Water Supply Sites

The Parma Reservoir, also known as the The Parma Heights Water Facility for The City of Cleveland, "is the 1933-37 Parma Reservoir. A 326 x 306-ft. earth-covered concrete tank, technically referred to as a basin, with a Gothic-style facade resembling a 14th-century English castle hold the 23-million gallon reservoir. ...like many Depression-era public works projects, labor was provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as a New Deal unemployment relief measure."

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 572 worked at the Paul M. Demmick Grove in the Navarro River Redwoods State Park. They built a water system and started work on a campground and custodian's lodge.

Pelham Bay Park, the largest in the city of New York (three times the size of Central Park), sits on Pelham Bay in the northeast corner of The Bronx. It was established in 1888, when The Bronx was still separate from New York City. The park was greatly improved by Robert Moses and the NY City Parks Department, with the help of federal New Deal funds and workers from the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA). On November 10, 1941, the New York City Department of Parks announced the completion of the massive overhaul of the 60-acre Isaac L. Rice Memorial...

In 1938-1939, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed a short Water Main on Pennsylvania Avenue, west from 26th Street, NW. The Annual Report of the DC government provides details:  “A 12-inch main in Pennsylvania Avenue NW, west from Twenty-sixth Street, to replace an old 6-inch main. This work, totaling 240 linear feet, was undertaken as a W. P. A. project and is a part of the work necessary to convert the 30-inch gravity main in M Street to the first high service.”  The main may still be in place, but it would be unknown and invisible to everyone but the staff at DC Water...

In 1938-1939, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed a short Water Main on Pennsylvania Avenue, between Thirty-Third Place and Carpenter Street SE The Annual Report of the DC government provides details: “A 16-inch main in Pennsylvania Avenue between Thirty-third Place and Carpenter Street SE. This main, totaling 340 linear feet, was undertaken as a W. P. A. project and was extended to serve property being developed. It will ultimately be extended to the Anacostia pumping station at Eighteenth Street and Minnesota Avenue SE to provide a second feeder line from the pumping station to Alabama and Pennsylvania Avenues to augment the Anacostia second high service...

"In the 1930s, with the advent of the Great Depression and with the nation’s natural resources in jeopardy due to poor environmental practices, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created. At Pere Marquette, the CCC built many buildings and shelters, fences, bridges, water reservoirs, foot and horse trails, riprap and streambank protection. Work was also done to create parking areas, campgrounds, and the clearing of overlooks and vistas. In addition, archeological and other types of surveying activities were conducted. Many of these CCC structures are still standing."   (https://www.greatriverroad.com) The heart of the park is the massive, CCC built Pere Marquette Lodge...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the water tower at Mather's Lodge in Petit Jean State Park from native stone.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive improvements to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on the central California coast, developing it for public recreational use. The state parks commission acquired the land in 1933, but had no funds for development.  The CCC worked in the park from 1933 to 1941, but the sources do not specify exact dates for each improvement.  CCC enrollees added a piped water system to the park to serve the campgrounds, picnic areas, restrooms, and park buildings, as well as providing fire protection. The water system appears to still be functioning, with many intact stone drinking fountains, brass...

Researcher Frank da Cruz writes that in 1936 the Federal Works Project Administration (PWA) financed the construction of this one-million gallon steel elevated tank. The current waterworks coordinator in the area reports that this project, as well as the 60th Street Elevated Tank project in Newport News, were "...financed by 25% to 45% federal grants, and 4% 25-year-serial-revenue-bonds accepted by the Public Works Administration." Although this tank is currently in use, it is evidently slated for demolition in 2018. The construction of this water tank in 1936 was part of a large scale waterworks expansion project that was carried out with the support of...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted millions of dollars (not even adjusted for inflation) of improvement and development work at the Picatinny Arsenal and a sub-installation, the Lake Denmark Naval Ammunition Depot, in New Jersey. Work involved the construction and improvement of storage facilities and various utilities. One WPA project description: Repair and rehabilitate buildings, utilities, equipment, water supply, and purification, water and sewer lines, transportation facilities, and airport, improve plumbing, heating, and electrical installations, landscape, grade, and drain grounds, also includes the construction of storage buildings officers quarters extension to storage buildings, officers quarters, extension to carpenter shop, change houses,...

Sayville's Suffolk County News reported during August 1940 that WPA labor was working to improve the previously abandoned Fort Terry on Plum Island: "WPA workmen are now engaged in repairing the soldiers' barracks, officers' quarters and all roads on the island.  The harbor is to be dredged and new wharves constructed. New armament, including anti-aircraft guns and other artillery, has already been installed and a landing field will be constructed." Riverhead's County Review reported in 1941: “The Works Projects Administration has assigned a force of men to construct a new water line and grade and resurface roads on Plum Island, site of historic...

