water companies was £46,939,258 (equivalent to £ in ) in "water stock", which paid a 3% annual dividend for 80 years. The Metropolitan Water Board officially took over from the private water companies on 24 June 1904, except for the New River Company which was transferred on 25 July. Area of the board At , the board's area, or "limits of supply", was considerably larger than the administrative County of London. The limits were to be the same as the area supplied by the various undertakings acquired with the addition of the parishes of Sunbury, Middlesex and Chessington, Surrey. It comprised the entire county of London and much of Middlesex, with outer boundaries at Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, Loughton and East Ham in Essex, Dartford and Foots Cray in Kent, and Malden, Surbiton, Esher and Kingston upon Thames in Surrey. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica described "Water London" as "an irregular area extending from Ware in Hertfordshire to Sevenoaks in Kent, and westward as far as Ealing and Sunbury." Water sources and supplies The Metropolitan Water Board abstracted water from the River Thames; the River Lea; from springs and wells in the Lea valley, Kent, and in the southern district; from the Hanworth gravel beds; and from Hampstead and Highgate ponds. The daily and total volume of water supplied by the MWB in 1912–13 and 1920–21 was as follows: Note: 1 million gallons is 4546.1 m3. The Thames Conservancy placed limits on the abstraction of water. The average daily abstraction was limited to 300 million gallons per day (15.785 m3/s). When the flow of the Thames over Teddington Weir was less than 170 million gallons a day (8.945 m3/s) no abstraction was authorised except with the permission of the Local Government Board. If the flow was less than 140 million gallons (7.366 m3/s) no abstraction was allowed. If the flow over Penton Hook weir was less than 285 million gallons a day (14.996 m3/s) no abstraction above Penton Hook was allowed. The maximum abstraction from the river in any one day was limited to 1,200 million gallons (63.140 m3/s). The MWB gave a water supply to the Croydon Corporation, Richmond Corporation, Cheshunt Urban District Council, and the Hertfordshire and Essex Water Company. Final years (1965–1974) Upon the reorganization of local government in Greater London in 1965, the board’s constitution was amended by the London Government Order 1965 (SI 1965/654) and from 1