Sanitation and Water Disposal Sites

The National Youth Administration built culverts on S. 1st St. in Merkel, Taylor County. A site marker reads, "Constructed by National Youth Administration 1940."

Starting in 1937, the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed approximately 5,830 linear feet masonry curb and gutter in Carrizozo, New Mexico under WPA Official Project # 65-85-1199. Much of it survives today.

In 1938, the Public Works Administration (PWA) allotted $200,000 for the construction of a large garage for the garbage trucks of the District of Columbia’s Refuse Division. The garage was completed in September 1939.  It is a flat-roofed, single-story, brick Moderne building with bas-relief pilasters between the bays and a white fringe around the top. The DC government described the garage in its fiscal year 1939 report:  “Plans and specifications for this project were prepared by the City Refuse Division under the supervision of the Municipal Architect’s Office. The building will be capable of housing from 80-100 trucks of the division’s fleet...

The WPA conducted extensive work at former Delaware Ordnance Depot, located on the west side of Route 130 about halfway between Penns Grove and Pedricktown. Many buildings and much of the infrastructure from the time is still extant. WPA projects at the old Ordnance Depot included: "Improve buildings and grounds by constructing magazines and rail facilities, barracks, dispensary, offers and non‐commissioned officers quarters, roads, sidewalks and utilities, landscaping; and performing appurtenant and incidental tasks." Official Project Number: 713‐2‐19 Total project cost: $900,000.00 Sponsor: Commanding Officer, Delaware Ordnance Depot, and War Department "A non‐construction project to improve and rehabilitate buildings, public utility systems, water supply and gypsy...

The CCC worked at what is now Denali National Park for two summers in 1938 and 1939. "The Mount McKinley National Park Headquarters District in what is now called Denali National Park was the original administrative center of the park. It contains an extensive collection of National Park Service Rustic structures, primarily designed by the National Park Service's Branch of Plans and Designs in the 1930s... As the hub of park administrative and management, the headquarters area expanded according to detailed plans provided by the Branch of Plans and Design. As in many of the national parks during the Depression, the Civilian...

Battle Creek, Michigan received a water disposal facility as part of a large Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project. The P.W.A. supplied a $368,000 loan and $144,832 grant for the project, whose total cost was $517,726. Construction occurred between 1934 and 1936. The exact location and status of the project is presently unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. MI 2808

Beaver, Oklahoma's old sewage disposal plant was constructed during the Great Depression with the assistance of a federal Public Work Administration (PWA) grant. Construction occurred between 1938 and 1939. The exact location and current status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. OK 1274

The Public Works Administration project 1408 provided a grant of $20,250 for disposal plant for the city of Corinth. The project was approved 10/2/1936, construction started 1/18/1937, and was completed 6/12/1937 for a total cost of $46,505. WPA provided an additional $1,104 for a sludge bed and grading on site in September 1937 following the June completion of the sewage plant. The Corinth treatment plant was abandoned when the city built a new one in 1972.

A disposal plant construction project in Follett, Texas was undertaken in 1936 with Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The P.W.A. provided a $14,000 loan and $10,366 grant for the project, whose total cost was $23,023. The location and status of the facility is presently unknown to Living New Deal. P.W.A. Docket No. TX 2810

A disposal plant construction project in Fort Stockton, Texas was undertaken in 1934-5 with Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The P.W.A. provided a $46,500 loan and $14,445 grant for the project, whose total cost was $61,373. The location and status of the facility is presently unknown to Living New Deal. P.W.A. Docket No. TX 2915

Gladstone, Michigan received a water disposal facility as part of a large Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project. The P.W.A. supplied a $35,170 grant for the project, whose total cost was $78,420. Construction occurred in 1936. The exact location and status of the project is presently unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. MI 1150

A water disposal plant construction project in Marlborough, Mass. was undertaken with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. PWA Docket No. MA 760

