File:GOC Walthamstow to Stratford 100 Middlesex Filter Beds (25400680665).jpg

The central culvert at Middlesex Filter Beds, Hackney, London. These filter beds are situated between the River Lea and the Hackney Cut. They cleaned water from the Lea using a filter of sand and gravel to prevent the spread of diseases like cholera and made it safe to drink. Water was taken further up the River Lea at Walthamstow where it was cleaner and stored in reservoirs. An aqueduct carried the water from the reservoirs and pipes under the Lea carried it to the Middlesex Filter Beds. The water was pumped around the beds in pipes, each bed with a sluice gate, which, when opened, allowed water to run over the surface of the filter beds. The sluices could be turned off so the beds could be empties of water and the sand cleaned. Each filter bed could be operated separately. Once in the beds, the water trickled uniformally over the bed through a network of channels. This purified water then flowed through the perforated concrete base, along channels and into the central culvert. From the central reservoir, the "Victoria" pump house (since demolished) drew the water and pumped it throughout north east London. The entire site is now a nature reserve.