Water Supply Sites

The Municipal Water System Pumping Station is located at the corner of E. Main (MS 6) and Elliott Avenue at 34.089206, -88.621181. The small brick building is marked with a Public Works Administration dedication plaque. Concrete holding tanks remain at the rear of the building, but are not in use. The water tower (next to the pumping station) was fabricated by Taylor Iron Works. Consulting engineers were Totten & Loving and the builder/contractor was Blair, Algernon, Construction Company. The project Miss.1081 was supported by the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works with a loan of $37,000 and grant of $30,272....

According to The Crosbyton Review, PWA assistance to the tune of $6,654.61 helped the town of Crosbyton develop its waterworks.

The Sweetwater Reporter noted that the PWA provided a grant (matched by a locally approved bond issue) to the town of Aspermont, TX "in the construction of a municipal waterworks system."

Big Timber Pioneer reported in 1934 that the town of Big Timber had obtained sizable PWA funds toward the construction of a $140,000 "water works system." In January 1936, the paper reported that the project had been completed at a cost of $147,000.

WPA labor contributed to a municipal waterworks project in Columbia Falls, MT.

Big Timber Pioneer reported in early 1935: "Contract for construction of a water system at Eureka, a public works project, has been awarded to Lease & Leigland of Great Falls on a bid of $25,827, it was announced by D. A. McKinnon, state PWA engineer."

Big Timber Pioneer noted in 1934 that the PWA had allotted $45,000 toward the improvement of the waterworks in Fort Benton.

In early 1934 Big Timber Pioneer reported that the PWA allotted $3,900 for the improvement of Miles City waterworks.

The Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Public Works Administration funded the construction of municipal waterworks in Moncks Corner SC. Before the waterworks construction, the townspeople of Moncks Corner relied on individual electric pumps and wells for their water supply.

The Borger Daily Herald reported that in June 1938 the PWA gave a $35,363 grant with $42,000 in loans to Lefors, Texas for construction/improvement of the town's waterworks.

Descriptions of W.P.A. projects conducted in 1937: "Nahant Beach Reservation; the large automobile parking space adjacent to the boulevard was improved and enlarged by the completion of a project started in 1936. The area was improved and made safer for the use of automobiles by the installation of rip-rap shore protection and filling and grading of the parking space. About 3,200 cubic yards of heavy stone was placed for shore protection and 12,500 cubic yards of earth and rock were excavated and placed in regrading the auto park, the usable area of which is now about 70,000 square yards. Nahant Beach Reservation;...

This Tennessee state park was developed by several New Deal  "on land bought from residents who could no longer farm the land due to erosion." (wikipedia.org) "Three New Deal agencies, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and the Resettlement Administration, assumed responsibility for the park's initial planning and development. Like other early state parks, the Resettlement Administration relocated property owners from unproductive and overused farm land; the CCC and WPA began land replenishment and park construction. The CCC concentrated its efforts on reforestation work and instigated land stabilization programs that included the introduction of the Japanese vine...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a sizable public building improvement project in Brooklyn, New York beginning in 1935.  The project involved the "Improvement of Public Buildings and Offices" at more than 30 locations, including the no-longer-extant water pumping station located at Neptune Ave. and West 27th Street. The station was replaced by a PWA-sponsored project located a few hundred feet east.

The Newark-Pequannock Watershed is a 35,000 acre natural resource owned by the City of Newark New Jersey. “TRENTON—That it is possible for the boys of the New Jersey Civilian Conservation Corps camps to gain a varied experience and training is well illustrated by the activities of a single crew of Camp Pequannock, near Butler, that has been working on the Pequannock Watershed of the Newark Water Supply, near Newfoundland. During four months, this crew was employed in the following different types of work: Planting two, three and four-year old trees in abandoned fields and pastures… Constructing a small reservoir, laying pipe...

“The Newlands Project (originally the Carson Truckee Project) is considered Nevada’s greatest reclamation project. The Truckee-Carson Irrigation District has operated the irrigation system since 1926. By the 1930s, the Newlands Project needed to be enlarged and overhauled if Fallon Farmers were to stay in business. The bureau was also concerned with the efficiency of irrigation systems in the Pershing County Water Conservation District in Lovelock, the Washoe County Water Conservation District in Reno, and the Walker River Irrigation District in Yerington. By 1935, five Bureau of Reclamation CCC camps had been established to store water and enlarge and upgrade existing irrigation...

“The Newlands Project (originally the Carson Truckee Project) is considered Nevada’s greatest reclamation project. The Truckee-Carson Irrigation District has operated the irrigation system since 1926. By the 1930s, the Newlands Project needed to be enlarged and overhauled if Fallon Farmers were to stay in business. The bureau was also concerned with the efficiency of irrigation systems in the Pershing County Water Conservation District in Lovelock, the Washoe County Water Conservation District in Reno, and the Walker River Irrigation District in Yerington. By 1935, five Bureau of Reclamation CCC camps had been established to store water and enlarge and upgrade existing irrigation...

