Why the Longest Tunnel in the World Leads to New York City - IT'S HISTORY

this video is brought to you by squarespace   new york city is the pinnacle example of american  development and being the most populated city   in the united states it requires a tremendous  amount of infrastructure chief amongst the most   important of these systems is its waterworks  which has a long and complex past today we   discover a fascinating tale of underground  piping aqueducts and forgotten tanks this   is the history of new york's waterworks i'm your  host ryan socash and you're watching it's history let's start off at the beginning at the time  of new york's city founding in the 1600s the   city was known as new amsterdam and located on the  southernmost tip of manhattan water collection was   rather primitive here coming from wells ponds and  rivers at this time its water came primarily from   the kelch hook pond also known as collect pond it  no longer exists as the city's growth necessitated   its filling from collect ponds citizens collected  whatever water they needed in buckets taking them   back to their home other water collection  methods included private wells from which   more fortunate citizens drew water although these  types of wells were much less common the primary   method of collection came from open water  sources however as time moved onward the city   became increasingly populated as more people  came in the older collection methods became   less and less efficient there was simply too many  people for the lakes rivers and wells to supply   as this continued another problem came up that  of wastewater considering that more people   means more waste human waste or trash one may  wonder how the people of this developing city   disposed of unwanted materials well in the early  days of america the answer was the same across   all the smaller settlements be it new york  or chicago you throw it in the water if you   don't want it well the river's flow took  away smaller amounts of waste the waterways   quickly became polluted with the sheer amount of  garbage finding its way in even more startling was   the pollution of wells as the contaminated  river water seeped into the groundwater   the hudson and the east river's saltwater found  its way into these wells this way making the water   unfit for human consumption the city also wouldn't  have indoor plumbing until the late 19th century   until then outhouses and chamber pots were the  typical method of waste collection outhouses were   toilets located outside the building that linked  directly to a cesspit chamber pots were pots used   as temporary toilets in bedrooms until the morning  came at which point they would be emptied either   into the outhouse or the nearest waterway further  contaminating them by the early 1700s manhattan   was devoid of safe and clean drinking water as a  result the city began hauling water from brooklyn   into manhattan the drinking water problem remained  a primary concern of the young town but this made   dealing with it much easier brooklyn's fresh  groundwater seeded much of the city's needs   but it was simply not enough there were already  too many people living in an area to keep supplied   without a proper water supply a city will quickly  find itself inundated with problems one of the   more threatening problems is fire new york city  didn't have enough water to quench its people's   thirst let alone the flames of a burning building  fires rapidly burned out of control in these   early days in the same year that the founding  fathers issued the declaration of independence   the people suffered the great fire of new york  city where on september the 21st 1776 a quarter of   the city's buildings burnt to the ground another  major issue the city faced was frequent epidemics   as any younger municipality without an efficient  water supply would meet chief among these diseases   was cholera a waterborne illness that played havoc  on the nation's largest cities conditions for the   disease could not have been more perfect and it  killed scores of new yorkers for example in 1832   new york city suffered a cholera epidemic that  killed 3 500 people with the primary culprit being   contaminated water that's not to say the state  legislator was sitting on its hands for 60 years   in 1799 with the nation finally on relatively  stable footing it gave the right to supply water   to new york city to the newly formed manhattan  company headed by aaron byrne the same man that   would eventually kill alexander hamilton in a  duel the company sunk more wells at collect pond   rather than bringing in water from outside of  manhattan as was initially intended they stored   the water at a reservoir at chambers street  and distributed the water through wooden pipes   the company's surplus went towards founding  a bank nowadays known as chase manhattan   considering for the fact that the manhattan  company seemed more interested in the bank project   than the purpose it existed to serve  it's a small wonder they did a poor   job of supplying water the shoddy state of the  water supply led to more fires and epidemics   by the late 1820s the city leaders decided that  the current state of affairs could no longer   continue with all these issues plaguing the city  