history of the pittsburgh public water supply (1802 to present)
TRANSCRIPT
HISTORY OF THE PITTSBURGH PUBLIC
WATER SUPPLY(1802 to present)
A Very Brief History of Water Supply
300 B.C. – Roman EmpireAqueducts and lead plumbing
2000 B.C. - CreteWooden pipe/stone sewers
1200 A.D. - United Kingdom 5.5 km lead pipeline delivered water from Tyburne Brook to London
1664 A.D. - France25 km Iron pipe from Marly-on-Seine to the Palace of Versailles
A Very Brief History of Water Supply
1817 - Philadelphia, PACast iron pipe
1754 - Bethlehem, PABored logs with lead joints
1842-1893 - New York City Croton Water Supply (upland)Tunnels and iron pipe
1913 - Los AngelesOwens Valley AqueductInfamous “interbasin transfer”
1829 – London,England1st Sand Filter (Chelsea Waterworks)
PITTSBURGHPITTSBURGH
1794 – organized as a Borough
1816 – incorporated as a City
Sources of WaterBack in the Day
• River and Pond Water-
frozen in winter – very warm in summer
“When Pittsburghers drink river water –
they stir up the mud from the bottom
of the bucket before they take a drink”
Sources of WaterBack in the Day
• Natural Springs-flowing out of the hills
Springs at foot of Grant’s Hill utilized
from 1780s till 1840
People complained of sulfur smell
Sources of WaterBack in the Day
• Wells
Difficult to rent out a property w/o a well
Difficult to dig wells
Private well owners reluctant to allow public use
Sources of WaterBack in the Day
• Rain water gathered in cisterns
Undependable supply
FIRST CENTURY (emphasis on water quantity)
First Public Water System
• 1802 – Burgesses authorized construction of 4 public wells
47 ft deep & lined with stone
Located on Market St & equipped with hand pumps
• Burgesses also authorized compensation for private well owners who allowed public use of their wells
First Public Water System
• Cost to Borough
Paid by tax on residents
total cost-$525
Difficult to collect tax
Upgrade of Original System
• Early debate over upgrades to system
focused on private vs public provision
of water
Upgrade of Original System
• By 1820-city outgrew original system
Lines of people at public wells
People utilized river for water
Many residents kept tanks in backyard filled by ‘Water Carters’
First Pumped Water System
• 1822 - Citizens petitioned council to build a pumped system utilizing river water
Petition specified public ownership
Greatest opposition - ‘Water Carters’
First Pumped Water System
• 1828 – First pumped system constructed
Supervisory committee – Messers. Fairman, Magee, Denny, Carson, Hayes
PS located at foot of Cecil Alley
First Pumped Water System
• Pumped to 1 million gal reservoir on Grant’s Hill
System included: 1 pump, 1 steam boiler, 1 reservoir, & 1.5 miles of pipe
Cost - $111,000
First Pumped Water System
• First 3 yr of operation-
Daily pumpage only 40,000 gal/day
pumping engine operated only 21 hr/wk
Households strictly limited in water use
Frequent pipe breaks due to weak mains
PITTSBURGH IN THE YEAR 1840. A LITHOGRAPH PRINTED IN NUREMBURG, GERMANY BY C. BERG.
1844 Upgrade
• Cecil Alley Pump Station and Grant Hill Reservoir abandoned
• Larger pump station built at 11th St & Etna St
• 7.5 million gallon reservoir built at Prospect St & Elm St
1844 Upgrade
• New pump station contained 2 steam-driven pumps (‘Samson’ & ‘Hercules’)
• Combined pump capacity = 9 mgd
• Pumped almost continuously for 40 yr
• Water bills: $3-$10 per year per household $20-$40 per year per hotel $15-$150 per year per factory
1848 Upgrade
• Required by continued expansion of city to eastern hill section & Great Fire of 1845
• Additional reservoir built at Erin St & Bedford Ave (2.7 mil gal capacity)
• Additional pump station built to feed new reservoir
• System delivered water to 6,600 locations thru 21 miles of pipe
1870 Upgrade
• 1867 – 14 wards annexed to city
(additional 35,000 people)
• Additional pumps added to existing stations
• Temporary pump station built at 45th &
Allegheny River
(pumped <1mgd and used until 1879)
1879 Upgrade
• By 1878: population = 106,000 daily pumpage = 15 mgd
• 1879 – Highland Res. #1 built (125 mil gal)
Brilliant Pump Station constructed
Brilliant Hill Res. built (never used)
• 1880 - Herron Hill Res & Pump Station built (replaced by larger pump station in 1897)
Brilliant Pumping Station (late 1800’s)
Carnegie Lake
Construction of Herron Hill Reservoir
Herron Hill Reservoir
1880’s-1890’s Upgrades
• 1880’s – Meters installed
• Early 1880’s - small tanks & pump
stations built for Garfield &
Lincoln neighborhoods
• 1903 – Highland #2 Res built (125 mil gal)
HAIGHLAND #2 RESERVIOR
