General Bibliography of American Water-works

General Bibliography of American Water-Works

This bibliography includes works of a general nature about waterworks. Books and articles that cover a single system, state, or region (such as New England) are included in their respective geographic page. Links to texts that are available on line will be included.

A note about on-line books and journals -- The decision by Google and others to scan old books and put them on line has completely upended the job of the historian, making it both easier and more challenging. The sheer volume of information can be very daunting, and it can be frustrating to locate individual volumes of old journals. As a general rule, anything published in the United States prior to 1923 is now in the public domain and an enormous amount of material has been digitized and put on line. The major sources are:

Google Books - This site has the best user interface but no rational indexing structure, making it very difficult to find certain items. Links to specific books and journals are included below and elsewhere in this web site, with a Google Book link given where available. Almost all publications in the public domain can be downloaded as PDF files that have optical character recognition (OCR) so they can be searched inside Adobe Acrobat after downloading.
The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, and more. This site has a similar but not identical set of publications as Google Books, and and includes many books not found on Google Books. Books scanned by the Internet Archive look much nicer than those scanned by Google Books, but searching requires using the text or PDF feature. Links for this site are included for publications not on Google Books.
HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. Their collection includes most publications from Google Books along with many others can only be found on this site. The user interface and search features are cumbersome, however, and downloading of PDF files is limited if you are not a member of a partner institution. One big advantage of HathiTrust is that journals (such as Engineering News) are listed in one place, although there may be several entries for a given journal. A link to this site is given where no other site has the specific work.
Other sites such as JSTOR have many relevant documents, especially journals relating to water works, but requires a subscription.

This Day in Water History A little bit of water history–one day at a time

Timeline of Significant Events in American Water-Works

Lists of Water Works - One of the major challenges of water works history is identifying the works that existed at any given time, which is the primary reason for this documentary history. See also the chronology and geography of American water works.

1838 "Water Works," from Sketch of the civil engineering of North America: comprising remarks on the harbours, river and lake navigation, lighthouses, steam-navigation, water-works, canals, roads, railways, bridges, and other works in that country by David Stevenson. Includes information on water works in Philadelphia, Richmond, Pittsburg, Montreal, Cincinnati, Albany, Troy, New York, and Boston.

1859 "Water Works" from Sketch of the civil engineering of North America, Second Edition, by David Stevenson. Reprint of the 1838 edition with added material on water works in New York and Washington.

The American Gas-Light Journal was first published on July 1, 1859, and was "devoted to light, water-supply and sewerage." In addition to publishing numerous articles about water works, the Journal published two lists of "Water-Works of the United States and British-North-American Possessions" in its second volume, one on November 1, 1860 (2:132-133) and the second (and last, apparently) on January 1, 1861 (2:202-203), for which a summary (2:205) was provided in the same issue. They also published a list of water works in Confederate states on November 1, 1861 (3:138). These lists are not very complete, but do include an 1853 system in Sing-Sing, New York that does not appear in any later list of water works, which suggests that later compilers were unaware of this early effort.
Indexes to annual volumes of The American Gas Light Journal: | Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3 | Volume 4 | Volume 5 | Volume 6 | Volume 7 |
All water works articles from these volumes have been scanned and will be included on the appropriate page.

1862 "Water Works," from The American annual cyclopedia and register of important events: Embracing political, civil, military, and social affairs: public documents; biography, statistics, commerce, finance, literature, science, agriculture, and mechanical industry, Volume 2. Includes detailed information on water works in Boston, Brooklyn, Cincinnati, Detroit, New Haven, New York City, and Philadelphia.

