Present Day
Most of London's water still comes from the River Thames and River Lea, with the remainder being abstracted from underground sources.
Much of the water piping in London is still cast iron piping which dates back to the nineteenth century and is slowly deteriorating. This has led to widespread criticism of Thames Water for the amount of water lost to leaks in its distribution network. As of 2007, Thames Water is still in the process of a rolling programme of upgrading the water supply network to use modern plastic piping.
The single largest infrastructure project in recent years has been the creation of the Thames Water Ring Main, a "backbone network" for London's water supply. This connects all the waterworks, and pumping stations.
Read more about this topic: London Water Infrastructure
Famous quotes containing the words present and/or day:
“At present the globe goes with a shattered constitution in its orbit.... No doubt the simple powers of nature, properly directed by man, would make it healthy and a paradise; as the laws of man’s own constitution but wait to be obeyed, to restore him to health and happiness.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“While they stand at home at the door he is dead already,
The only son is dead.
But the mother needs to be better,
She with thin form presently drest in black,
By day her meals untouch’d, then at night fitfully sleeping, often waking,
In the midnight waking, weeping, longing with one deep longing,
O that she might withdraw unnoticed, silent from life escape and
withdraw,
To follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)