You may not even realize it, but there’s an engineering and innovation marvel in the heart of the city that’s celebrating 150 years in existence, today.
On October 24, 1874, Ottawa’s oldest water facility, the Fleet Street Pumping Station, began pumping water from the Ottawa River through its great turbine wheels into the City’s water distribution system.
Located at Lebreton Flats in Ottawa’s downtown core, it was originally intended for firefighting purposes after fears of large-scale urban fires grew in the late 1800s. Designed by Thomas Keefer, who also designed water systems for many cities in Canada, the pumping station features a novel use of gravity-based and water-powered turbines to drive the pumping equipment rather than the more traditional steam-driven engines in that time.
It was later retrofitted to provide the City’s first form of safe drinking water for public use. Prior to this, residents received their water from individual wells or from carriers who delivered door-to-door.
The pumping station remains a lasting tribute to the prominent engineers responsible for its design and construction, and the many team members who have meticulously maintained it over the years.
Designated a national historic site under the Heritage Ontario Act in 1982, the Fleet Street Pumping Station continues to be a key component of the City of Ottawa’s water supply system to this day, pumping water to over 950,000 residents connected to the City’s central water supply.
This sustainable and innovative infrastructure saves the City approximately $1.2 million in energy costs annually. To learn more about the City’s water distribution system, visit our water purification, quality and distribution webpage.
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