Apart from the 1860 and 1861 lists by the American Gas-Light Journal mentioned above, the first attempt to list all American water works was published in 1876 by the Committee on water works of the Centennial Commission of the American Society of Civil Engineers, chaired by John James Robertson Croes. This motivated several individuals to prepare lists of water works, with the most prolific being Edward Prince, a water works engineer from Quincy, Illinois who published annual lists from 1877 to 1881. His 1880 list was published in Engineering News, 7:305 (September 11, 1880), and the 1881 list was published in Engineering News 8:65 (February 12, 1881) and reprinted by the Continental Meter Company in a sales pamphlet, Pure Water Supply and its Preservation. The latter also includes some other useful information on water pressures and rates in various systems in addition to use of water meters. Engineering News published his 1881 list "with such corrections and additions as have been discovered during the past year" as "A List of Water Works in the United States and Canada, as far as its known, January 1882," in Engineering News 9:29 (January 28, 1882)

The Sanborn Map Company began publishing detailed fire insurance maps for American cities in 1867. These maps include details of local water works and fire departments, and show water distribution piping. The Library of Congress has many of these on line, and intends to have 500,000 on line by 2020. Other libraries, such as Penn State and Texas, also have collections of these maps on line. Links to these maps have been (or will be) added to individual pages.

The Insurance Year Book published annually starting in 1874, has information on many water works in the first volume and those published after 1880.

Two other lists were published in 1878, but neither has been found. Data from these lists was included in the 1883 Croes list (see below).
1878 Information Relating to Fire Hydrants, Water Pressures, &c, in the Water Works of the United States and Canada, Ithaca Water Works Company, E. M. Treman, Secretary
1878 A Table of General Information Concerning the Water Works of the United States and Canada, C. G. Hildreth, Secretary of the Holly Manufacturing Co., Lockport, N. Y.

1880 "Engineering Progress in the United States," by Octave Chanute, read May 25, 1880, Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Includes an early history of water works in America, which was reprinted in Engineering News, 7:321 (September 25, 1880)

1880 "List of Water-Works in the United States and Canadas," September 1, 1880, compiled by E. Prince, C.E., Quincy, Ill., Engineering News 7:305 (September 11, 1880)

1881 "Water Supply Statistics," The Sanitary Engineer 4(23):i-ii (November 1, 1881)

On January 8, 1881, Engineering News announced that "We will begin on March 1 the publication in Engineering News of a work entitled "The History and Statistics of American Water-Works," by J. James R. Croes, Mem. Am. Soc. C. E. This publication will be continued weekly, and it is expected that it will be about a year in publication and occupy 100 pages of the paper. It is intended to comprise an historical sketch of the inception and progress of all works of water supply in the United States and Canada, with a description of the peculiar features of each, and such data as can be obtained respect in both the success and the failure of various structures, and modes of construction and operation." Engineering News 8:11 (January 8, 1881)

On January 15, 1881, Engineering News added "In 1877, '78 and '79, we published very full histories and descriptions of several leading water-works, especially those of Boston, Quebec, and Cleveland: in 1878 and '79 we published in book form the great work of Wm. Humber on water supply, which previously had been obtainable by but a very few, by reason of its great cost, which enterprise of ours has been most warmly appreciated by the profession." Engineering News 8:21 (January 15, 1881)

The first of Croes' entries was for New York City published March 5, 1881, prefaced by "In the following pages will be found historical sketches of the construction and operation of the works for supplying water to the towns in the United States and Canada, compiled from information furnished by the officers of those works either directly or through their printed reports. The works of the 21 cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants are first described, in the order of their population, according to the last census, followed by tabular statements of the, cost, consumption, operating expenses, revenue, rates and other principal features of value for comparison. Similar descriptions of groups of towns according to their population.with comparative tables, follow. Separate chapters show the comparative condition and efficiency of the various modes of supply and method of operation and management, irrespective of the size of the towns. Unexecuted projects for supplying towns are, as a rule, not mentioned." Engineering News 8:91 (March 5, 1881). The last entry was Number 812 for Montpelier, Vermont on May 22, 1886.

On September 3, 1881, Engineering News (8:351) published an article giving some background to Croes' work and listing the first 81 cities whose history had been published, along with the plan to complete the work.

