Mgarr ix-Xini pumping station

The Mġarr ix-Xini pumping station in Gozo was built in 1897 after a severe drought highlighted the need for a reliable water supply. Designed by engineer Osbert Chadwick, it featured underground shafts and galleries to collect water, which was pumped by a coal-fired steam engine to reservoirs for distribution across villages. Modernised with new engines in the 1920s and electric pumps in 1949, it operated until the late 1960s when a new station in Xewkija made it obsolete. Today, it stands as an important industrial heritage site reflecting colonial-era engineering and Gozo’s water supply development.