Subjects Pollution

Includes pollution caused by the direct dumping of factory or industrial wastes into rivers and streams, the dumping of industrial wastes and sewage through the city's sewer system, combined sewer overflows during wet weather, and polluted stormwater carried into streams by the city's stormwater drainage pipes.

Two views on the water supply, 1939

Photo of four men standing on the banks of the Schuylkill River on the last day of the Schuylkill Interceptor, December 20, 1956

Last gasp of the Schuylkill Interceptor, December 20, 1956

Outhouse over Schuylkill near Pottstown

Outhouse over the Schuylkill near Pottstown

Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1884

Baldwin Locomotive Works

Two bottles of water from a river, one dark with pollution and one clear after filtration

Water Before and After Roxborough

Henry Disston's Keystone Saw Works was located along the Delaware riverfront in Tacony. The black-and-white lithograph shows the factory's many smokestacks emitting smoke into the atmosphere.

Keystone Saw Works