A water disposal plant construction project in North Adams, Mass. was undertaken with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. PWA Docket No. MA 1273

A wastewater disposal plant construction project in Peterstown, West Virginia was undertaken with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $10,000 loan and $4,003 grant toward the $13,979 eventual total cost of the project. Work occurred between Dec. 1934 and Jun. 1935. The location and status of the facility are unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. 1925

Newcastle was approved 2/28/1934 for construction of a sanitation disposal plant by the PWA. The project was awarded 8/30/1934 and work started 12/10/1934. The project was funded with a loan of $24,500, grant of $9,322, for a total expenditure of $33,444 when the project was completed 6/13/1935. The location of the project is presently unknown to Living New Deal.

Emporia Gazette: "Cottonwood Falls, June 1,—Two CWA projects in Chase county which were started earlier in theyear have been completed. One the improvement of the disposal plant for this city which was finished this week." The location and present status of the disposal plant are presently unknown to Living New Deal.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed more than 1,000 feet of sewer line along Dorsey Street in Watertown, New York.

Multiple municipal improvement projects were conducted in West Hartford in 1937-8 utilizing Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor. One such project involved storm sewer construction along Dover Road.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a drainage canal in the vicinity of Buckeye, Arizona during the 1930s. The exact location and present status of the canal is unknown to Living New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration built a stonework drainage culvert in San Antonio Heights, CA (mailing address is Upland, CA- San Antonio Heights is unincorporated). On the curb, there is a plaque that says "Improved by the Works Progress Administration and San Bernardino County 1936-1937"

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) conducted numerous projects in Nome, Alaska, including construction of drains. Per The Nome Nugget: The Nome Committee of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration is still carrying on work in Nome. About ten men are at work constructing a main drain from First Avenue on the corner by the Office of Indian Affairs north to the corner by the U. S. Weather Bureau blocks away. At present the men are digging a ditch for the placing of the drain which is made of wood. A steam boiler is being used to thaw frozen ground. This work is being...

The Works Progress Administration installed new sewer lines on Dronningens Gade in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.

The WPA installed sidewalks, curbs and gutters in Dunnigan's Old Town. Most are stamped WPA/1940 on Main, First, Second, and Hayes.

In February 1935, "16 FERA workers complete a storm water sewer project on Hubbell Avenue in Ansonia. They will now join 18 other FERA workers doing a similar project on Dwight Street."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built sewer lines in front of the Washington Auditorium in Washington DC. Pictured are work crews building the sewer lines in 1936. The Washington Auditorium, built in the 1920s and demolished in 1964, was located on E Street NW.  The site is now an extension of Rawlins Park. Washington Auditorium hosted the inaugural ball of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration leased the entire building in 1935 – which may be why a new sewer was put in place in front.  It subsequently held the US Geological Survey and other federal offices.

The Works Progress Administration built a sewer system running from East Avenue, Charleston to Montrose Drive, South Charleston. “Construction of brick sewer to connect storm and sanitary sewer with sewer from East avenue to Kanawha river, also to connect under Montrose drive. South Charleston.” East Avenue is now called MacCorkle Avenue. The general location of the project is in the vicinity of the river.

The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District in 1936.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.   The New Deal provided extensive aid towards improving the new parks for public recreation, working with the Parks District's first general manager, Elbert Vail. Overall, the New Deal agencies spent roughly $3 million on the East Bay parks, about double the tax funds available to the EBRPD over the same period  (Stein 1984, p. 18) Even before the parks...

W.P.A. project description: "The three projects, which were approved and on which work was started late in the year, provide for the reconstruction of: ... East Border Road, from Fellsway East, Maiden to Highland Avenue, Medford, 2,900 feet in length. All these roads will have a width of 30 feet and have a 5-inch bituminous concrete surface on a 12-inch gravel base. Also, an 8-ft. wide, 2-inch bituminous surfaced walk will be constructed adjacent to and for the whole length of each road. Work will include excavation of earth, rock and ledge, installation of drainage systems, filling and grading, loaming and...