On January 28, 1882, Engineering News (9:29-32) published a list of water works along with details on many standpipe, direct pumping, and gravity systems

The expectation that it would only take a year to publish this information turned out to be optimistic, and information on 812 systems was published, the last being about Montpelier, Vermont published on May 22, 1886. (15:331). Croes published three summaries of his work from 1883 to 1887, plus an 1884 supplement:
1883 Statistical Tables of American Water Works, First Issue, information on 793 systems
1884 List of water-works, supplemental to the first issue of statistical tables of American water-works. May, 1884.
1885 Statistical Tables of American Water Works, Second Issue, information on 989 systems, with 97 others not responding.
1887 Statistical Tables of American Water Works, Third Issue, information on 1,402 systems
Page 4: The rapid increase in the number of water-works constructed within the last sixteen years is mainly due to the competition of enterprising business men. About the year 1870 Mr. Birdsill Holly, of Lockport New York, a builder of pumping engines, began an active canvass of the towns which had no water supply, with the view of furnishing a type of engine and pump manufactured by him by which the supply was pumped directly into the mains without the use of a reservoir, and at any desired pressure variable at the will of the engineer, thus enabling the whole pipe system to be used as a fire engine if necessary. By organizing a private corporation to build works, and asking from the public only a certain fixed annual subsidy based on the number of fire hydrants furnished and guaranteed to deliver on demand a fire stream under 100 pounds pressure, the Holly Company were able to induce many towns to allow water-works to be built. [Holly certainly induced many towns to build water-works, but the majority of them were built and owned by municipalities. The Holly Manufacturing Company only held two franchises for water works that were built. (See additional comments in the 1980 reference below.)]

The 1883 issue includes information from the 1878 Treman and Holly Manufacturing Company lists (mentioned above). The 1883 and 1885 issues are awkward to use as information on individual systems is given in two tables. The first table lists systems in alphabetical order by the name of the city, and includes two numbers, one referencing a second table that is arranged according to the population from the 1880 census "so that cities of similar size could be easily compared." The second number is a reference to the sequence number of individual articles Croes published in Engineering News (New York City being number 1) so this is not very valuable in locating the article, further complicated by the fact that he used Roman numerals in the individual articles until 1884. The 1887 issue combines the data into a single table that is organized alphabetically by state and then by city, but does not include the reference to the individual articles. The 1887 issue also includes Croes' views on the reasons behind the rapid expansion of water works since 1870.

Croes evidently decided to devote more time to his engineering practice and the work of counting water works fell into the hands of Moses Nelson Baker. Baker had graduated from the University of Vermont in 1886 and was hired as assistant editor for Engineering News in November, 1887. He was given the task of continuing Croes' work that would be published in annual volumes. And, just as Croes had discovered, this was an optimistic goal but Baker stuck with it for four volumes and along the way became and expert in water works engineering. He received a degree in civil engineering from the University of Vermont in 1899, and continued working as an editor at Engineering News for forty-five years, becoming an expert in water purification,.

Manual of American Water Works, by Moses Nelson Baker. Note: Some of these volumes have missing or illegible pages, so multiple copies are shown were available. There are other copies available on Google Books, Archive.org, and Hathitrust.org. The 1897 issue includes references to Engineering News articles by Croes and others, but other material has been edited out to keep the book at a manageable length. The 1888 and 1897 volumes will generally provide comprehensive knowledge about individual water works systems, but in some cases additional information is only found in the 1889-90 and 1891 volumes. There are also several instances where information from Croes' articles in Engineering News was copied incorrectly into these volumes. Information was largely supplied by current system operators, so it is not surprising that a lot of early historical information did not find its way into this work. Despite these minor shortcomings this is a monumental work, and the intention of this documentary history is fill in these gaps. expand the information, and to make it more accessible.

Baker also wrote the seminal 1948 book The quest for pure water; the history of water purification from the earliest records to the twentieth century.

The Municipal Journal published a list of several hundred water works in 1912: "Water Works Statistics of American Cities," Municipal Journal 32:949-946 (June 30, 1912), Latest Data from Several Hundred Water Works Superintendents, Giving Source and Method of Supply, Method of Treatment, Population Supplied, Consumption, Percentage Metered and Cost of Supplying Water.

