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The sinking of the well itself was completed in May, 1896, and in view of the extreme shortage of water in Gosport, temporary pumping plant was provided to afford a preliminary
supplementary supply; thus the first instalment of water from the new source started on 23rd August, 1896. The headings at the foot of the well and the pumping station were completed during the following winter and
spring. On test the well was shown to have a daily yield of about It million gallons, which provided an ample reserve for future requirements. The water tower, however, was not finished until August, 1900, when for
the first time for many years Gosport received a constant supply under good pressure. But it was to prove only a temporary blessing. Month after month the water became increasingly brackish; it was soon apparent
that the normal Chalk water in the well was being contaminated by the infiltration of salt water from the Harbour. These conditions naturally provoked widespread complaints, reinforced by letters to the press and
public protest meetings, as to the excessive hardness of the supply; it was also alleged to taste and to smell- the "Foxbury perfume" became a by-word.
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Unsuccessful attempts were made to cut off the fissures yielding the worst water, and to obtain better water by means of borings ; eventually, in 1903, it
was decided that the well must be abandoned and a new source developed elsewhere. Altogether, the scheme had cost about £30,000, which had to be written off as a dead loss, apart from the pumping plant, which could
be removed to another site, and the water tower which remained available to maintain the pressure of the supply.
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To provide a possible alternative to the Foxbury well, the Borough of Portsmouth Waterworks Company was approached in 1903 as to a supply "in
bulk" from the Farlington reservoirs to Foxbury water tower, but this proposal was ultimately discarded in favour of a new well and pumping station at Mislingford in the Meon Valley, situated in the Parish of
Soberton, about 11 miles north of Gosport. An Act for this purpose was obtained in 1904. The well was .sunk into the Chalk formation with a heading at the bottom, and the two pumping units for the new station were
transferred from Foxbury. A I6-inch pumping main, about two miles long, was laid to a high-level service reservoir, holding 2,100,000 gallons, constructed at Gravel Hill, Shedfield, from which a Is-inch trunk
gravitation main was laid through Fareham to join the existing 15-inch main previously laid from Foxbury into Gosport.
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The daily yield of the well was about 11/4 million gallons, and the station was brought into use on 24th May, 1907. Thus Gosport at last received a constant
supply of good quality. The Bury Cross and Foxbury wells went out of use, and the Soberton Works, with various subsequent extensions, remained the sole source of supply for the next 34 years, until in 1941 they were
supplemented by another source, to be described below.
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The main effect of the First World War (1914-18) was a rapid growth in the demand by the local Government Establishments, to meet which the yield of the
well was increased in 1914-15 by extending the headings; and in 1918-19 the capacity of the station was amplified by a modification of the existing machinery and the installation of a "Worthington" pumping
engine, for which the building was enlarged.
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After the War the average daily supply remained for a long period nearly steady at about 11/3 million gallons; to provide an alternative means of supply a
second 15-inch gravitation main from the Shedfield Reservoir to Gosport was completed in 1933.But from 1935 onwards the forebodings of another war caused a further substantial growth of the Government supplies, so
that a big development programme was put in hand. In 1937-38 a second pumping well was sunk at Soberton, and the headings were further extended, whereby the daily yield was increased up to about 2 million gallons;
the station building was again enlarged to accommodate a "Uniflow" pumping engine, and in 1939 a second 16-inch pumping main laid from Soberton to the Shedfield Reservoir. In 1940, Shedfield Reservoir No.2
with a capacity of 3,500,000 gallons was completed; at Soberton, one of the old steam-driven pumps, originally transferred from Foxbury, was removed and replaced by electrically-driven plant, having a daily capacity
of 3 million gallons. This was the first use of electricity for normal pumping purposes, the remaining steam-driven plant serving as standby.
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