The National Archives photo caption for this picture of sewer tunnel work,  records the project as a "...tunnel for sanitary sewer - 42 feet under East Lincoln Ave," in Mount Vernon City, Westchester County, New York.

The Public Works Administration financed the construction of the facility with an $8,990,000 grant. Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plant is one of three wastewater and sewerage treatment facilities in the Cleveland area. According to a 2015 Pittsburg Post and Gazette article, the system services 1 million people and $3 million was spent to upgrade the facility to double treatment from 200 million to 400 million gallons a day with work completed in 2019. According to NORSD, "he oldest of our facilities, Easterly is located in Cleveland, in the same location where it has stood since 1908. The plant treats wastewater from homes and...

The federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) furnished the cost of labor for the construction of a 750-foot-long sewer along Elm Street in Hatfield, Massachusetts, including four catch basins for storm water. The Town of Hatfield supplied only the cost of materials for the project.

"The federal government’s New Deal programs, specifically the Works Progress Administration and the Public Works Administration, also played a direct role in Rock Hill’s economic recovery. ... PWA funds coupled with local bond money, improved several Rock Hill schools. A sewer system, assembly hall, and classrooms were added to the desperately overcrowded African American high school, Emmett Scott." The facility was demolished in 1952.

The W.P.A. conducted the following work along Bradley Road, since renamed Ethan Allen Parkway. Photo caption, UVM: "Photograph dated Oct. 17, 1941. Original caption reads: Bradley Road Sewer: This view is taken from a point near the intersection of North Avenue looking easterly toward the Poor Farm. This picture was taken after the North End Sewer construction had been completed and numerous large and small pine trees had been eliminated on the southerly side of the street as well as some excavation as shown in the right foreground bordering Ethan Allen Park. Note that the electric light and telephone pole line...

"The project began in October of 1938 and ran 6.5 miles of sewer pipes through Everett. At a cost of $110,839 the project improved the sewer system throughout Everett at no cost to residents." (https://depts.washington.edu)

"'In the Bronx, the reconstruction of an outfall sewer under Exterior Street near Broadway developed into one of the big engineering jobs at the NYC WPA. This sewer had been laid in the bed of the old Harlem River after the building of the Ship Canal.' It saved neighboring buildings from flooding with sewage."

The FWA constructed two sewers as part of the work done in Fairfax County. From the Washington Post: “The biggest sewer job in this area is the 20-mile Fairfax County trunk sewer costing approximately $1,500,000. There are two branches of the sewer. One starts at Lee Highway near Falls Church, and the other at Lee Highway a few miles beyond Falls Church which follows Tripps and Holmes Runs joining below the Barcroft Reservoir of the Alexandria Water Company. From that point the sewer follows Holmes and Cameron Runs to the lower part of the county and discharges into the Potomac...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed storm sewers in the Fairmount section of Hackensack in 1936. They worked to construct and improve sewers along Lincoln St. and Summit Ave.

Multiple municipal improvement projects were conducted in West Hartford in 1937-8 utilizing Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor. One such project involved storm sewer construction along Fern Street.

A substantial infrastructure development project was undertaken in downtown McKeesport as part of a New Deal project, sponsored by the Public Works Administration (PWA). According to the Pittsburgh Press the project involved: "Raising and paving of Fifth Avenue and adjacent streets and alleys, approximately 3380 feet long, grant of $388,350, total estimated cost $863,000. The project provides also for elevating a number of houses to conform to the new street grade line." The eventual total cost was listed as $849,659, and the project also involved sewer construction. PWA Docket No. PA 1504

Green River, Utah's old water treatment plant underwent development during the Great Depression with the assistance of a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) grant. Construction occurred between December 1938 and July 1939. The exact location and status of the structure is unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. UT 1227