A film from the Yorkshire Water Board which shows what is involved in the process of treating and supplying water to homes. A comical character called Tom (played by Leigh Bowman) walks to significant local areas associated with the treatment of his own water supply, whilst wearing his pyjamas and carrying a bucket. Produced by Rank Film Productions and directed by Russell Turner. The film starts suddenly. A man (Tom) is standing on the street in his pyjamas, having a rant to his family...

A film from the Yorkshire Water Board which shows what is involved in the process of treating and supplying water to homes. A comical character called Tom (played by Leigh Bowman) walks to significant local areas associated with the treatment of his own water supply, whilst wearing his pyjamas and carrying a bucket. Produced by Rank Film Productions and directed by Russell Turner. The film starts suddenly. A man (Tom) is standing on the street in his pyjamas, having a rant to his family (woman - Mary, and two children) about a water problem, who are standing on the pavement in their dressing gowns. He puts on his wellies and walks down the street with a bucket. Other neighbours are standing outside with buckets waiting for rain. Some neighbours in dressing gowns are wearing hand-made interpretations of Native American headwear and dancing around a bucket. Two boys dressed as cowboys are trying to get water out of a cactus. A neighbour in a white dress is shown as Tom shakes his head in disbelief. He carries on walking down the street. Title – It's Only Water Title – A film for the Yorkshire Water Authority Water under a bridge is shown. Tom walks past two large chimneys at a power plant, across the road and down to the river. He fills his bucket from the river and dirty river water full of debris in the bucket is shown. He pours the water back into the river and pulls a booklet out of his top pocket in his pyjama shirt. He walks away with his bucket. A horse is shown in a field. Landscape shots of a reservoir are shown. Tom now fills the bucket from the reservoir, notices that it is not clean water and pours it back into the reservoir. Tom is now at the side of a river where he can see people kayaking. Tom walks over to a man who is fishing, and the pair chat. Tom makes his way over to a water treatment plant. He is shown on a walkway looking over the railings. Tom meets a man from the water authority (an engineer), and the pair talk. The bucket is used to retrieve some water from one of the tanks outside. The engineer explains why it is not clean water. The engineer takes Tom to an area where he demonstrates how the chemicals are added to the water as they chat. The men enter a room where chlorine is added to water, and the concept of ‘soft water’ is explained. The men enter the control room, where a chemist in a lab coat is working. The engineer shows Tom a map, showing the routes of the water. Tom is shown walking around the exterior of the water works, past the monument that shows when Elvington sewage works was first built. Tom is shown walking through various interior rooms of the works, including the pumping station. He returns to the control room. In the control room Tom sits down next to the engineer, where they both chat some more about the processes involved in water treatment. The men make their way into the lab at the treatment works, where water samples are being tested by workers in lab coats. Tom and the lab worker discuss chemical treatment and chemical levels in water. The engineer takes the man with the bucket through a room with a large pipe and up a ladder. A landscape shot of the exterior of the water works is shown. Tom and the engineer are seen from a distance walking over a concrete area, discussing the water stored beneath it. The engineer and Tom walk down a residential street, where a digger is shown next to an excavation site in the road; workers in hard hats and overalls are tackling the problem area. The engineer holds up a piece of corroded pipe to demonstrate the problem, and the pair chat some more about pipework issues. Tom is shown walking through the town near market stalls, holding a booklet. He asks several strangers for directions, who all find amusement in the pyjamas he is wearing. Other passers-by are also shown smiling and laughing at him. Eventually one man gives him the information he is looking for. Tom is shown in a dark, bricked underground area. Something is shown being lowered into a pit. A silhouette of a man walking through sewers is shown. Tom continues walking to a water works. An interior room with pumps is shown. Tom walks around some of the outdoor areas of the works, including on the walkway and around some tanks. He reads some information from his booklet. Raw sewage is shown flowing through a channel at the works. A trickling filter system is shown, as Tom looks down from a walkway above. Tom is sitting reading his booklet next to a sedimentation tank. Tom walks down to the river where a man is filling a canister with water, who hands it to Tom to inspect the clarity of it. Tom continues walking down near the river. Various angles of the river and small waterfalls are shown, as the man continues his journey. Tom notices and heads towards a construction site where diggers are seen at work. Tom talks to another man in a hard hat on the site. A tidal surge barrier is shown. Tom is shown sitting by the river. Mary and his daughter find him and wonder where he has been. The family leaves the river area as he implies how much he has learnt. Flashback shots show the river, reservoir, the fisherman, the water works, the sewers, and the surge barrier. Tom is laid in a deck chair asleep in his garden. He wakes up and notices the bucket next to him; his wife Mary enters and wonders what the bucket is for, and states that they have running water. She turns the hose pipe on. Tom suggests that his entire journey was a ‘bad dream’ as he holds the hose pipe. End Credits: Tom - Leigh Bowman Engineer/Chemist - Tony Cross Angler - Jack Featherstone Mary - Mavis Walsh Photography - Gerry Anstiss Music - James Harpham Script - Philip Flower Sound - Peter Woods Editor - Mike Gilding Supervising Editor - Ron Brown Director - Russell Turner Rank Production, 127 Wardour Street, W1V 4AD