CONSTRUCTION OF HIGHLAND #2 RESERVIOR
HIGHLAND RESERVIOR #2 INFLUENT
CONSTRUCTION OF HIGHLAND #2
RISING MAIN LEADING TO HIGHLAND #2
PIPE LEADING TO HIGHLAND #2 RESERVIOR
Consolidation of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, & Monongahela Water
Systems
• 1907 – Pittsburgh & Allegheny Cities combined
• 1908 – Pittsburgh purchased Monongahela Water Company
Northside Water System
• 1849 – Allegheny constructed pump station on River Ave & reservoir on Troy Hill
• 1882 - Allegheny built Howard Pump Station (supplied tanks on Spring Hill and
Nunnerey Hill from River Ave PS)
• 1896 – Allegheny built Montrose PS (cost = $2 mil, capacity = 36mgd) (operated until 1914)
Southside Water System
• Monongahela Water Company served Southside prior to its annexation to Pgh
• 1865 – PS built at Mon River at 29th St Birmingham Res built on 30th St
• 1875 – Small PS built at Birmingham Res to service hill section
Southside Water System
• 1895-1904 – 3 Allentown Tanks built
• 1908 – Pgh purchased Mon Water Company
• By 1930 – Little of Mon Water System still in service (other than Allentown tanks and distribution mains)
Fire Protection
• A critical mission for public water supply is fire protection
• Earliest houses in Pittsburgh were of log construction and built 30 to 60 ft apart
• Later houses were frame and built closer
• Initial firefighting method – ‘Bucket Brigade’
Fire Protection
• 1794 – Eagle Fire Company formed (First elected engineer = John Johnson)
City population = 1000
Fire station located on 1st Ave near Chancery Lane
Utilized hand-operated pumper called the ‘Eagle’
Fire Protection
Additional Fire companies organized-
1802 – Allegheny Fire Company
1811 – Vigilant Fire Company
1815 – Neptune Fire Company
1816 – Ordinance requiring leather buckets
Fire Protection
• 1859 – First steam-driven firepumper
(nicknamed the ‘Steam Boat’
by other fire companies)
• 1870 – Pittsburgh’s first paid fire company
(end of volunteer fire companies)
The Steamer of the Pittsburgh Fire Department with the Eagle Company’s horse-drawn engines.
Great Fire of 1845
• City population – 22,000
• April 10, 1845 Noon – Sparks from washerwoman’s wash pot ignite stable at Ferry St & 2nd Ave 6pm – Fire was finally burning itself out
Smithfield St Bridge blown up by residents
Great Fire of 1845
• Losses –
2 deaths 12,000 people homeless approx 1/3 of city destroyed (56 acres) 982 buildings destroyed $6 to $8 million damage
• Contributing factor – Lack of water “When the firefighters attached their hoses, they found only a weak sickly stream of muddy water”
Great Fire of 1845
“In all this vast space, the very heart of the city,
including most of the warehouses of our manu-
facturers, and our principal wholesale grocers
and commission merchants, there is not one
house standing that we know of”
Gazette – April 11, 1845
BEFORE THE FIRE. A PAINTING MADE IN THE EARLY MONTHS OF 1845 BY GEORGE BREED.
THE BURNING OF PITTSBURGH as painted by William Coventry Wall two days after the devastation.
THE BURNT OUT CITY A Contemporary painting by William C. Wall
First 50 yr of Public Water Supply
• Construction of the water system was the largest expenditure made by city
(40% of all municipal spending)
• Water services not evenly distributed (working class neighborhoods served less than affluent areas) (1872 Water Commission ruling relating pipe size to potential revenue)
SECOND CENTURY
(emphasis on water quality)
Need for Water Treatment
• Throughout 19th century – no treatment
• 1855 – John Snow demonstrated relationship between drinking water quality and cholera
• Disease in Pittsburgh indicated need for water treatment
Cholera
• Like London – Pittsburgh experienced cholera outbreaks (1832,1833,1834,1849,1850,1854,1855)
• 1832 – outbreak appeared first in other cities
Religious leaders urged “a day for fasting, humiliation, and prayer, that God would avert the danger threatening the country from Asiatic cholera”
Cholera
• 1833 – Outbreak returned with even
greater virulence
Newspapers suppressed info
on epidemic
100 cases treated & 75 deaths
Cholera
• 1849 – Southside was hardest hit
Birmingham almost depopulated by residents fleeing to countryside
Outbreak almost halted river travel
Coal fire or pitch pot on every street
CHOLERA EPIDEMICS“Cholera Epidemics kept Pittsburgh in fear. Coal fires and pitch pots were lit in the streets, expecting that the flames would kill the cause of the disease. Hundreds perished in 1832, 1833, 1834, 1849, 1850, 1854 and 1855.” As stated in the book PITTSBURGH the Story of an American City, by Stefan Lorant.