“The Newlands Project (originally the Carson Truckee Project) is considered Nevada’s greatest reclamation project. The Truckee-Carson Irrigation District has operated the irrigation system since 1926. By the 1930s, the Newlands Project needed to be enlarged and overhauled if Fallon Farmers were to stay in business. The bureau was also concerned with the efficiency of irrigation systems in the Pershing County Water Conservation District in Lovelock, the Washoe County Water Conservation District in Reno, and the Walker River Irrigation District in Yerington. By 1935, five Bureau of Reclamation CCC camps had been established to store water and enlarge and upgrade existing...

The Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) reconstructed Framingham's Nipmuc Road in 1940. Town Report, 1940: Portions of Nipmuc Road between Wood Avenue and Row Street had settled materially because of the poor foundation conditions existing there and the sewer, drain and water pipes in the same went down with the street surface. These pipes were all relaid on wood pile and concrete slab foundations, and the street was rebuilt and restored to its original grade.

Multiple New Deal agencies worked to develop the North Chagrin Reservation outside Cleveland, Ohio. "Over the course of the 1930s the reservation was modernized with graded roads, permanent trails, sewage and water infrastructure, and shelter houses, much of this construction undertaken by federal and state public works programs. Between 1933 and 1937, workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps camp at neighboring Euclid Creek Reservation laid out miles of hiking and bridle trails in North Chagrin. Similar projects funded through the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, National Youth Administration, and WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION included an enlarged trailside museum, picnic and parking areas, the...

Two New Deal work relief programs: the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) were responsible for the construction of a dam north of Black Mountain, North Carolina, part of a massive project to improve the water supply for Asheville. Work at the site also included construction of a chlorination plant and caretaker's house for said. The status of the structures is unknown to Living New Deal. Asheville Citizen-Times: "Begun Under CWA In 1933, Resumed By FERA In 1934 With completion of the North Pork water line project by forces of the North Carolina Emergency Relief administration recently, the supply...

On August 22, 1933, Public Works Administration (PWA) chief Harold Ickes announced a grant of $1,759,500 for various DC sewer projects. These included an extension of the Northeast Boundary Sewer “intended to eliminate a pollution nuisance in Kingman Lake in Anacostia Park” (Evening Star, 1933). The following March, a contract of $589,000 was awarded to Michael Bell Balso, Inc., to extend the sewer “from Twenty-first and A streets NE to the Anacostia River, south of Kingman Lake” (Evening Star, 1934). The extension was completed sometime in 1935.  The trajectory appears to lie beneath parts of the RFK sports complex west of...

The structure, of about 3.8 acres, was begun in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

This WPA relief map of the NYC Water Supply System is now on display in the Queens Museum of Art. The information plaque displayed with the map reads: "For the 1939 World's Fair, city agencies were invited to produce exhibits for the New York City Pavilion (now the Queens Museum of Art). The Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity (a New York City Department of Environmental Protection predecessor agency) commissioned the Cartographic Survey Force of the Works Progress Administration to create the magnificent relief map of the New York City water supply system and watershed that you see in this...

The WPA approved $58,000 in funds for the construction of a water system for Oak Island Beach.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made important improvements to the facilities of the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) in 1940-41.  The work was done in two separate projects and consisted of upgrading irrigation canals and their gates, valves and pumps. The OID was formed in 1909 for the purpose of delivering irrigation water to over 80,000 acres of agricultural lands in Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties. Today, it operates over 330 miles of canals and pipelines, along with deep wells and lift pumps. Its headquarters is in the town of Oakdale. The WPA projects cards provide further details of the work to be...

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed a fire-fighting water supply system and laid drainage tile under the Oakland Municipal Airport (now the North Field of the Oakland International Airport). The drainage system covered 3.6 million square feet and included almost 60,000 linear feet of drainage tile and concrete pipe, for a cost of $104,000. The fire protection system involved over 7,000 linear feet of 4 and 6-inch mains, for a cost of $18,000. Both are presumably still in place and functioning (we spotted old hydrants and storm grates that suggest as much). Earlier, it had been announced that over $200,000 had...

The Ogden River Project provides irrigation water for 25,000 acres of land along the Wasatch Front around Ogden UT, as well as supplemental water for the City of Ogden. The anchor of the project is Pineview Dam in Ogden Canyon and the resulting reservoir created from the waters of Ogden Creek.   Pineview Reservoir feeds a system of distribution canals to water users on the plains in and around Ogden.   The system is fed by the 5-mile long Ogden Canyon Conduit running down the north side of the canyon wall.  From there, a 25-mile long Ogden-Brigham Canal runs north toward Brigham...

