The City's first treatment plant was built in 1912 to keep the raw sewage of several municipal institutions out of Pennypack Creek, which emptied into the Delaware River within reach of water intake points at the Torresdale pumping station. As the Pennypack Works was a prototype the much larger Citywide sewage treatment system then being developed, its operation and performance was closely scrutinized and extensive documentation is available in PWD annual reports from the period.

The Pennypack plant began operations on December 1, 1912, and ceased operations on December 13, 1930, when the construction of an intercepting sewer along the Delaware River allowed the routing of the sewage farther south, to Northeast Sewage Treatment Works, completed in 1923. [Information from Bureau of Surveys Annual Report for 1930, manuscript, p. 41-1930 (p.10), PWD Historical Collection]

This item is part of the 1914 Report on the Collection and Treatment of the Sewage of the City of Philadelphia, which can be viewed here along with two preliminary reports from 1911 and 1912. To see other illustrations from this report, click “1914 Sewage Treatment Plan” in the Subject list.