The 1915 McGraw Waterworks Directory, which listed 5,185 towns in the United States and Canada with water works. This was advertised as the first annual edition, but it appears that it was the only one. This work does not include any historical information, but is a good resource about the systems that existed in 1915.

The U.S. Census Office published information about water works in the 10th and 11th Census Reports:

1882 "The Water-Supply of Certain Cities and Towns of the United States," by Walter G. Elliot, C. E., Ph. D., June 1, 1882, Special Agent, from Statistics of power and machinery employed in manufactures: reports on the water-power of the United States, Volume 17, Part 2, by W. P. Trowbridge, Chief Special Agent, United States. Census Office. 10th census, 1880 (1887). This very detailed report is organized by type, including gravity, direct pumping, stand-pipes, reservoirs, pumping by water-power, and various combinations of these. | Another copy |

1887 Report on the Social Statistics of Cities in the United States at the Tenth Census: 1880 | Part I New England and Middle States | Part II Southern and Western States |

1895 Report on the Social Statistics of Cities in the United States at the Eleventh Census: 1890, by John S. Billings, M.D., Surgeon United States Army, Expert Special Agent.
Pages 22-29: Waterworks— Sources of supply of water for 288 cities; Distribution of population in relation to source of supply and average daily consumption of water, by geographical divisions; Average daily consumption and cost of works, by population groups and by geographical divisions; Character of distributing works; Population to each mile of main, cost of works, average annual cost of maintenance, and average annual receipts from water; rents, by population groups and by geographical divisions; Population to each mile of main and to each tap, number of meters to each 100 taps, cost of works, average annual cost of
maintenance, average annual receipts from water rents, and annual charge for water per dwelling, by cities.
Water supply of German cities
Diagram 15.—Amount of water used in the larger cities in accordance with the population
Diagram 16.—Consumption of water in German cities
Diagram 17.—Distribution of population according to character of waterworks
Pages 68-77: Table 66. Waterworks. Ownership, capacity, consumption, distribution, average annual cost and receipts, and number of miles of mains to each mile of sewers. [Includes data on 45 cities]

1895 Appletons' Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the year 1894, New series Volume 19, whole series volume 34.
Pages 772-780: Water supply. Includes brief descriptions of many water systems.

1898 The Insurance Year Book 1898-99, July 1, 1898. Lists many water system

1899 Fourteenth Annual report of the Commissioner of Labor. Water, Gas, and Electric-Light Plants under Private and Municipal Ownership.| also here |

Robert E. Wright and Richard E. Sylla researched American corporate charters prior to the Civil War, including many for water companies:

2013 "Corporation formation in the antebellum United States in comparative context," by Robert E. Wright and Richard E. Sylla, Business History. 55(4):650-666 (June 2013).

2015 "US Corporate Development 1790-1860," by Robert E. Wright and Richard E. Sylla. Provides of list of 22,419 corporations created in the United States between 1790 and 1860 by special laws. The data provided includes stockholders, capital stock and other relevant information. The list of corporations is very useful and includes business type such as "utility, water," which includes companies that provided water power but did not distribute water. About 500 charters for companies that distributed water are included and includes about 90% of water works charters granted by special laws during this period. This documentary history includes copies of water works charters granted by state legislatures, excepting only two 1866 Montana charters and an 1861 charter for the Kittanning water company in Pennsylvania that were apparently never published or otherwise distributed.

2015 AWWA State of the Water Industry Report

General books and articles about water works history
There are many books and articles about individual water systems, which are included on their respective pages, but few have been written about the overall history of American water works. A few of the better ones are listed here:

1883 "The Water-Supply of Cities," by Charles F. Wingate, from The North American Review 136:364-374 (April, 1883)

1904 Fire Protection and Water Supply, 1903-1904
An exhaustive compilation showing the fire equipment and water supply of the cities and towns of the United States and Canada, having a population of 1,000 or more, according to the census of 1900.