The Ogden River Project provides irrigation water for 25,000 acres of land along the Wasatch Front around Ogden UT, as well as supplemental municipal water for the city of Ogden. The anchor of the project is Pineview Dam in Ogden Canyon and the resulting reservoir created from the waters of Ogden Creek.   The project includes a distribution system of canals branching off from Ogden Creek where it leaves the canyon: the Ogden-Brigham Canal, the South Ogden Highline Canal, and the lesser irrigation ditches that supply the farmers of the Weber Basin Conservancy District. The Ogden River Project was officially approved by...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed a six-inch water main along Ogden Street in Middletown, New York.

The heart of today's Greenbelt, Maryland – popularly known as "Old Greenbelt" – is a large, planned community laid out and constructed during the New Deal. It features community facilities such as a school, theater and community center, a large number and variety of housing, basic infrastructure of roads, water and sewers, and extensive landscaping and an attached forest.  Almost all of the original facilities are still intact. Greenbelt was one of four greenbelt towns initiated by Rex Tugwell, head of the Resettlement Administration (RA). Greendale, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee, and Greenhills, Ohio, near Cincinnati, are other surviving greenbelt towns; a fourth,...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted development work at Old Mill State Park. The park contains a 25-acre historic district that includes eight structures built by the WPA in 1937, including a suspension bridge and a water tower.

The PWA helped to fund drainage and irrigation systems for Orange County, Texas.

"Orchard Beach State Park is located on the shore of Lake Michigan, two miles north of the center of Manistee. The park's 211 acres are split by M-110 and it is the portion west of the highway, comprising 57 acres, that is included in this nomination. This section is one-quarter of a mile wide at its widest point, one-half of a mile long and has 3000 feet of shoreline. The park's terrain is gently rolling and sparsely wooded with a steep bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. Many trees and shrubs planted by the CCC are still growing within the park, as...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was present in Death Valley National Monument  from 1933 to 1942.  The main CCC camp was at Cow Creek, just north of the park headquarters and visitors center at Furnace Creek.  CCC 'boys' built the basic infrastructure of the new monument, such as grading roads, erecting buildings for park staff and operations, and building campgrounds – activities so large that they are treated on separate pages.  In addition, the CCC worked to develop wells and springs, install water pipes, and string electric and telephone lines to make the park habitable.  Other improvements were an airplane landing strip and...

' is one of...the largest reinforced concrete elevated water tanks ever constructed. Each one has a capacity of 3,000,000 gallons and both are in the city of Sacramento.' (total cost: $703,554) The tank pictured here is located at the location above, and the other is West of 33rd st between J and L streets. In a postmodern turn, the structure now hosts many cellular antennas.

The Painted Desert Inn was created by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), working under the National Park Service (NPS), with a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA).  They completely rebuilt a private inn called the Stone Tree House, which had been constructed in the 1910s, which was purchased and added to the Petrified Forest National Monument in 1936 (the monument had been designated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and  was elevated to Petrified Forest National Park in 1962).  The reconstruction was done in 1937-40. The Stone Tree House had no water supply, so the CCC enrollees brought running water via...

"The Paradise Water Tower, of Paradise, Kansas, is a historic Works Progress Administration project of 1938. It is located east of the intersection of Waldo and Main Sts. in Paradise. The tower was designed in the WPA Rustic style and features an Art Deco limestone entrance surround. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. It is a 17-foot diameter rusticated limestone tower that rises 35 feet and can hold up to 58,000 gallons of water."

An early Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in Scribner, Nebraska was described as follows: General Improvement program for the Scribner city park. This includes: Construction of a 16 by 24 foot concrete and tile combination band stand and rest rooms: construction of 500 feet of 4 foot sidewalk; laying 550 feet of 1 inch water main to fountain and rest rooms; laying 750 feet of electric conduit and lighting system; removing 45 old tree stumps, and landscaping the 3 acre's on which the park is located. Eleven persons are working on this project.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) "helped to rebuild the flood-damaged Walnut Canyon road" after a major flood in September 1941. This is the "main" road for the park, now known as Carlsbad Cavern Highway.

Parker Dam is diversion dam to channel water from the Colorado River into the Colorado Aqueduct traveling across the Mojave Desert to greater Los Angeles and San Diego. The later are served by a huge wholesale water agency, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD).  MWD contracts for the water from the Bureau of Reclamation and resells it to a multitude of cities and local water districts.  Parker Dam was built by the Bureau of Reclamation from 1934 to 1938, at the same time as it was finishing Hoover (Boulder) Dam and constructing Imperial Dam on the lower Colorado River. "The metropolitan water district...