Cholera
• 1854 – worst outbreak of all
400 deaths in two weeks
Howard Association formed to deal with epidemic
Recently opened Mercy Hospital treated victims
Typhoid Fever• Typhoid indicated the need for water treatment in Pittsburgh
• Pittsburgh 1907: city population – 535,330 typhoid cases – 5,652 typhoid deaths – 648 typhoid = 7% of all city deaths
• Typhoid death rate for Pittsburgh - (121 deaths/100,000 population)
• Typhoid death rate for 56 US cities - (31 deaths/100,000 population)
Typhoid Deaths per 100,000
Typhoid Fever
• Residents urged to boil water
• Bottled water usage among highest in US
• Immigrants ignored boil water advisory “You cannot make the foreigner believe that Pittsburgh water is unwholesome”
Typhoid Fever
• By 1900 – More than 350,000 inhabitants
in 75 communities upstream of
Pittsburgh were discharging
untreated sanitary and industrial
wastes into Allegheny River
Drinking Water Treatment
• Typhoid statistics and obvious contamination of river water prompted
calls for water treatment
Drinking Water Treatment
• Three Options -
1) Accept status quo
2) Obtain water from uncontaminated upstream source
3) Filtration
Drinking Water Treatment
• 1847–Water filtration first suggested
• 1894–Joint Commission of Chamber of Commerce, Allegheny Medical Society, Engineers’ Society of Western PA, and Iron City Microscopical Society, recommended filtration & constructed pilot filter
“Pittsburgh and Allegheny City water supplies are not only not up to standard but are pernicious”
Drinking Water Treatment
• 1896 – Council appointed Filtration Comm.
(published report recommending
slow sand filtration)
• 1899 & 1904–voters approve bond issues
• 1904 – construction of filter plant begins
Slow Sand Filtration Plant
• Original plant consisted of –
Ross Pump Station
Sedimentation basins
46 then 56 Slow sand filters
Clearwell
ALLEGHENY RIVER INTAKE
Ross Pumping Station (early 1900’s)
Ross original steam pumps
Ross original steam pumps
Filtration Plant Sedimentation Basins (Early 1900’s)
Construction of Slow Sand Filters (Circa 1905)
Construction of Slow Sand Filters (Circa 1905)
Completed Slow Sand Filters
Maintenance of Slow Sand Filters
Isometric view from Highland Park of three pumping stations and filtration plant of the City Water Supply.
In 1923, the treatment plant had the distinction of being the largest sand filtration plant in the world.
Heinz Sauerkraut Factory
Heinz Cabbage Field
Additional Improvements• 1911 – chlorine disinfection initiated
• 1912 – Southside served by Highland Res. #2 Mission Pump Station built (South 29th St PS abandoned)
• 1914 – Cabbage Hill Res & Aspinwall Pump Station built (Montrose PS, Troy Hill PS,& Troy Hill Res abandoned)
• 1920s – McNaugher & Brashear Reservoirs built (Montgomery, Lafeyette, & Greentree Tanks abandoned)
Effects on Public Health
• 1907 – 3800 typhoid cases & 373 deaths
• 1915 – 146 typhoid cases & 21 deaths
Typhoid Deaths per 100,000
St Patrick’s Day Flood - 1936
• Worst flood in Pittsburgh history
• By March 1 – 53 in. of snow vs 28 in.
• March 16/17 – 450F & 2 in. rain
• March 18 – Rivers crested at 46 ft. (normal pool = 16 ft.)
• 15 feet of river water on Golden Triangle streets
St Patrick’s Day Flood - 1936
• Deaths – 153 throughout Ohio Valley 69 in Pittsburgh region 45 in City of Pittsburgh
• $250 million damage
• No electricity for 1 week
• Numerous fires
• Widespread loss of gas, telephone, & transportatio
St Patrick’s Day Flood - 1936
• March 18 – Flood waters inundated Ross, Aspinwall, & Brilliant Pump Stations
• March 20 – stored drinking water began to run out
Higher altitude neighborhoods lost water pressure & supply
St Patrick’s Day Flood - 1936
• March 20 – Brilliant Pump Station resumed operation
• March 21 – Ross Pump resumed operation
• March 23 – Aspinwall Pump Station resumed operation • Much of distribution system never lost water service due to extensive storage capacity
• Backup water provided to 30 hospitals
St Patrick’s Day Flood - 1936
• Mitigation steps following flood-
Series of 9 flood control dams & reservoirs constructed on Allegheny
Pump controls elevated
Future plant additions built above flood plane
More Recent Improvements
• 1950’s – Chemical treatment initiated
• 1962 – Clarifier constructed
• 1969 – Rapid sand filter plant built
• 1990’s – Reservoirs covered
• 2002 – Membrane filtration plant built
Highland Reservoir #2
Membrane Filtration Plant
Highland Reservoir #1
THIRD CENTURY (emphasis on water quality, sustainability,
& green technology)
• 1984 – PWSA formed
purpose = oversee $200 million capital
improvement program
• 1995 – Pgh Water Dept became part of PWSA
purpose = manage day to day
operations & maintain
extensive infrastructure
Regionalization
• Major goal – sell water regionally
• Current customers: Fox Chapel Blawnox Reserve Township Aspinwall Millvale Hampton Township (partial)
Major Challenges
• Increasingly stringent water quality regulations
• Maintain aging infrastructure
• Source water protection
• Energy optimization (e.g., hydroelectric energy generation)
Pittsburgh Water Treatment Plant