1907 "The Struggle for Water in the Great Cities of the United States," by Marsden Manson, Journal of the Association of Engineering Societies 38(3):103-124 (March, 1907)

1907 "Discussion of Mr. Manson's Paper, 'The Struggle for Water in the Great Cities of the United States,'" Journal of the Association of Engineering Societies 38(5):257-258 (May, 1907)

1914 "More than Fifty Years' Reminiscence in Waterworks," by H.G.H. Tarr, Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the American Water Works Association 32:47-60 (July, 1914)

1916 Fifty Years of a Civilizing Force: An historical and a critical study of the work of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, by Harry Chase Brearley

1920 "Water Works in 1865 and in 1920," by John W. Hill, Municipal and County Engineering 58(1):33-36 (January, 1920)

1928 "Water Works," by George W. Fuller, in "Historic Review of the Development of Sanitary Engineering in the United States during the past One Hundred and Fifty Years - A Symposium," Presented at the meeting of the Sanitary Engineering Division, Philadelphia, Pa., October 6, 1926, from Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers 92(1):1209-1224 (1928). Includes a table showing Annual Typhoid Death Rates per 100,000 Population for Some American Cities.

1941 Pioneers of progress : National Board of Fire Underwriters, 1866-1941

1942 The standard of living in 1860 : American consumption levels on the eve of the civil war, by Edgar W. Martin
Pages 38-42: The Public Water Supply | pdf |
Pages 89-90: Plumbing and sanitary facilities

1956 Water for the Cities: A History of the Urban Water Supply Problem in the United States, by Nelson Manfred Blake. | Also here | This excellent history covers Boston, New York City, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Blake (1908-1996) was a historian at Syracuse University and his book has stood up well over 60 years.

1959 Technology in American Water Development, by Edward A. Ackerman

1974 The American civil engineer, 1852-1974 : the history, traditions, and development of the American Society of Civil Engineers, founded 1852, by William H. Wisely

1975 "The Transfer of Technology to the United States in the Nineteenth-Century," by Darwin Heilman Stapleton, PhD Dissertation, University of Delaware.

1976 "Historical Development of Municipal Water Systems in the United States 1776 – 1976," J. Michael LaNier, Journal of the American Water Works Association, Vol. 68, No. 4, Water: Spirit of'76 (April 1976), pp. 173-180. "This material will appear in "History of Public Works in the US - 1776-1976" a bicentennial project of APWA, 1976"

1976 "Community Water Systems" from History of public works in the United States, 1776-1976 Chapter 8, 217-246, edited by Ellis L. Armstrong, Michael C. Robinson, and Suellen M. Hoy | also here |

1976 Hydraulics in the United States, 1776-1976, by Hunter Rouse

1980 "Triumph and failure: The American response to the urban water supply problem, 1860–1923" by Stuart Galishoff, in Pollution and reform in American cities, 1870–1930, ed. Martin Melosi, 35–57. This article covers water works in Atlanta, Chicago, and Newark.

1980 “The Diffusion of Technology in the Nineteenth Century American City: Municipal Water Supply Investments,” Letty Donaldson Anderson (PhD dissertation, Northwestern University, 1980)

1980 The Architecture and Engineering of Elevated Water Storage Structures: 1870-1940, by Carol Ann Dubie

1982 Public works history in the United States : a guide to the literature, by Suellen M. Hoy
Pages 183-206: Community Water Supply

1984 "The Evolution of the Urban Infrastructure in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries," by Joel A. Tarr, from Perspectives on Urban Infrastructure, Royce Hanson, Editor.

1985 "Water, Electricity and Cable Television: A Study of Contrasting Historical Patterns of Ownership and Regulation", by Joel A. Tarr, Steven Klepper, Charles Jacobson in Cahier / Groupe Réseaux 1(3):2-31 (1985)

1989 Constructing Urban Culture: American Cities and City Planning, 1800-1920, by Stanley K. Schultz
Pages 162-167: Watering the cities

1991 A Dynasty of Water: The Story of American Water Works Company, by Gilbert Cross

1992 All the modern conveniences: American household plumbing, 1840-1870, by Maureen Ogle. Doctoral dissertation in history, Iowa State University

1992 American Cities and Towns: Historical Perspectives, edited by Joseph F.Rishel
Pages 46-66: Beyond the Great City: Finding and Defining the Small City in Nineteenth Century America, by Maureen Ogle.

