Subjects Water Supply

Pipes, distribution mains, transmission mains, filtration plants, pumping stations, and all other appurtenances, either above or underground, that relate to providing drinking water to homes and businesses. In tandem with sewer systems, properly-designed water supply systems are what make densely-populated urban areas possible.

PWD's Lance Butler holds a flathead catfish caught in the Schuylkill River

PWD’s Lance Butler with an invasive flathead catfish

Six people and dozens of sandbags performing a load test on a concrete pipe, 1914

Pipe Test, 1914

Photo of a woman looking at a jar of raw, untreated sewage

Jar of raw sewage before treatment, 2000

Black and white image of Philadelphia civic and business leaders watching the start of operations at the new Northeast Sewage Treatment Plant, April 6, 1951

Northeast Sewage Plant opening, 1951

Centerfold of 1955 brochure depicting the Southeast Sewage Treatment Works

Southeast Sewage Treatment Works diagram, 1955

Photo of Allegheny Avenue Sewer, Pier 126, Delaware River, July 15, 1918

Allegheny Avenue Sewer at Pier 126, 1918

Spring Garden Sewage Experiment Station, used to test water filtration methods

Outside Sprinkling Filters, Spring Garden Sewage Experiment Station, 1911

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

Water Before and After Roxborough

Two black-and-white photographs of pipeline construction on State Road. Depicted are a group of people, trees, buildings, a fire hydrant and a grid of boards over the pipes.

State Road triple pipeline construction, 1904

Eleven men in a work gang plug leaks in a tunnel, the Torresdale Conduit

Torresdale Conduit work gang, 1906

Black-and-white photograph showing the completed Upper Roxborough Filter system. Vaulted concrete ceiling with beds of filter sand.

Upper Roxborough Filter Beds Complete, 1903

1902 photo of Upper Roxborough Filter beds under construction

Upper Roxborough Filter Bed Construction, 1902