Douglas D. Schumann Library & Learning Commons: CIVE 3800-01: Engineering Boston: Water Supply

Internet Resources on Boston's Water Supply

BLC: Chestnut Hill Reservoir and Pump Stations Study Report
This Boston Landmarks Commission report documents the architectural and historical aspects of the reservoir and its pump buildings.
Boston Aqueduct Corporation: First Report (1834)
Engineer Loammi Baldwin recommends a plan for supplying Boston with pure water from Long Pond in Natick.
Boston Aqueduct Corporation: Second Report (1835)
In this report, Loammi Baldwin examines the practicality of bringing water into Boston from Jamaica Pond.
BPL: Boston Water Works Reports
An online archive of reports from Boston's water and sewer commissions, as well as early proposals for the supply of pure water to the city. Covers the years 1834-present.
BPL: Public Works/Engineers Departmental Reports
An online archive of consisting of City Engineer Reports (1867-1910) and Public Works Department Reports (1911-1987/88).
BWSC: Water History
A short history of Boston's water supply and distribution system.
Documentary History of American Waterworks: Boston
Provides maps, diagrams, and links to publications that trace the history of the Boston water supply from its beginnings to the 21st century.
The Great Spring: Boston, Massachusetts
This Atlas Obscura entry describes the location of the spring that supplied Boston with its water for 200 years,
History of Sanitary Sewers
A collection of sewer history materials that covers the era from approximately 3500 BCE through the 1930s CE.
History of the Boston Water Works, from 1868 to 1876.
A supplement to Bradlee's 1868 history of Boston's water supply system.
History of the Introduction of Pure Water into the City of Boston, with a Description of its Cochituate Water Works (1868)
Describes the various sources of Boston's water supply in the mid-19th-century.

Jamaica Pond and Boston's Water System
This PowerPoint presentation by Marcis Kempe, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Waterworks Museum, describes early attempts to secure a reliable supply of fresh water on the Shawmut peninsula.

Jamaica Pond and Boston’s Water System
The transcription of a talk given by water historian Marcis Kempe.
Metropolitan Waterworks Museum
Provides historical and engineering information on the Boston waterworks, one of the first in the nation.
MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel, Part 1 (Video)
This 1998 MWRA video provides an overview of the project that gave Boston a second supply tunnel (10 mins).
MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel, Part 2 (Video)
Mr. Shattuck's Letter to Jonathan Preston on the Water Question (1845)
Lemuel Shattuck addresses the question of whether water should be piped into Boston from a Lake Cochituate (Long Pond).
MWRA: The Water System
Reports and statistics on the water supply of metropolitan Boston, its quality, and on water projects under construction.
New England Water Supplies – A Brief History
This 2006 article traces 385 years of the region's water supply history.
The Past & Present of the Quabbin Reservoir (Video)
A short film on the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir and its continuing importance to the environmental health of Massachusetts.
The Quabbin Reservoir
Watershed maps and a brochure that describes the reservoir and its history.
Report of the Massachusetts State Board of Health upon a Metropolitan Water Supply (1895)
A report on the practicality of including the Boston suburbs, within a 10-mile radius from the State House, in a single metropolitan water system.
The Swift River Valley
Tells how the Quabbin Reservoir was created by clearing and flooding the the former villages of Dana, Prescott, Enfield, and Greenwich.
Thoughts about Water by a Selfish Tax Payer (1844)
An anonymous pamphlet against several schemes to bring water into Boston by the Boston Aqueduct Corporation.
Town of Brookline Water Supply Report (1873)
This report details the difficult choices faced by Brookline in finding water from local sources to supply its expanding population.
The Water in the Wood
This illustrated article describes the use of bored wooden logs as water mains in colonial America, Similar pipes have been uncovered from time to time in Boston.
Water Supply and Work of the Metropolitan Water District (1900)
A history of Boston's efforts to secure a plentiful supply of water in the 19th century.

Books and E-books on the Boston Water Supply

City Water, City Life: Water and the Infrastructure of Ideas in Urbanizing Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago by Carl Smith
Call Number: 363.610973 .S65 2013
ISBN: 022602251X
Publication Date: 2013
Great Waters: A History of Boston's Water Supply by Fern L. Nesson
Call Number: 363.610974461 N5
ISBN: 0874512239
Publication Date: 1983
The Creation of Quabbin Reservoir: Death of the Swift River Valley by J. R. Greene
Call Number: 363.6109744 G7
ISBN: 0960940405
Publication Date: 1987-