Topics Water Supply

Oak Lane Reservoir pipeline, 1904

The Water and Drainage History of Philadelphia: A seven-part course

Imagine a Day Without Water

Image shows multicolored trees and a river cutting through them with two bridges visible

Watersheds: Learning to care for and protect our local water resources

Black-and-white image of an ornately lettered document with a decorative border

Images from ‘The Water Supply of the City of Philadelphia by a proposed Aqueduct from Norristown Dam’

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

Pumping stations after Philadelphia's incorporation, 1854

Main Pumping Stations for Philadelphia Drinking Water

Black-and-white image of a graph with several captions

Diagram Showing Rate Between Bulk of Wet Sludge and Its Percentage Moisture

Water, Water Everywhere – Philadelphia Record, 1937-03-14

Black-and-white image of the title page of a government report

Perkiomen Water Supply Surveys, 1866

Drawing in blue ink on beige paper depicting reservoir, dam and standpipe heights

Diagram showing heights of reservoirs, dams, standpipes &c, 1894

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

PWD’s Lance Butler with an invasive flathead catfish

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

Jar of raw sewage before treatment, 2000