Price
Number
Learning Units (Hours)
Course
Quiz
Jeffrey Syken
Along with the Transcontinental Railroad, Suez Canal and the Eiffel Tower, the Croton Aqueduct System both Old and New ranks as one of the great engineering achievements of the 19th century. Akin to the great aqueducts of ancient Rome, the Croton Aqueduct supplied the growing City of New York and; later, its satellite boroughs, with the Elixir of Life: fresh water. But before NYC became the sprawling metropolis of today, the island of Manhattan was a swampy woodland. Ponds and creeks flowed around hills and between trees, sustaining nomadic Native Americans and a varied wildlife population. After the Dutch established a colony in 1624, water shortages and pollution began threatening the islands natural supply, sparking a crisis that would challenge the livability of Manhattan for the next 200 years. Fresh-water sources were underground; but none of it was very fresh. Salt waters surrounding the island brined New Amsterdams natural aquifers and springs. A defensive wall built in 1653 cut the colony off from better water to the north. The Dutch dug shallow wells into the available brackish water and built cisterns to collect rain, but neither source was enough to satisfy the colonys needs. Loaded with all kinds of particulate matter, the water could hardly be used for drinking. By 1664, New Amsterdams limited, salty supply of water left the Dutch dehydrated, allowing the English to take-over without a fight.
With an ever-expanding population, new sources of fresh-water were essential to the Citys growth and well-being. Poor sanitation practices and a yellow fever outbreak in 1702 (which killed 12 percent of the citys population) emphasized the need. This was followed by smallpox, measles and more yellow fever through 1743. That year, Cadwallader Colden, an Irish physician who emigrated to the American colonies in 1710, advocated for the use of the Croton River 40 miles distant - as a source of fresh-water that he believed would be less susceptible to contamination. This would be the seed of the Croton Aqueduct System. Wealthy colonists had bought carted water from an untainted pond just north of the City named Collect Pond. However, a law passed by the Citys Common Council forced all tanneries to relocate and they moved to the banks of the pond, forever to its detriment. In 1774, an Engineer named Christopher Colles proposed bringing a constant supply of fresh-water to the City from the Collect Pond, but the American Revolution got in the way. It would be Aaron Burr and his Brother-in-Law who would form the Manhattan Co. and take-up Colles idea of using the Collect Pond as a source of fresh-water. They would build the infrastructure needed, including a reservoir on Chambers Street, to supply all the Citys inhabitants with a reliable supply of fresh-water.
However, on-going epidemics and a December 1835 conflagration that destroyed 700 buildings; mainly due to the fact that there was not enough water to fight the fires, was the straw that broke the camels back. The City Fathers saw the writing on the wall and determined to use the Croton watershed, which was determined to ultimately be able to supply a population of five-million with fresh-water more than adequate for a City with a population of 350K in the 1830s. Thus, an aqueduct requiring dams, reservoirs, brick-lined tunnels and a Roman-style aqueduct across the Harlem River was designed and constructed, with John B. Jervis of Erie Canal fame serving as its Chief Engineer. The Old Aqueduct, as it came to be known, served the City well however, with a post-Civil War population of plus one-million, the aqueduct was proving inadequate and put the City in danger of a water famine. Besides, much of the Croton water was going to waste, spilling over the top of the Old Croton Dam. By the mid-1870s, talk began of a New Croton Aqueduct to supplement the original and by the 1890s, it was becoming a reality, but this time mostly underground. The unification of NYC in 1898 increased the need for reliable sources of fresh-water exponentially thus, the Catskill and Delaware Aqueducts, with their sources on the west-bank of the Hudson River, came to be by the early/mid-20th century. Today, only about 3% of the Croton System feeds NYC with fresh-water, but its ability to impress remains.
This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.
NY PE & PLS: You must choose courses that are technical in nature or related to matters of laws and ethics contributing to the health and welfare of the public. NY Board does not accept courses related to office management, risk management, leadership, marketing, accounting, financial planning, real estate, and basic CAD. Specific course topics that are on the borderline and are not acceptable by the NY Board have been noted under the course description on our website.