there had to be a way to get a good water supply   connected to new york and one of the first places  designers looked to solve the problem was history   there had been several places in which one could  find cities that were much less fortunate for   running water yet ancient civilizations still  made them into beautiful cities for example   ancient rome quite literally invented plumbing  as plumbing it is from the latin word for lead plum bum okay lay off me in the comment sections  about that mess up guys let's move on well the   romans were not aware of the health side effects  of lead plumbing they did know how to get water to   places where it was needed the romans constructed  sewers faucets and even functional toilets but   most prevalent to new york at the time was the  aqueduct this construction feat brought water   from a distant source towards a location that the  source would serve better taking inspiration from   these old designs major david d douglas began  planning an ambitious new public works project   he laid out plans for the route structures and  its hydraulic principles well his successor   john b jervis finished the design for  what would become the croton aqueduct   in 1836 work began on the aqueduct in 1837  performed mainly by irish immigrants not unlike   the erie canal the majority of this majestic  structure is a brick tunnel in the shape of   a horseshoe 8.5 feet high by 7.5 feet wide the  tunnel sits on a stone foundation with a cover of   earth supporting its stone embankment walls as in  the roman model the tube is gravity fed dropping   13 inches every mile with that extremely specific  guide its builders had to maintain that perfect   gradient through all kinds of terrain as a result  it was cut into the hillside tunneled through rock   carried over valleys and streams by massive  bridges while maintaining that perfect 13 inch   per mile incline on its way from the croton river  to manhattan while the tunnel opened to the air   the workers covered it with dirt shielding it from  the wrath of nature by burying it water from the   river first entered the tunnel at 5 am on june the  22nd 1842 following the water a boat called the   croton maid traveled shortly behind it its crew  making sure it completed its path successfully   by 3 am the next day the vessel entered the  harlem river completing its journey in 22 hours   now that the aqueduct was functional it filled up  two massive above-ground reservoirs located where   the great lawn in central park and the 5th avenue  new york public library currently are as a result   of this enormous engineering feat the croton water  celebration was held on october the 14th 1842   in new york city a seven mile long parade took  place several songs were written and performed   and enormous jets of water shot 50 feet into the  air at the croton fountain finally clean and pure   you won't believe how this innovation changed  the city forever in a way it reminds me of how   squarespace changed web design forever which  definitely means that this is a good moment   for a word from our sponsor this video is brought  to you by squarespace a fantastic service that   makes the creation of a web page as easy as  a concept followed by a few clicks of a mouse   in fact over the past few years i have been using  squarespace instead of social media so let me show   you what i enjoy about this service first off are  the blogging tools which are fantastic and support   a configurable share button letting your visitors  share content around the web for me squarespace's   blogging tools have replaced instagram  as their easy to use features allow me to   share my experience in a more noble gallery-like  environment i've also gained powerful insights   into who's visiting my site as well as how they're  interacting with in-depth website analytic tools   including page views traffic sources time on  site most read content audience geography and   more i'm also considering using the squarespace  members area for our history council group as this   service connects the audience with gated members  only content where creators can manage members   send email communications and leverage audience  insights all on one easy to use platform so head   over to squarespace.com for a free trial and when  you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com it's   history to save 10 percent off your first purchase  of a website or domain now that the croton   aqueduct was complete clean water was finally  generally accessible to the city running water   for drinking and bathing was now not exclusive  to the richest of new york city's residents   the general public had access to this as well but  only thanks to the ingenuity of the aqueduct and   one of the direct ramifications of the success is  that new york finally with its water supply could   accommodate a massive population influx in many  ways making the city what we know it to be today   and that's not to mention all the new  functions that the city could implement   now with its constant water supply as the city  expanded both new and old areas had installations   of sewers flush toilets and faucets the city was  entering the cutting edge of water technology   and demand was only increasing especially with  the merger of brooklyn