Eventually, private wells were dug and rainwater tanks installed next to houses. Only in the late 1880s was water supplied from a purpose-built plant drawing from the Hunter River.

Population growth in the lower Hunter Valley, and the unsanitary, disease-promoting conditions in which people were obtaining water, necessitated a public water reticulation scheme supplying the whole Maitland-Newcastle area.

This scheme was the Walka Water Works at Scobies Lane, Oakhampton Heights.

William Clark, a British hydraulic engineer, was asked in 1877 by the colonial government to recommend on a major water supply scheme for the lower Hunter.

Clark advised a tunnel to draw water from the river at Dickson's Falls (where it was above the tidal limit and thus fresh), a large reservoir above the reach of floods, filter beds and clear water tanks, pumping stations (to force water from the river and from Walka to reservoirs at Buttai, East Maitland and further east) and engine and boiler houses.

The Works, completed in 1887, could supply a population of 37,000 all the way down to Newcastle. East Maitland and Morpeth first received Walka water in 1888.

Droughts during the first decade of the 20th century in 1906 meant the Oakhampton Reach of the river ceased flowing and suggested that the Hunter as a source of water was unreliable and thus by itself inadequate.

Other sources were needed. Chichester Dam, built on a tributary of the Williams River above Dungog, became the principal source of the region's water and from 1923 Walka was used only intermittently as a back-up.

The works were eventually shut down and in 1949 the plant and machinery were sold for scrap.

Two years later, because of power shortages, the site was reopened on a temporary basis for the production by the New South Wales Electricity Commission of power from coal and oil.

As large coal-fired power stations were commissioned elsewhere over following years, Walka became redundant again and its power plant was decommissioned in 1978.

Walka is a fine example of 19th century industrial engineering.

No longer needed for the infrastructural purposes to which they had been put, its installations became part of the Walka Recreation and Wildlife Reserve managed by the Maitland City Council and the Walka Water Works Trust.

The complex was given state heritage listing in 1999.

The area became a popular recreation and picnic locality, with much bird life in evidence more than 140 species of birds are known at Walka and a network of walking tracks around the reservoir.

There are plans to partially restore the still-existing 1887 pumphouse building with its tall chimney and pink and cream brickwork as well as to enhance its potential to host functions such as weddings.

Accommodation in the form of cabins and space for caravans is also envisaged. A state government grant of $15 million has been obtained by the council to carry out the work needed to bring these aims to fruition.

The proposal is controversial, however, with considerable community concern about interfering with the current vegetation assemblage and the habitat it provides.

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