About Fleet Street Pumping Station
Historic Architecture, Architecture, Interesting Places, Other Buildings And Structures
The Fleet Street Pumping Station is a historic water pumping station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located west of downtown in the Lebreton Flats area, near the new Canadian War Museum. The building was opened in 1875 as Ottawa's first pumping station. It pumped unfiltered water from the Ottawa River into the city's new water supply system. The structure was designed by Thomas Keefer, who designed water systems for many cities in Canada. It has been expanded several times since its construction. Ottawa also has two newer and larger pumping stations: one on Lemieux Island opened in 1917, and one at Britannia that opened in 1961. While most of Ottawa's water comes from these two newer facilities, the Fleet Street Station still plays an important role in the city's water supply. The pumping station, designated as heritage in 1982 under the Ontario Heritage Act, uses hydraulic power to pump water and is the only one of its kind in Canada still in operation.