Croton Aqueduct

The Croton Aqueduct or Old Croton Aqueduct was a large and complex water distribution system constructed for New York City between 1837 and 1842. It was one of the first great modern aqueducts and transported water by the force of gravity alone 41 miles (66 km) from the Croton River in Westchester County into reservoirs in Manhattan, where local water resources had become polluted and inadequate for the growing population of the city. Although the aqueduct was supplemented and largely superseded by the New Croton Aqueduct, which was built in 1890, the Old Croton Aqueduct remained in service until 1955.

Background

The island of Manhattan, surrounded by brackish rivers, had a limited supply of fresh water available, which dwindled as the city grew rapidly after the American Revolutionary War, and fresh water sources became polluted by effluent. Before the aqueduct was constructed, residents of New York obtained water from cisterns, wells, natural springs, and other bodies of water. But rapid population growth in the 19th century, and encroachment on these areas as Manhattan moved further north of Wall Street, led to the pollution of many local fresh water sources. Below Grand Street, a small number of well-off customers of the Manhattan Company had fresh water delivered to them, but that company was actually more focused on banking – it eventually became Chase Manhattan – and only paid as much attention on its water activities as it needed to not lose the state charter that allowed it to bank. The poor and the rest of the city were forced to rely on well water, often made palatable by adding alcoholic spirits, prompting temperance campaigners to call vigorously for the municipal provision of water.