundrum

It seems so obvious now but the causes of illnesses like cholera were a mystery in the 1800s. People generally believed the disease came from breathing bad air. No one but scientist John Snow thought to connect the waste in their water to the mass deaths from cholera.

Outbreaks gripped the city in the mid-1800s. More than 14,100 Londoners died in 1849 alone but it wasn’t until the Broad Street cholera outbreak that John Snow was able to verify his theory that the disease was waterborne. He had charted the location of previous outbreaks and noticed a connection with water companies that pumped directly from the river.

In 1854 Soho was hit by what Snow described as the worst cholera outbreak the UK had ever seen. In just 10 days 500 people died and the toll eventually reached 616. Snow’s research showed that there was a direct correlation between the number of deaths and the distance from the Broad Street pump. He petitioned for the pump handle to be removed and the deaths slowed, then stopped.

An investigation of the pump found that it had been dug less than a metre from a cesspit which leaked cholera-infected faeces directly into the pump’s water supply. Snow’s research was revolutionary and paved the way for disease prevention across the world. The location has been renamed Broadwick Street and it has a red granite stone where the pump used to stand, commemorating Snow’s work and the people who perished.

Tasty Minerals

Sadly that wasn’t the only pump with a perilous history. While Soho’s citizens paid their pump no heed, Aldgate residents were mightily proud of theirs (left): it was said to be rich in calcium and minerals. Turns out this was entirely true but not to East London’s benefit.

People began to complain about the water in 1876. Not only did it taste “funny” but there were strange chunky deposits in it too. Investigations revealed that the stream feeding the pump ran under North London’s cemeteries before making its way to East London’s kitchens and washrooms. The wonderfully high levels of calcium were in fact caused by bone matter. The chunks? Bits of human flesh and remains. Delish.

 

by Jo Davey

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