Blog

William Penn balks at drinking the "mixed drink" offered him: Schuylkill water, mixed with pollution from the upstream sources named. Editorial cartoon by Fred Morgan, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 6, 1899. One of a series of cartoons drawn by Morgan protesting the state of the city's drinking water and trying to encourage the passage of legislation authorizing the construction of a water filtration system.

Half a Century of Clean Water

October 29, 2022

The 50th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act, and a video by Adam Levine highlighting the Rebirth of the Rivers.

Travel through the Philadelphia of a century ago, with a severely erudite guide

April 2, 2020

PWD’s web editor wonders how he can solace himself with the amber.

Flashback Friday … the 13th!

December 13, 2019

A story for Friday the 13th about my close encounter with a demizen of the sewers.

A list of rules governing the sanitary maintenance of privy vaults in Philadelphia in 1915

Be Thankful You Don’t Live in Pre-Flush Philly

November 22, 2019

A post to commememorate World Toilet Day.

The Day Fairmount Dam Vanished

October 4, 2019

Marking the 150th anniversary of the Schuylkill River’s worst-ever flood.