HISTORY OF THE PITTSBURGH PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY(1802 to present)

A Very Brief History of Water Supply300 B.C. Roman EmpireAqueducts and lead plumbing2000 B.C. - CreteWooden pipe/stone sewers1200 A.D. - United Kingdom 5.5 km lead pipeline delivered water from Tyburne Brook to London1664 A.D. - France25 km Iron pipe from Marly-on-Seine to the Palace of Versailles

A Very Brief History of Water Supply1817 - Philadelphia, PACast iron pipe1754 - Bethlehem, PABored logs with lead joints 1842-1893 - New York City Croton Water Supply (upland)Tunnels and iron pipe1913 - Los AngelesOwens Valley AqueductInfamous interbasin transfer1829 London,England1st Sand Filter (Chelsea Waterworks)

PITTSBURGH

1794 organized as a Borough

1816 incorporated as a City

Sources of WaterBack in the DayRiver 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 DayNatural Springs-flowing out of the hills Springs at foot of Grants Hill utilized from 1780s till 1840

People complained of sulfur smell

Sources of WaterBack in the DayWells

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 System1802 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 SystemCost 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 SystemBy 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 System1828 First pumped system constructed

Supervisory committee Messers. Fairman, Magee, Denny, Carson, Hayes

PS located at foot of Cecil Alley

First Pumped Water SystemPumped to 1 million gal reservoir on Grants Hill

System included: 1 pump, 1 steam boiler, 1 reservoir, & 1.5 miles of pipe

Cost - $111,000

First Pumped Water SystemFirst 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 UpgradeCecil 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 UpgradeRequired 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 Upgrade1867 14 wards annexed to city (additional 35,000 people)

Additional pumps added to existing stations

Temporary pump station built at 45th & Allegheny River (pumped

1879 UpgradeBy 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 1800s)

Carnegie Lake

Construction of Herron Hill Reservoir

Herron Hill Reservoir

1880s-1890s Upgrades1880s Meters installed

Early 1880s - 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 System1849 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 SystemMonongahela 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 ProtectionA 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 Protection1794 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 ProtectionAdditional Fire companies organized-

1802 Allegheny Fire Company 1811 Vigilant Fire Company 1815 Neptune Fire Company

1816 Ordinance requiring leather buckets

Fire Protection1859 First steam-driven firepumper (nicknamed the Steam Boat by other fire companies) 1870 Pittsburghs first paid fire company (end of volunteer fire companies)

The Steamer of the Pittsburgh Fire Department with the Eagle Companys horse-drawn engines.

Great Fire of 1845City population 22,000

April 10, 1845 Noon Sparks from washerwomans 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 1845Losses

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 1845In 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 SupplyConstruction 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 TreatmentThroughout 19th century no treatment

1855 John Snow demonstrated relationship between drinking water quality and cholera

Disease in Pittsburgh indicated need for water treatment

CholeraLike 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

Cholera1833 Outbreak returned with even greater virulence

Newspapers suppressed info on epidemic

100 cases treated & 75 deaths

Cholera1849 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 EPIDEMICSCholera 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.

Cholera1854 worst outbreak of all

400 deaths in two weeks

Howard Association formed to deal with epidemic

Recently opened Mercy Hospital treated victims

Typhoid FeverTyphoid 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 FeverResidents 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 TreatmentThree Options -

1) Accept status quo

2) Obtain water from uncontaminated upstream source

3) Filtration

Drinking Water Treatment1847Water filtration first suggested

1894Joint 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 Treatment1896 Council appointed Filtration Comm. (published report recommending slow sand filtration)

1899 & 1904voters approve bond issues

1904 construction of filter plant begins

Slow Sand Filtration PlantOriginal plant consisted of

Ross Pump Station Sedimentation basins 46 then 56 Slow sand filters Clearwell

ALLEGHENY RIVER INTAKE

Ross Pumping Station (early 1900s)

Ross original steam pumps

Ross original steam pumps

Filtration Plant Sedimentation Basins (Early 1900s)

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 Improvements1911 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 Patricks Day Flood - 1936Worst 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 Patricks Day Flood - 1936Deaths 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 Patricks Day Flood - 1936March 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 Patricks Day Flood - 1936March 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 Patricks Day Flood - 1936Mitigation 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 Improvements1950s Chemical treatment initiated

1962 Clarifier constructed

1969 Rapid sand filter plant built

1990s 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

*****