1993 "The introduction of direct pressure water supply, cogeneration, and district heating in urban and institutional communities, 1863-1882," by Morris A. Pierce, Ph.D. Dissertation in History, University of Rochester

1994 "The Development of Water Works in the United States," by Charles D. Jacobson and Joel A. Tarr, in Aqueducts by André Guillerme, in Rassegna: Themes in Architecture 57:37-41 (March 1994)

1996 "The hydraulics revolution: Science and technical design of urban water supply in the enlightenment," by Edward Howard Winant, PhD dissertation in History, West Virginia University

1997 Constructing a bridge : an exploration of engineering culture, design, and research in nineteenth-century France and America, by Eda Kranakis

1999 "Water Supply, Waste Disposal, and the Culture of Privatism in the Mid-Nineteenth-Century American City", Maureen Ogle, Journal of Urban History 25: 321-347 (March 1999)

2000 The Sanitary City: Urban Infrastructure in America from Colonial Times to the Present, by Martin V. Melosi

2000 "Pure and Plentiful: The Development of Modern Waterworks in the United States, 1801-2000," by Martin Melosi, Water Policy 2(4):253-265 (2000)

2001 "Race, Disease, and the Provision of Water in American Cities, 1889-1921," by Werner Troeksen, The Journal of Economic History 61(3):750-776 (September 2001)

2005 The urban origins of suburban autonomy, by Richardson Dilworth

2011 Precious Commodity: Providing Water for America’s Cities, by Martin V. Melosi | also here |

2012 Decennial census population totals for the 100 largest cities and other urban places in the United States based on the 21 decennial censuses taken from 1790 to 1990.

2012 Land of promise: An Economic History of the United States, by Michael Lind

2013 City Water, City Life: Water and the Infrastructure of Ideas in Urbanizing Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago, by Carl Smith

1845 Scientific American | many issues available on Google books and archive.org | Archive at nature.com 1845 to present |

1921 Index to Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Volumes 1 to 83, 1867 to 1920.

1874 Engineering News; Engineering Record; Engineering News-Record; and The Engineering Index

1874 The Insurance Year Book published annually starting in 1874, has information on many water works in the first volume and those published after 1880.

1877 National Fireman's Journal; The Fireman's Journal; Fire and Water; Fire and Water Engineering; and Water Works Engineering.

1879 Fire Protection and Water Supply: A Yearly Manual of Statistics of the Water Supply and Fire Department Equipments for the United States and Canada | 1904 |

1881 Journal of the Association of Engineering Societies

1881 Proceedings and Journal of the American Water Works Association

1882 Transactions and Journal of the New England Water Works Association

1885 Proceedings of the Convention of the National Electric Light Association

1885 The American Engineering Register

1890 Water and Gas Review

1896 City Government; Municipal Journal and Engineer; Municipal Journal; Municipal Journal and Public Works; and Public Works

1890 Municipal Engineering

1900 Moody's Public Utilities Manual, Poor's Public Utilities Manual, Fitch Bond Report

Legal and Regulatory Resources These can be valuable sources of information about all facets of water works systems. The most valuable is probably the 90-plus water works cases that have reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Every party arguing a case in front of this court is required to submit printed Records and Briefs (also called Transcript of Record) supporting their position, which often run into several hundred pages of testimony and relevant documents. A few of these are available on Google books, such as this one from 1905. All are available on microfilm and on subscription legal sites, such as the Making of Modern Law, which are available at many law libraries. Many have also been reprinted and can be purchased from on line book sellers.. Similar documentation can be found for other court cases.

General Technical References also see Technology
1835 A treatise on water-works for conveying and distributing supplies of water; with tables and examples, by Charles Storrow.