A WPA press release from Jan. 1938 reported: "The Priest Rapids Irrigation District system of Benton and Yakima Counties is scheduled to receive major improvements with WPA funds totaling $31,428. Plans call for deepening the intake canal, raising a wing dam, erecting a dike, and constructing additional pipe lines and canals as well as doing many types of incidental jobs on the big project. The Priest Rapids Irrigation District, as sponsor is providing $11,272 for necessary materials and supplies."

The Provo River Project was initiated under the provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of  1933 (almost surely as a Public Works Administration (PWA) funded project) and approved by President Roosevelt in late 1935.  The Salt Lake Aqueduct was approved in 1938.  Construction began in May 1938 and built by the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) with the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Most of the features were begun during the New Deal but completed after the Second World War. The key structure of the project, Deer Creek Dam, is located on the Provo River east of...

Sanitary sewer, municipal waterworks, and power grid construction projects were all undertaken in Middletown, Delaware during the Great Depression, enabled by federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. Work began in 1937. (PWA Docket No. DE W1021, X1031)

Public Works Administration project W1026 funded improvements to the Ketchikan waterworks ($7,307), phone system ($4,411), and electric plant ($4,140). Waterworks and phone system improvements were approved 6/22/1938 and the electric plant was approved 7/7/1938. Construction began during August 1938 and was completed between January 1939 and July 1939 on all 3 sites.

"San Francisco built Pulgas Water Temple as a monument to the engineering marvel that brought Hetch Hetchy water more than 160 miles across California from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Bay Area. The Hetch Hetchy Project had taken 24 years to build through the Great Depression at a cost of $102 million. On October 28, 1934, the roar of Hetch Hetchy mountain water greeted everyone gathered at Pulgas Water Temple to celebrate its arrival. With vivid memories of the fire that had raged unchecked after the Great Earthquake of 1906, the city rejoiced in its new secure, plentiful supply of...

The PWA funded the construction of a pump house for the Syracuse water system. It is unclear whether the structure remains, but a 2014 City Council work session lists a tour of the Jensen Park Pump House on its agenda. It is possible this tour was historical in nature.

In 1936 the Works Progress Administration built the Pumphouse in Bisbee, Arizona. A dam was built above the Pumphouse to hold water which fed underneath the Pumphouse and supplied the city’s fire hydrants. The Bisbee Daily Review, October 2, 1935, reported the city engineer, Ralph Motz, and the CCC engineer, Frank Brunel, “spent yesterday morning looking over the site of a dam to be constructed in wood canyon for flood control and to prevent erosion. ..Water impounded during rainy seasons will be pumped into the city reservoir and stored for use of the fire department.” The pumphouse bears a distinctive oval WPA...

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 Ocean Parkway and Avenue V.

A 1935 municipal report described extensive PWA support for a town pumping station and pipes to provide better fire protection: "The plan as adopted provided for the erection of a 250,000 gallon stand-pipe on the height of land on the extension of Auburn Street, known as the Long Pond road, the building of a brick automatic pumping station on Columbus Avenue and the erection of a 250,000 gallon water tower on South Main Street in Penacook. To complete the two extra high services it means the laying of a large amount, about 6000 feet, of 12 inch cement lined cast iron pipe....

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed to the $20,000 Putah Creek Dam project in Winters between 1936 and 1938. The dam has since been removed and the natural floodplain restored.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) operated Camp NP-1-N from 1938 to 1942 at Rattlesnake Springs—now the Rattlesnake Springs Historic District—in Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The group conducted substantial work at the site. Bob Hoff's Carlsbad Caverns History Blog: At Rattlesnake Springs, the CCC enrollees built a ranger residence still in use today. They also constructed a service road and a water diversion ditch and constructed masonry work to line the Rattlesnake Springs pond. While National Park Service Landscape Architect Harvey Cornell provided the plans for the CCC camp layout in 1938 it is not clear to what extent CCC enrollees constructed the...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funds for the completion of the Rayville Light & Water Plant in Rayville, Louisiana during the Great Depression. The plant had been under construction for many years prior to the PWA appropriations, with plans for electrification dating back to 1913. The waterworks/sewerage were completed in 1939 at a cost of $26,921. The light plant was completed in 1940 at a cost of $77,464.

The Civil Works Administration completed a series of reclamation projects around the Mokelumne River in 1934 and made plans to clean the by-pass between Reclamation District No. 1002 and the McCormack - Williamson tract under the State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) program.  

