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Sunday 31 March 2013

BBC News Water Week




In July 2002 the BBC News broadcast a series of programmes about water and its importance to society. It included several short films of which two featured water towers.

BBC Water Week, it said, was the biggest examination of the water industry ever done by a broadcaster. It looked at how water and sewerage companies in the UK have been measuring up and in what way consumers and the environment have benefited or suffered as a result.

Some of the films were very critical, rightly so, of several aspects of the water supply. 
The film 'The Profits Pump' examined the tricks of the trade used by some water companies to boost returns to shareholders at customers' expense. 

Others examined the rich architectural and engineering heritage of water supply, waste treatment and water towers. Historian Richard Gill of the Victorian Society took viewers around Luton's magnificent but derelict Bailey Hill Water Tower which has since been converted into a luxurious home.



The films are archived in Real Player format, they're very lo-fi but watchable. BWTAS suggests watching them as they're very good but also, if they get enough traffic, the BBC will be encouraged to maintain access to them.