When was running water available in Toronto, and when were the filtration plants built?
Toronto’s first water supply system was privately owned and run by Albert Furniss (or Furness) starting in 1841, who had a pumping station south of where the Skydome is now, and supplied his customers with water from the bay. Toronto bought his infrastructure from his estate in 1873 and began expanding it as a public system. The first large intake pipe extending into the lake was laid in 1881. There was an attempt to clean the water by filtering it through sand basins on the Island, but this was not successful. Chlorination began with a pilot project in 1910. Toronto’s first water filtration plant was built on the Island and began operation in 1912. Parts of it are still in operation today. Construction on the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant began in 1932; the west wing was built first, and began use in 1941. When the Metro government was formed, it took over the plants, and added the east wing in the 1950s. The Metro government also built two more treatment plants, the R.L. Clark in
