Sanitation and Water Disposal Sites

A storm sewer construction project in Mobridge, South Dakota was undertaken during the Great Depression with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $14,000 loan and $5,267 grant for the project, whose total cost was $19,254. Work occurred between August and October 1935. (PWA Docket No. SD 6549)

A storm sewer construction project in Sioux Falls, South Dakota was undertaken during the Great Depression with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $24,100 loan and $7,400 grant; the total cost of the project was $30,453. Work occurred between December 1934 and July 1935. (PWA Docket No. SD 1608)

In Dec. 1937 the WPA approved the construction of ".12 mile of 18-inch storm drain on Main street and .33 mile on Hauppauge road" in Smithtown, N.Y.

A sizable storm sewer construction project in Springfield, Mass. was undertaken with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. PWA Docket No. MA 1177

A storm sewer construction project in Tonawanda, New York was undertaken with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $45,000 loan and $17,949 grant toward the $60,226 eventual total cost of the project. Work occurred between April and July 1935. (PWA Docket No. NY 4533)

A storm sewer construction project in White Plains, New York was undertaken with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $94,000 loan and $64,001 grant toward the $228,811 total cost of the project. Work occurred between July 1935 and July 1936. (PWA Docket No. NY 3594)

The Works Progress Administration built storm sewers to drain a large section of Second Ward in Morgantown, Monogalia County.

The Works Progress Administration completed the extension and repair of the storm sewer system in St. Marys, Pleasants County.

During the latter half of the 1930s the federal Works Progress Administration furnished the labor for the construction of a stormwater runoff channel at Gay Street in Rockland, Maine. Rockland's 2011-12 annual town report brings to light a problem with an old New Deal project. "Since 1987 there have been increasing reoccurrences of major flooding of Lindsey Brook caused by: deterioration of a 74-year-old system built as a Depression Era WPA project"

The Civil Works Administration conducted a street and drain improvement project in Irondale, Alabama. CWA Project No. 37-C-160: 80% completed as of Mar. 31, 1934; "streets & drains". Work began Nov. 22, 1933.

The Civil Works Administration conducted a street and drain improvement project in Lipscomb, Alabama. CWA Project No. 37-C-52: completed; "streets & drains". Work began Nov. 27, 1933.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) graveled "2.1 miles of Pennsauken streets at a cost of $11,552 to WPA for labor and only $1,337 to the township for materials" in 1936. Furthermore the WPA conducted a "drainage and excavation project" involving the resurfacing of 13.9 miles of streets; "WPA cost, $322,271; township cost $25,577."

The city of Biloxi embarked on a city-wide street improvement program to surface streets and provide storm drains, funded by the Works Progress Administration between 1935 and 1937. WP-53, 2000 and 3483 for three street paving projects were completed. WP-53 and 2,000 expenditure was $72,753.50 federal and $18,938 sponsor contribution. WP-3843 was for $105,505 federal and sponsor $27,625. Work included grading and shelling, asphalt pavement, and concrete storm sewer installation .

Juneau’s streets, sidewalks and sewers were improved with the aid of New Deal federal funds during the Great Depression. A newspaper report in 1938 said that the Public Works Administration (PWA)  had allotted $170,000 for these purposes, but the 1940 Annual Report of the Governor of Alaska to the Secretary of the Interior puts the PWA contribution at approximately $75,000. The latter 1940 report also indicated that the Works Progress Administration (WPA) also contributed $5,790 to pay relief laborers to work on street improvements and $4,891 in relief labor toward the construction of the sewer system in 1939 and 1940. The locations of these improvements...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out general improvements around the city of Arcata, California, during the late 1930s and early 1940s.  Three separate projects were approved in 1937 and 1939 for street work, new water lines and new sewers. The only location specified in the WPA project cards is a sewer line at 11th and B Streets, which probably runs alongside Gannon Slough.  Locations of the others WPA works are unknown to us and further confirmation of these improvements is needed. Evidence for these New Deal works comes from WPA project cards in the National Archives.  These projects were proposed more...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a privy at the historic Sunset Hill residence in Alderson, West Virginia.

A mosquito control project was carried on from December 7, 1933 to February 1, 1934 at Old Orchard under C.W.A. funds. A swampy area adjacent to this resort was ditched to drain water which constantly remained there in a stagnant state serving as a breeding place for mosquitoes. Fifty men were employed. D. L. Moody was superintendent of the field work. Two miles of ditches were dug. Inspection in the summer of 1934 showed very satisfactory results obtained in draining this area.

"Under the auspices of the New York Department of Sanitation, between 1937 and 1944, three new wastewater treatment plants were constructed — Wards Island in Manhattan, and Bowery Bay and Tallman Island in Queens. These facilities were designed to reduce pollutants in the Harlem River and in the East River, whose dark and murky waters had some of the lowest dissolved oxygen concentrations in the harbor. During the summer months, dissolved oxygen levels were often zero, which caused unpleasant odors. The city and its waterways benefited from an infusion of funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), an ambitious public...

The WPA installed sewers in Tehachapi.

