1973: The Story of MANCHESTER's WATER | The Longest Drink | BBC Archive

The Story of a City's Water

Each of us now uses 35 gallons of water a day and it costs next to nothing - about 1/2p apiece. So it's a shock in this free-swigging and sodden island to learn that some reservoirs are already down to the dregs and the whole country is in for a thirsty spell unless something drastic is done soon. The government is bracing itself to act.

Don Haworth's documentary film considers the water story so far, from the raindrop through a great industrial city to the sea, from the Victorians' first brash floodings of country valleys to the politics of meekness and the technology of electronic gadgets. It also follows the people who work with water - from the low paid but leisurely "reservoir keepers," to the engineers, tunnellers, maintenance men, and water testers, to the beleagured mobile water man, who it appears spends much of his day getting it in the ear from the good people of Manchester.

Commentary: David Mahlowe

Photography: Arthur Smith

Sound: Jack Wilson

Editor: Peter Gibbs

Written and produced by Don Haworth

Clip taken from Tuesday Documentary, originally broadcast on BBC One, 6 February, 1973.

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