1840 "On Steam-Boilers and Steam-Engines, Part II," by Josiah Parkes, Transactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers 3(part 2):49-162 (1840)
Page 103: The consumption of fuel per mile for every ton of gross load is about a quarter of a pound, and that of water is rather less than a quarter of a gallon; the consumption of water when working with a full load, is a cubic foot per hour for each horse-power.

1869 Report on the Filtration of River Waters, for the Supply of Cities, as Practised in Europe: Made to the Board of Water Commissioners of the City of St. Louis, by James P. Kirkwood

1873 Report of the Government Directors of the Union Pacific Railroad, December 1, 1873.
Pages 75-76: Location of 75 water-stations, dimensions of tank, power used, and source of supply.

1873 Protection against fire, and the best means of putting out fires in cities, towns and villages, with practical suggestions for the security of life and property, by Joseph Bird.

1874 The civil engineer's pocket-book, Third Edition, by John C. Trautwine | 1881 edition |

1876 "Water Supply for Towns and Village," by Clarence Delafield, C.E., New York, Scientific American Supplement 2(27):424-425 (July 1, 1876)

1876 "Water Works," from The American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, edited by George Ripley and Charles Anderson Dana, 16:509-512.

1877 "Notes on some artesian borings along the line of the Union Pacific Railroad in Wyoming Territory," by F. V. Hayden, Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey 3:181-185 (1877)

1877 A practical treatise on water-supply engineering relating to the hydrology, hydrodynamics, and practical construction of water-works, in North America. With numerous tables and illustrations, by John Thomas Fanning. This book went through many revisions.

1879 A Comprehensive Treatise on the Water Supply of Cities and Towns, by William Humber. A reprint of the 1876 edition published in England with hundreds of illustrations. This book describes water works in Great Britain but was very useful for American engineers and others.

1883 Water Supply Considered Mainly from a Chemical and Sanitary Standpoint, by Prof. William Ripley Nichols of MIT

1885 Domestic Hygiene and Sanitary Information, by George Wilson

1887 A collection of diagrams representing the general plan of twenty-six different Water-Works. Contributed by Members of the New England Water-Works Association, and compiled by a committee. November 1, 1887.

1888 Some Details of Water-Works Construction, by William R. Billings.

1890 Text-book of Hygiene: A Comprehensive Treatise on the Principles and Practice of Preventive Medicine from an American Stand-point, Second Edition, by George Henry Rohé

1893 Some Details of Water-Works Construction, by William R. Billings. Second Edition

1896 The Filtration of Public Water Supplies, by Allen Hazen | 1905 Third Edition, Revised and Enlarged | First Edition |

1896 "Modern Methods of Supplying Cities with Pure Water," by Allen Hazen, Member Boston Society of Civil Engineers, The Michigan Engineers' Annual (1896)

1897 Water Supply, Considered Principally from a Sanitary Standpoint, by William P. Mason

1898 The Purification of Public Water Supplies, by John W. Hill

1899 "Water Supply Books," J. James R. Croes, The New York Times, Saturday Review of Books and Art, May 13, 1899 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Also here |

1899 Elements of Water Supply Engineering by E. Sherman Gould

1899 Examination of water: (Chemical and bacteriological), by William Pitt Mason.

1899 The Microscopy of Drinking Water, by George Chandler Whipple

1899 The Venturi Water Meter, by Clemens Herschel, Cassier's Magazine 15(5):411-421 (March, 1899) | also here |

1900 The Resistance of Locomotives and Trains: And the Water- and Coal-consumption and Power of Locomotives, by Albert Frank

1901 Public Water-supplies: Requirements, Resources, and the Construction of Works, by Frederick Eugene Turneaure and Harry Luman Russell, with a chapter on Pumping Machinery by David Webster Mead

1901 Water supply for locomotives, by Frederick Joel Bird, Thesis for the degree of bachelor of science in Railway Engineering, University of Illinois, June 1901.