In 1916, the Pecos Valley of Texas Water Users Association (which consisted of the Porterville, Farmers Independent, Cedarvale/Imperial, Barstow, Big Valley-Grandfalls, Imperial and Zimmerman irrigation districts) filed a petition with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to request that a dam be constructed across the Pecos River to provide irrigation for farmlands from Red Bluff to the town of Grandfalls. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $2,206,000 loan and $722,000 grant for the project, whose total cost was $2,982,895. The project was identified as a power and water project in a PWA report. TAMU: "In 1934, construction of the Red Bluff...

From the National Archive description below: "The wrecking of old roofs over three municipal water reservoirs and their replacement with galvanized corrugated iron roofs is a WPA project recently completed for the City of Redlands. The replaced roofs were 25 years old and in such bad repair that they constituted a potential threat to the domestic water supply of Redlands."

The construction of a reservoir in Alhambra, CA, received New Deal funding.

A reservoir development project in Crawford, Nebraska was undertaken with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The exact location and current status of the reservoir is unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. 2379

A reservoir development project in Curtis, Nebraska was undertaken with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The exact location and current status of the reservoir is unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. 2078

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a 1,500,000-gallon reservoir north of Laurel, Montana. The project was completed in 1936. "Heading the list of completed WPA projects in Laurel Is the $14,000 municipal water reservoir which will go Into use at the termination of the curing period for the cement this week. The reservoir Is located a mile and a half north of Laurel and combines both scenic and practical value. It is situated on a low hill overlooking the entire Yellowstone valley. The bowl is ellptical in shape, finished in reinforced cement with a quarter-inch steel underframe." A USGS map from the 1950s...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) constructed a reservoir in North Andover, Mass. WPA Bulletin: Work is nearing completion on the North Andover WPA Reservoir Project. The reservoir will hold 1,500,000 gallons of water. The location of the reservoir is unknown to Living New Deal.

In the Dec. 6 1933 issue of the Daily Illustrated News; "Seventeen new county projects, under which 1400 men will be employed under the Civil Works Administration (CWA) program were approved yesterday by the county civil works committee, among them being the construction of a 5,000,000-gallon reservoir in Pomona at a cost of $99,440."

The WPA constructed a reservoir in the vicinity of Rathdrum ID, but the location and current status of the site are not known.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a reservoir for the City of Troy in New York during the Great Depression. More information is needed to determine the current status and location of the reservoir.  

Public Works Administration (PWA) project 4484 funded a new reservoir for Wrangell with a $32,000 loan and a $$12,487 grant approved 6/20/1934. Construction began 2/7/1935 and was completed 8/2/1936. Art Anderson was awarded the bid for the new water dam to be constructed of timber with dirt and rock fill. The completed dam would result in a “reservoir of 36 acre feed” (Art Anderson, Petersburg Press, Feb. 8, 1935, p. 1). Foreman of construction was Oden Jensen.

A reservoir serving Reading, Pennsylvania was constructed during the Great Depression with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The reservoir has since been demolished. Reading Times: "he new concrete reservoir on Mt. Penn, at the head of Green street ... is 70 percent completed, with only 60 percent of the allotted time used up. September 26 is completion date, but it likely will be finished before that time. The basin is a PWA - sponsored project. The reservoir, which will hold 3,300,000 gallons, is of concrete, the sides heavily reinforced by concrete buttress walls on the inside. At...

In 1938 the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted "extensive improvement and extension" work to the spillway at the Wheeler Pond / Thurman W. Dix Reservoir dam by Barre in Orange, Vermont.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) repaired dikes around the town reservoir in 1935.

"A W.P.A. project for cleaning out and improving a portion of Reservoir No. 1 near Salem End Road was carrier on... A large portion of the men employed thereon were Framingham W.P.A. workers averaging about 30 a day. The only expense to the Town on this project was for transportation of the workers and furnishing a loading machine for loading gravel trucks." (Town Report, 1941) A later MDC report stated: "Works Progress Administration Project No. 22857 for improvements to Neyhart Pond, a part of Framingham Reservoir No. 1 was completed."

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) constructed water supply reservoirs northwest of Casper, Wyoming. Casper Star-Tribune, March 3, 1935: "Drought conditions of last year prompted the excavation and construction of important and permanent reservoirs on the 33-Mile stock trail west of Casper, which links the prairie winter range with the Big Horn summer range, at a cost of $33,740. Of this sum, $30,000 was supplied through the ERA ..." It is unclear to Living New Deal whether these projects includes what are now known as Bressler Reservoir, Daly Reservoir, or possibly even Gowin-Kesecker Lake, which are located in the vicinity of Thirtythree...