The pamphlets in the attached PDF were published by the Philadelphia Bureau of Municipal Research (PBMR) on a variety of topics. They were removed from PWD annual reports compiled during the Depression and World War II as sets of bound typed pages, when the printing of departmental publications was suspended due to fiscal concerns This selection of pamphlets focuses mainly the search for a cleaner water supply for Philadelphia; river pollution by sewage, industrial wastes, and coal mining wastes; and the city’s struggle to build its sewage treatment system.
The table below lists the pamphlets in their order in the PDF. The PDF bookmarks correspond to the PWD Catalog number. Several of the four-page pamphlets are incomplete.
AND MANY MORE... I should have known that if I thought these pamphlets were useful and informative, other librarians would have thought the same thing. The University of Pennsylvania Library has an entire page of online publications from the PBMR. A link on the Penn page brings you to a much more complete collection of Citizens’ Business than the small, water-focused sampling I’m presenting here.
The PBMR has also been the subject of at least one scholarly article, which you can view here if you have access to JSTOR. If anyone does download this article, I would love to have a copy.
| DESCRIPTION | DATE | PWD Catalog |
| For a Water Supply Plan, No. 1,405 | 4/25/1939 | 2004.059.0013 |
| A Water Supply Plan is Urgent, No. 1,436 | 11/28/1939 | 2004.059.0014 |
| The Burden of Silt, No. 1,622 | 6/22/1943 | 2004.059.0015 |
| Paying for Water Works Maintenance Out of Income, No. 1,627 | 7/27/1943 | 2004.059.0016 |
| Continuing Water Leakage Surveys are Desirable, No. 1,634 | 9/14/1943 | 2004.059.0017 |
| Municipal Sanitation, No. 1,643 | 11/16/1943 | 2004.059.0018 |
| To Expedite Completion of Sewage Treatment System, No. 1,646 | 12/7/1943 | 2004.059.0019 |
| A New Sewer Rent Ordinance, No. 1,655 | 2/8/1944 | 2004.059.0020 |
| Hearings on the Sewer Rent Ordinance, No. 1,659 | 3/7/1944 | 2004.059.0021 |
| Sewer Rentals Adopted, No. 1,667 | 5/2/1944 | 2004.059.0022 |
| For Universal Water Metering, No. 1,703 | 3/13/1945 | 2004.059.0023 |
| City’s Sewer Rent Ordinance Upheld by Court, No. 1,705 | 3/27/1945 | 2004.059.0024 |
| A Change That Weakens, No. 1,708 | 4/17/1945 | 2004.059.0025 |
| A New Water Commission, No. 1,712 | 5/15/1945 | 2004.059.0026 |
| Voluntary Installations of Water Meters, No. 1,717 | 6/19/1945 | 2004.059.0027 |
| Last Year’s Expenditures, No. 1,718 | 6/26/1945 | 2004.059.0028 |
| State Supreme Court Upholds Sewer Rents, No. 1,728 | 11/6/1945 | 2004.059.0029 |
| Crime Prevention Work of Philadelphia’s Police, No. 1,732 | 12/4/1945 | 2004.059.0030 |
| Abandonment of the Schuylkill River as a Water Supply, No. 1,752 | 4/23/1946 | 2004.059.0031 |
| About Water From Nearby Delaware River Sources, No. 1,755 | 5/14/1946 | 2004.059.0032 |
| About Building a Dam on the Delaware, No. 1,757 | 5/28/1946 | 2004.059.0033 |
| High Quality Water at Reasonable Cost, No. 1,758 | 6/4/1946 | 2004.059.0034 |
| Water From Distant Upland Sources, No. 1,760 | 6/18/1946 | 2004.059.0035 |
| State Highways in Philadelphia, No. 1,762 | 9/3/1946 | 2004.059.0036 |
| A Revised Water Works Improvement Program, No. 1,763 | 9/10/1946 | 2004.059.0037 |
| Choosing a Drink, No. 1,764 | 9/17/1946 | 2004.059.0038 |
| What Dirties Our Rivers, No. 1,766 | 10/1/1946 | 2004.059.0039 |
| Outlawed: Silt and Pollution, No. 1,767 | 10/8/1946 | 2004.059.0040 |
| Progress Toward Stream Purification, No. 1,769 | 10/22/1946 | 2004.059.0041 |
| Whose Water Bill Do You Pay?, No. 1,771 | 11/5/1946 | 2004.059.0042 |
| The Water Commission Reports, No. 1,773 | 11/19/1946 | 2004.059.0043 |
| Hard to Take, No. 1,775 | 12/3/1946 | 2004.059.0044 |