Page 12 - COBH EDITION 20th DECEMBER DIGITAIL VERSION

Cobh Waterworks from the 1850s to the Present - Jim Shealy

Incredible to imagine now, but the contentious issue of drinking water, just as it is
today and its supply to the town of Cobh was a subject of great debate in the sec-
ond half of the 20th. Century.

So controversial was this issue that it took an ‘Act’, The Queenstown Waterworks Act
of 1882 in the British House of Parliament, to regulate on the process of the supply
of water to the town and to have this development transferred from a private com-
pany, The Queenstown Waterworks Company, into public ownership The Town Com-
missioners of Queenstown. The purpose of the act was to authorise the town com-
missioners to purchase the private company and take responsibility for the provision
of water to the town and its hinterland. The Queenstown Waterworks Company had
been in operation at this time for over 35 years.

Prior to this company being set up, water was sourced entirely from wells. Smalls
Well which was situated near the present day car park at the top of West View was
the primary supplier of water, producing up to 30,000 gallons a day all year round.
Other wells in use were at Ticknock and at Ballynoe near Rushbrooke.
This transfer of ownership did not of course go smoothly. It took further clarification
at a court of Arbitration in London in 1883 before The Town Commissioners could
finally establish themselves as the supplier of this service. It set about bringing
clean water to the inhabitants of the town, the ships in the harbour and the newly
constructed naval dockyard at Haulbowline.
Prior to the 1880s water was supplied to the town, from a storage area near the
present junction of Ballywilliam and the Tea Road. The town at this time had ap-
proximately 550 houses, connected to the supply. These storage tanks can be seen
on historical maps and were fed from the streams running down the inclines from
Ballyleary and Ballywilliam into the Scouncel (Ballyleary Stream).

This facility gave cause for concern to the health of the users and was responsible
in bringing the matter to a head and enforcing the legislation. The water at Bally-
william was filtered through a very basic filter system before being pumped to the
higher ground and onwards to storage reservoirs in Carrignafoy, Spy Hill and the Old
Street.

In 1888 Doctor Dowling of the Queenstown Sanitary Dispensary presented a report
to the Town Commissioners. He outlined the serious issue of pollution to the water,
which in his opinion was responsible for a lot of ill health in the town. The pollution
was mainly from leakage from a slaughterhouse at Castleoliver, manure heaps at
Ticknock and a cess pit and pig slurry seeping into the source from a nearby stream.
The townspeople demanded urgent action from the Commissioners.
Arising out of Doctor Dowlings report the County Surveyor Mr Kirby gave a report to
the Town Commissioners in which he outlined his proposal on a more secure supply
for the town. This new proposal would be by a gravitation scheme and would source
water at Tibbotstown, north of Carrigtwohill and over 13 miles from the reservoir at
Carrignafoy. The topography of Tibbotstown was deemed to be 100 feet higher than
Carrignafoy.