Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
they almost doubled in 20 years. In the 1870s alone, they more than dou-
bled. By 1880, some water supplies were evolving into modern city-wide
systems. Not only did they deliver greater quantities of water over a larger
area; they also included rudimentary safeguards to ensure purity. A growing
preoccupation with water quality (a direct result of the sanitary movement)
was bringing attention to filtration techniques and new methods of water
treatment. City leaders and sanitarians were demanding more from their
water-supply service than convenience at the tap.
By the 1870s, the trend toward more public water supplies was evident.
The crucialness of adequate supplies of water to meet the needs of citizens,
commercial establishments, and industry—and the emerging mandate of
cities to protect the public health—meant that authorities in the largest
urban areas at least wanted centralized systems under their direct control.
Boosterism was an additional motivation, since an effective water system
was a powerful promotional tool for city leaders seeking to enhance a city's
economic base. Though many water companies had been very profitable,
capital investment in the more modern systems (with reservoirs, pumps, and
elaborate distribution networks) was steep, and operating costs were on the
rise. Private service, therefore, was gradually phasing out in several commu-
nities. In addition, public control of the water supply enhanced the author-
ity of city government relative to that of the legislature or that of rival cities,
thus private owners often were under pressure to sell out, particularly
through less lucrative franchises.
The desire of city leaders to convert private systems into public ones, or
to build new public systems, rested on more than the will to do so.The cen-
tral issue was the ability of cities to incur debt to fund major projects and
to sustain the high costs of operating the new technologies of sanitation.As
the nineteenth century unfolded, city finances underwent changes in scope
and complexity that ultimately made the development of public sanitary
systems achievable.
23
In most cases, a combination of local circumstances
and the experience of other cities influenced the shift from private to
public.
24
Boston suffered under many years of water-supply politics before it
developed a system in the 1840s. In 1796, Governor Samuel Adams
approved a General Court act creating the Aqueduct Corporation, which
constructed a line from Jamaica Pond in Roxbury to the city. The system
was extended in 1803 with the addition of new mains and fire plugs.There
was no further attempt to improve the system until 1825. Between 1825
