Baltimore Waterworks History

Today as part of Green Week folks are invited to Prettyboy Dam and Reservoir for a celebration of our drinking water, which is well worth cheering about.

Unfortunately, the same can not be said for the gross errors the city continues to be guilty of in mismanaging the billing process which has frustrated and infuriated so many customers who must spend hours and days of their own time trying to get relief for mistaken meter readings and huge overcharges the city can’t seem to fix.   

Baltimore City Historical Society and Historical Society of Baltimore County are having their second annual joint program on the topic of Baltimore Waterworks History in the fall. It won’t be a forum on relief for bills and bad management; but it will provide interesting stories about how we got and get our drinking water.

I have been going around collecting images of some of the sites related to our drinking water and reading stories about our water supply, which include struggles between business supporters of different sources, disparate practices in providing water based upon class and race, pollution of wells, and most recently, conflicts over plans in Druid Hill Park over proposals by the Public Works Department.

An unspung hero in preserving and publicizing waterworks history is Ron Parks, whose books on this subject I hope to get ahold of soon!  

Old Baltimore began by relying upon wells and springs, went on with limited success to offer water through quasi private corporate subscription and eventually accepted the need for local government to take over responsibility for managing and supplying the public with safe, steady sources of drinking water. State enabling acts, large land acquisitions, flooding a mill town, laying pipes, building dams and reservoirs, treatment plants and tunnels and reaching accords across jurisdictional boundaries have all been part of the ongoing history of Baltimore waterworks between the Patapsco River, Jones Falls, Gunpowder River and the Susquehanna River.

Here are photos from Druid Hill, the Gunpowder, Hall Spring, Jones Falls, Lake Roland, Liberty, Loch Raven, Lost Lake, Montebello, Patapsco and Prettyboy I hope you will enjoy. 

To learn more about Baltimore Waterworks History, put 2 to 4 pm Saturday November 16, 2013 at Maryland Historical Society, France Hall, 201 W. Monument Street, Baltimore City on your calendar. It will be free with on-site parking, light refreshments and guest speakers: Kurt Kocher (Baltimore City Department of Public Works), Edward C. Papenfuse (MD State Archivist) and Bill Stack (Center for Watershed Protection).