queens staten island the   bronx and manhattan into one city in 1898 and  a dark reality set in when the need for water   increased beyond the aqueducts limits the city saw  these challenges coming and in 1885 construction   of the new croton aqueduct another structure three  times the size of the old aqueduct running roughly   parallel to it began opening in 1910 the two  aqueducts supplied the new mega city with all   the water it needed most residents believe that  the water supply issues were solved once and for   all with the foundation of the board of water  supply in 1905 new york city continued to bring   in all the water it needed thanks to legislation  passed by the city around the turn of the century   the board purchased watershed land in the catskill  mountains allowing it to create more reservoirs   by damming waterways however many villages had  to completely relocate to make these reservoirs   as the old locations would entirely flood to  create the new water pools regardless of the   hurdles the cat's kill reservoir system went into  service in 1927 and another reservoir of greater   note followed within the next 40 years but all  these achievements pale in comparison to this   final implementation of new york's water supply  by the 1930s water needs began to strike the city   again but grand designs were already in motion  construction started on the delaware system in   1937 and work continued quickly especially on  the delaware aqueduct by 1939 the tunnel nearest   to the city was ready for concrete and all 85  miles of tunnel excavation were completed by 1942   this was and still remains the longest tunnel in  the world however progress slowed significantly   with the surprise attack on pearl harbor and the  united states entering world war ii in december   of 1941 with the war production boards program  the board of water supply couldn't acquire the   equipment and material necessary to complete the  tunnel however progress increased when concern   about the potential destruction of the catskill  aqueduct by access bombing assaults or sabotage   surfaced forcing the aqueducts completion to  the absolute forefront of the board of water   supply's priorities emergency tunnels came into  effect throughout world war ii but construction   on the delaware aqueduct halted in 1944 as the  war efforts reached their climax and with the   atomic ages baptism and nuclear fire in the end of  world war ii construction on the delaware system   resumed within months construction sped along  rapidly with the completion of the entire system   aqueduct reservoirs and all occurring in 1965  being the largest tunnel in the world the   delaware aqueduct supplied new york city with  much more water than the previous solutions   this aqueduct supplies the city with around  half of its drinking water to this very day that   brings us to the modern moment the three systems  croton catskill and delaware collectively have a   watershed of 2 000 square miles roughly the size  of the entire state of delaware with a collective   storage capacity of 550 billion gallons it's safe  to say that new york is in a much better situation   than it was during its founding and in many ways  it's still remarkably similar to the historic   examples we spoke about previously 97 of the  city's water reaches its destination using gravity   only with the other three percent needing pumps to  reach the final destination water health remains   a concern and chlorine added into the system in  low doses clears any bacteria the system also adds   fluoride to prevent tooth decay the croton system  contains 12 reservoirs and three controlled lakes   with the croton reservoir having an impressive  maximum of 19 billion gallons of water   catskill has two reservoirs and supplies 40  percent of the city's total water use the   delaware has four reservoirs largest of which  has a maximum of 140 billion gallons of water   whenever i visit a major global city i'm  amazed that the water runs out of the tap   when you imagine how many sinks pools and toilets  are in a city like new york it becomes difficult   to even imagine how many resources go into  fueling life there this is civilization   in a nutshell because without our creative  ability to sculpt the land in triumphant ways   the 8.4 million people who call themselves new  yorkers wouldn't even need to worry about water   because their city would not exist in the  first place and on a lighter note let me   know in the comments section is it aqueduct or  aqueduct check out our new york city playlist   subscribe to its history and as the youtubers say  smash the bell this is ryan socash signing off

Channel: IT'S HISTORY

Views: 202,610

Keywords: tales of urban decay, urban history, American history, urban exploring, Ryan Socash, Croton Aqueduct, Delaware Aqueduct, New York Waterworks, New York tunnels, New Croton Aqueduct, Old Croton Aqueduct, NYC's Reservoir System, New York water problems, New York water source, where does New Yorks water come from?, history of water works, New York's Water system, building the croton aqueduct, manhattan water supply, How does NYC water system work?, How does NYC treat its water?

Id: o1AIKb8RGWk

Length: 16min 57sec (1017 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 10 2022