The Chelsea Waterworks Company was a London waterworks

WaterWorks

WaterWorks is a water park owned by Cedar Fair, located at the back of Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. When it debuted in 1992, it was originally named Hurricane Reef...

 company founded in 1723 which supplied water to many central London

Central London

Central London is the innermost part of London, England. There is no official or commonly accepted definition of its area, but its characteristics are understood to include a high density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally,...

 locations throughout the 18th and 19th centuries until its functions were taken over by the Metropolitan Water Board in 1902.
The company was established "for the better supplying the City

City of Westminster

The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...

 and Liberties

Liberty of Westminster

The City and Liberty of Westminster was an independent liberty, located to the west of the City of London in the county of Middlesex, England....

 of Westminster

Westminster

Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...

 and parts adjacent with water" and received a Royal Charter

Royal Charter

A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...

 on 8 March 1723. The company created extensive ponds in the area bordering Chelsea

Chelsea, London

Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...

 and Pimlico

Pimlico

Pimlico is a small area of central London in the City of Westminster. Like Belgravia, to which it was built as a southern extension, Pimlico is known for its grand garden squares and impressive Regency architecture....

 using water from the tidal Thames

Tideway

The Tideway is a name given to the part of the River Thames in England that is subject to tides. This stretch of water is downstream from Teddington Lock and is just under long...

. These were to form the basis of the Grosvenor Canal

Grosvenor Canal

Grosvenor Canal was a canal in the Pimlico area of London, opened in 1825. Almost nothing of it remains today.The canal started as the ponds of the Chelsea Waterworks Company, constructed in 1723 to supply west London with drinking water...

 which was opened to traffic in 1825. By the 19th century there were complaints about the quality of the water they were drawing from the River Thames, and in 1829, under engineer James Simpson

James Simpson (engineer)

James Simpson was a British civil engineer. He was president of the Institution of Civil Engineers from January 1853 to January 1855....

 the company became the first in the country to install a slow sand filtration system to purify the water.

The Metropolis Water Act of 1852 prohibited the extraction of water for household purposes from the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 below Teddington Lock

Teddington Lock

Teddington Lock is a complex of three locks and a weir on the River Thames in England at Ham in the western suburbs of London. The lock is on the southern Surrey side of the river....

. The company moved to Seething Wells

Seething Wells

Seething Wells is a locality of Surbiton in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. It is the site of a former water treatment works on the south bank of the River Thames. Part of it was redeveloped in the early 21st century. The filter beds remain the property of Thames Water, via their...

 above the lock at Surbiton

Surbiton

Surbiton, a suburban area of London in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, is situated next to the River Thames, with a mixture of Art-Deco courts, more recent residential blocks and grand, spacious 19th century townhouses blending into a sea of semi-detached 20th century housing estates...

 in 1856 becoming the last water company to move their inlets above the polluted tidal water zone. The site was adjacent to the Lambeth Waterworks Company

Lambeth Waterworks Company

The Lambeth Waterworks Company was a utility company supplying water to parts of south London in England. The company was established in 1785 with works in north Lambeth and became part of the publicly-owned Metropolitan Water Board in 1903.-Origins:...

, who had already moved there and who also employed Simpson. The vacated site at Pimlico was used by the railway companies to build lines into west London and London Victoria Station was built on the site of much of the Grosvenor Canal basin.

The inlets at Seething Wells sucked up too much mud with the water because of turbulence caused by the River Mole, River Ember

River Ember

The River Ember is a river in the county of Surrey, England. It is a distributary of the River Mole which splits in two at the Island Barn Reservoir to the South of East and West Molesey. The larger portion becomes the River Ember and flows in an easterly and then northerly direction around the...

 and The Rythe

The Rythe

The Rythe is a river in the county of Surrey, England. It is a tributary of the River Thames which it joins at Thames Ditton on the reach above Teddington Lock....

. The Chelsea Waterworks Company attempted to build works opposite Hampton Court but followed the Lambeth Waterworks Company to a new installation at Molesey in 1875 where the Molesey Reservoirs

Molesey Reservoirs

The Molesey Reservoirs were a group of reservoirs in England near Molesey, Surrey, in the western suburbs of London. There was an adjacent water treatment works....

 were built. Both companies were incorporated into the Metropolitan Water Board in 1902.