Robert Thom (engineer)

Robert Thom (1774 Tarbolton, South Ayrshire, Scotland - 1847)^[1] was a Scottish civil engineer who worked upon major hydraulic projects on the Isle of Bute and Inverclyde. On Bute, he created aqueducts to increase the flow of water which powered the cotton mills there, so that their capacity was increased. This economic success resulted in him becoming the laird of Ascog. He then created a larger system to supply water power to Greenock. The reservoir is named after him — Loch Thom — and the supply aqueduct is known as the Greenock Cut.^[2] In the early 1800s, he designed the first water purification plant in Scotland.^[3]

Robert Thom
Born	1774 Tarbolton, South Ayrshire, Scotland
Died	1847 (Age: 72–73)
Nationality	Scottish
Occupation	civil engineer
Known for	First water purification plant in Paisley, Scotland using slow sand filtration to remove bacteria in water.

See also

• Slow sand filter

References

1. "Obituary. Robert Thom, Born 1774". Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 7 (1848): 7–9. 1848. doi:10.1680/imotp.1848.24203.
2. Stone and plaque dedicated to the memory of Robert Thom - Civil & Hydraulic Engineer. Designer of an innovative "green" scheme to supply Greenock with water fed from Loch Thom via the 5 1/2 mile "Cut" including a device which allowed the water level in the "Cut" to be self-regulated. - PLAQUE ERECTED IN 2012 BY THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS
3. A. W. Skempton (2002), A biographical dictionary of civil engineers in Great Britain and Ireland, p. 698, ISBN 978-0-7277-2939-2