1907 Pumping engines for water works, by Charles Arthur Hague

1907 Water Supply: A Treatise on the Sources, Distribution, and Consumption of Water for Commercial and Domestic Uses, and Modern Practice in the Construction of Water-works and Purification Plants, by Frederick Eugene Turneaure

1910 "The Water Supply of the El Paso and Southwestern Railway from Carrizozo to Santa Rosa, N. Mex.," Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers 34(3):531-552 (March 1910)

1911 Public Water-supplies: Requirements, Resources, and the Construction of Works, Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged, by Frederick Eugene Turneaure, Harry Luman Russell, Daniel Webster Mead

1916 Waterworks Handbook, compiled by Alfred Douglas Flinn, Robert Spurr Weston, Clinton Lathrop Bogert

1917 "Railway Water Supply," Railway and Locomotive Engineering 30(6):182-184 (June, 1917)
Consumption and cost - lakes and ponds furnish the best water
The estimated annual consumption of water by locomotives alone on the railroads of the United States is 450,000,000,000 gallons.
Water used per engine mile:
Consolidation Locomotives - 219.6 gallons
Mallet Locomotives - 257.6 gallons
Mikado Locomotive - 202.5 gallons

1918 Conveyance and Distribution of Water for Water Supply: Aqueducts, Pipe-lines and Distributing Systems, a Practical Treatise for Water-works Engineers and Superintendents, by Edward Wegmann

1920 "Recent Developments in Railway Water Supply," Railway Review 66:756-758 (May 8, 1920)

1923 Flow of Water in Pipes, by Hiram Francis Mills

1924 Public water-supplies: requirements, resources, and the construction of works, by F.E. Turneaure and H.L. Russell ; with a chapter on pumping-machinery by D.W. Mead. Third Edition, Revised

1925 Water Works Practice, a manual issued by the American Water Works Association | also here |
Page 10: Table 2. Growth in number and changes of ownership of United States water-works since 1800.
• Since this table was originally compiled one additional works, privately owned, in existence before 1800, has come to light, but as the figures up to 1896 have been before the public for many years and the change is so slight, with percentages not affected after the first few lines, it has not seemed worth while to remake the table.

1927 Waterworks handbook of design, construction and operation, 3d. Ed., by Alfred D. Flinn

1932 The Early Years of Modern Civil Engineering, by Richard Shelton Kirby and Philip Gustave Laurson
Pages 185-226: Chapter VII. Waterworks and Water Power.

1934 Elements of water supply engineering, by Earle Lytton Waterman.

1938 Elements of Water Supply Engineering, Second Edition, by Earle Lytton Waterman

1947 Survival And Retirement Experience With Water Works Facilities A Committee Report, by American Water Works Association, Inc.

1950 The Transcontinental Railroad by John Debo Galloway
Chapter 11 Constructing the Union Pacific Railroad
Page 286: Seventy-five water stations had to be built about thirteen and one half miles apart. Seven were supplied by artesian wells, seven by gravity sources, twenty-eight by windmills, thirty-eight used steam pumps, while one was worked by hand.

1952 The Industrial Utility of Public Water Supplies in the United States, 1952. Part I. States East of the Mississippi River. USGS water supply paper 1299

1956 "75 Years of Progress in Water Supply Engineering," by E. Sherman Chase, Journal of the American Water Works Association 48(8):914-924 (August, 1956)

1987 The transfer of early industrial technologies to America, by Darwin Stapleton
Pages 12-13: Oliver Evans
Pages 59-60; Benjamin Henry Latrobe and the Philadelphia Water Works.

2018 The Story of Fluoridation

2021 "Utilization of Abandoned Coal Mines as Sources of Municipal Water" by Curtis Varnell, Academia Letters, Article 535 (May 2021)

General Histories that mention water works
1910 Social and Industrial Conditions in the North During the Civil War, by Emerson David Fite
Pages 213-231: Chapter VIII. Public Improvements.

1934 The Irrepressible Conflict: 1850 - 1865, by Arthur Charles Cole | also here |
Pages 180-181: Water Supply.

1942 The Standard Of Living In 1860 American Consumption Levels On The Eve Of The Civil War, by Edgar W. Martin | also here, but missing several pages |
Pages 38-42: The Public Water Supply; also several other references to water closets, etc.

archive.org water supply books