As part of a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project a combination sewer was built along a 1,019-foot stretch of Tenean Creek (since filled in / destroyed) from Pope's Hill St. north to the train tracks. P.W.A. Docket No. Mass. 4193-L

The Works Progress Administration built sewers from Tenth Street to Washington Avenue in Huntington, Cabell County.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted a project "which consisted of sewer extensions on ... Third street" in Delaware City. The project was completed in Jan. 1934.

This large storm sewer is an arch-shaped, reinforced concrete construction 14 feet in diameter, in the bed of Thompson Creek, and runs through residential and business districts in the southern part of Petaluma. It was constructed by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression. The current state of the creek and storm drain is not certain. However, here are field observations from Oct. 2014: "Providing drainage along an unnamed waterway (assumed Thompson Creek) is a reinforced concrete culvert with a single corrugated metal barrel and sloping wingwalls, arranged at a skew underneath I Street. The 5¼" concrete formwork impressions...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted drainage work at Tom Nevers Pond in Nantucket, constructing an outlet channel.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the Torrance Waterworks project. It was one of a number of New Deal water transport and disposal projects in Los Angeles County. The PWA contributed $47,307 in funds.

Multiple New Deal agencies: the Civil Works Administration, Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and Works Progress Administration, helped to develop Canonsburg, Pennsylvania's Town Park in 1934—1936. In addition to constructing its pool and Park Drive, work relief workers—according to a local the submitter met during a visit in 2017—constructed paths and staircases, stone pillars at park entrances, walls, and picnic facilities. It is unclear exactly to what extent the original Depression-era structures have been preserved. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), "approved an appropriation of more than $10,000 to complete the bath house. Another $20,000 was approved for general improvement of the park...

A water treatment / disposal facility was constructed in Auburn, New York as part of a sizable New Deal project. The Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) supplied a $353,421 grant for the project, whose total cost was $809,624. Construction occurred in 1936-7. P.W.A. Docket No. 1057

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) photo pictured here describes the project shown above as a "general view of activities on the mammoth treatment plant that is being constructed by WPA in conjunction with the new two and one half million dollar Ley Creek sewer system."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a sewer treatment plant, as well as sewer lines, in Hay Springs, Nebraska. The location and status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

In the late 1930s, the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a new sewage collection and treatment system for Tuolumne Meadows.  It replaced the original septic tanks for the campground comfort stations and was extended to take in a broader area around the campground. More information is needed on the amount and timing of the PWA funding. The old spray field system for distributing treated sewage has been recently replaced with settling ponds. It is unknown how much of the original piping survives.

The Works Progress Administration built sewers from Twenty-Eight and a Half Alley to Bungalow Avenue in Huntington, Cabell County.

The Works Progress Administration built storm sewers from Twenty-Eighth to Twenty-Third Streets in Huntington, Cabell County.

In February 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) granted Los Angeles, CA, $304,000 to begin street realignment and improvements necessary for the construction of a new railroad station. The project in its entirety was expected to employ 350 to 400 men. In 1926, Los Angeles voters were given the opportunity to choose between the construction of a network of elevated railways or a new railroad station. They chose the latter by a 61.3 to 38.7 percent margin. Union Station—which would consolidate the city's existing Central and La Grande Stations—was to be located at the historic Los Angeles Plaza. However, preservationist Christine...

Multiple projects were "planned, staked out and supervised" by West Hartford's Engineering Department in 1935-6 utilizing Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) and/or Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor. One such project involved storm sewer construction "across the St. Joseph College property north of Asylum Avenue."

In 1933, the Public Works Administration allotted $15,000 for the construction of an Upper Potomac Interceptor extension. The Evening Star described this project in its September 3rd (Sunday Star) edition: “This will complete the last link of a sewer located along the north shore of the Potomac between Rock Creek and the District line to intercept sewage discharging directly into the Upper Potomac. The section to be built is in the line of Newark street between the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and Conduit road .” In 1934, the District awarded a contract for the work to the Peter D’Amato Construction Company,...

In 1940, the the Works Progress Administration (WPA)  installed sewers on Upton Street, Reno Road, and Thirty-Seventh Street in the district's northwest quadrant. This work was part of a massive New Deal era program for Washington of sewer construction, separation of sanitary and storm sewers, and sewage treatment at the new Blue Plains facility in order to clean up the badly polluted Anacostia and Potomac Rivers.

In 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed sewers at Van Buren Street and Georgia Avenue in the district's northwest quadrant. This work was part of a massive New Deal era program for Washington of sewer construction, separation of sanitary and storm sewers, and sewage treatment at the new Blue Plains facility in order to clean up the badly polluted Anacostia and Potomac Rivers.

The Works Progress Administration built a storm sewer on Vaughn Avenue in Parkersburg, Wood County.

Before November 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed sewer lines along Venable Avenue, between 15th and 20th Streets, in the Kanawha City area of Charleston. It appears that work crews left behind such muddy conditions that Chamberlain Junior High (now Elementary) principal complained in a letter to WPA officials. At the time, the streets were known as 15th (now 44th Street) and 20th (now 49th Street). 20th Street was also known as Main Street.  

Multiple projects were "planned, staked out and supervised" by West Hartford's Engineering Department in 1935-6 utilizing Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) and/or Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor. One such project involved storm sewer construction along Vera and Jessamine Streets.