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

Black-and-white diagram showing streets and the Little Tacony Creek

Frankford Creek Watershed: A historical overview of the Philadelphia section

Color image of a grassy field with trees and buildings surrounding it and white lines drawn on the grass mimicking the path of a creek.

Drawing Dock Creek

Petition of manufacturers along the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia for a new upstream water supply, 1868

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: The Clean Water Act, 1972-2022

Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1884

Baldwin Locomotive Works