East London's
First Water Supply

The availability of an adequate supply of water was essential for the creation and growth of the village of East London. In his survey of January 1836, 1820 Settler party leader John Bailie, mentioned that there was a plentiful supply of fresh water. Lieutenant-General George Berkeley likewise mentioned the presence of an abundant water supply in his report on the Buffalo River mouth in April 1847. As it turned out, however, there was not enough to support more than a small military camp, and the cattle had to be sent to the nearby valleys for a drink.

A further search that year nevertheless revealed the presence of good quality water in three or four places about a kilometre from the river mouth, along the western shore. The area consisted of a marshy slope, where water seeped out of the hill-side, to form a regular small but significant stream. Captain William Baker, Commanding Officer from Fort Glamorgan, took some soldiers of the 73rd Regiment to build a small reservoir or well just above the rocky shoreline. This was known for years afterwards as "Baker's Well". Another reservoir was also dug nearer to the growing village, shown on early maps as the "horse trough".

For the next thirty years Baker's Wells provided the most constant source of water for the village on the west bank, although transportation costs were reportedly high because of the distance involved. It was no problem to the Government and military officials who were supplied by means of a cart but the civilians found the system expensive and tended to rely on the services of Black servants to carry the water in buckets. Many of the inhabitants resorted to digging wells in their own yards to cut costs and obtain a handier supply but the water tasted bitter and caused dysentery, especially to those who were not used to it. Preference was therefore given to rain water as the cheapest and most palatable source but it was never dependable because of the constant droughts which afflicted the region.

Panmure on the east bank of the river was not as fortunate as East London on the western side. The inhabitants there had to rely heavily on rain water and on the uncertain flow of the small Quigney River, together with a vlei which existed on Waterloo Square. Since Panmure was on the road to King William's Town, however, it became the outspan point for the wagons which travelled between the port and the British Kaffrarian capital, with the result that the Quigney River and the vlei were often polluted by cattle and other animals. Another source of pollution was from the washing of clothes, a problem which took up much of the early deliberations of the first Municipal Board.

In 1865 The Kaffrarian used the uncertain condition of East London's water supply as its main argument for the creation of a municipality. The editor pointed out that the water at the port had such a bad reputation for causing sickness that few ships ever took it in, yet there was an ample supply of fresh water ("sweet and good") in springs above the village on the West Bank. The elevation, he wrote, meant that the water could be led in open furrows to the outskirts of the town, where a reservoir could be built and water piped into the streets. He calculated that the total cost of the operation, including taps in every street and one on the quay for the use of ships, would be no more than £600 and the money could have been raised easily if a town council had existed but, without such an institution, nobody was prepared to do anything lest no-one else joined in.

In June that same year, the King William's Town Gazette criticized the British Kaffrarian government itself for its failure to provide an adequate water supply at the port. East London was a place, the editor wrote, "where, during a drought, water of any sort capable of being drunk is scarcely obtainable at all, and where it has actually been known to fail altogether .... when a trifling sum of money judiciously expended would cause it to flow through every street."

The exhortations would, however, fall on deaf ears. The British Kaffrarian government was not prepared to help out and apathy on the part of East London townspeople saw a municipality formed only

See also: East London Baker's Wells John Bailie's survey of 1836

in 1873. Even then, a lack of funds meant that a new water supply would only be provided in 1883, when a reservoir was built on the Amalinda Reservoir to pipe water to that part of the town on the eastern bank of the river.

Dr Keith Tankard