The Birmingham Waterworks Company was established by Act of Parliament as early as 1826, with authorization to raise an initial capital of £150,000 and to supply 'good wholesome water' to 'the parishes, hamlets, or places of Birmingham, Aston, Duddeston, Nechells and Edgbaston' The company's source of water was to be the River Tame, and by 1831 the Salford Reservoir and Aston pumping station had been opened, with supplies being pumped from there up to the smaller storage reservoir off Monument Lane, Edgbaston. At first there were few customers, availability was inter-mittent and confined to certain districts only. But by 1853 water was not merely being raised from Salford Reservoir (297 feet) to that on Monument Lane (532 feet), but also from this last up to the High Level Reservoir on the Hagley Road (602 feet). And this meant that, using gravity flow, a constant water supply was thereafter available throughout the entire borough. There were soon serious problems with the quality of the River Tame's water, most of which had its origin in the ever more heavily polluted Black Country. But three Acts of Parliament between 1855 and 1870 enabled the company to construct 7 further reservoirs, including one on the River Blythe at Whitacre. Meanwhile, the district it served was expanded to embrace Handsworth, Yardley, King's Norton, Northfield and parts of Harborne. In 1875, on the eve of its purchase by the corporation, the Birmingham Waterworks Company had a gathering area of 190 square miles, 10 storage reservoirs covering 85 acres, 16 pumping engines, and 266 miles of street mains. A further 3 reservoirs, covering 92 acres, were under construction or prospected.
The Making of Victorian Birmingham by Skipp, Victor (1983)