On Thursday 6th October, 2016 Berrak Gokay (formerly of Anglian Water) presented the findings of her research into the late-19th-century development of the pumping station on Riverside (now the Cambridge Museum of Technology).
Berrak has been searching the archives to discover how a number of eminent Victorian engineers (including Joseph Bazalgette) contributed to the 30-year debate about how to clean up the River Cam in order to improve the sanitation and sewerage of late-19th-century Cambridge.
The successful proposal resulted in the conversion of the refuse incinerator on Riverside into a steam-powered pumping station, transporting sewer effluent to a treatment station in Milton (to the north of the city). where the treated material was spread on fields as fertiliser.
During her research in the museum's archive and other local sources (such as the Cambridgeshire Collection), Berrak applied her professional experience to test and validate the engineering calculations within the bid proposals submitted to the Cambridge council.
If you are interested in finding out more about the old pumping station and its contribution to the sanitation of Cambridge, the Cambridge Museum of Technology contains permanent displays contributed by Anglian Water.