Museo del Agua (Uruguay)
The Museo del Agua del Uruguay (Water Museum of Uruguay) is housed in the building that originally included the first pumping engines installed on the riverbanks of Río Santa Lucía, opened on July 18, 1871 to supply water to Montevideo.
In 1867 the government approved the proposal by Uruguayan Enrique Fynn who, together with Argentineans A. Lezica and A. Lanús, founded the company called “Compañía de Aguas Corrientes de Montevideo Limitada”. In 1879 the Company assigned its rights to the British company The Montevideo Waterworks Ltd, which remained active until it was acquired by the State, establishing the Obras Sanitarias del Estado (OSE) in 1952.[1]
The museum houses four triple expansion pumping engines made by Hathorn, Davey and Co. The dates ordered, engine number, and the cylinder bore sizes (in inches) are as follows[2]:-
1906: No. 6258: Cylinders: 23, 43, 64
1910: No. 6453: Cylinders: 23, 43, 64
1919: No. 7187: Cylinders: 23, 43, 64
1920: No. 7193: Cylinders: 15, 25, 40
Did these engines, numbered 4, 5, 6 & 7, replace those supplied in the 1870s by Tannett, Walker and Co? The engine house was expanded in 1909-10. There were also two boiler houses each containing two Babcock and Wilcox boilers.
Note: There was a smaller pump house on the site which housed two Worthington pumping engines, installed 1889-1894, and decommissioned in 1939.[3]