Water-Works: The Architecture and Engineering of the New York City Water Supply

by Gina Pollara (Editor), Gerard Koeppel (Contributor), Kevin Bone (Editor)

The fresh, clean taste of New York's water is legendary. Less well known is the fascinating story of the massive program of exploration and construction that was required to achieve such purity. The story of that monumental undertaking is told in Water-Works and illustrated with an astonishing archive of drawings and photographs documenting the design and construction of dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, and tunnels. This complex system brings millions of gallons of water to the city every day from rivers many hundreds of miles away. Kevin Bone, Gina Pollara, Paul Deppe, and students from the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of the Cooper Union spent nine years cataloging and preserving this remarkable archive, which is held by the City of New York Department of Environmental Protection. Essays by Bone, former DEP commissioner Albert F. Appleton, and scholars Peter H. Gleick and Gerard Koeppel trace the history of the system from its beginnings in the mid-1800s to the current construction of City Water Tunnel #3. The story of New York's water system is illuminated in expert detail on the pages of Water-Works, revealing the beauty and power of these magnificent works of public architecture and engineering.

268 pages, Hardcover

First published December 5, 2006

Reviews

[Martin Doudoroff · Rating 4 out of 5]

More details than even I needed, but this is one of the most fascinating hunks of infrastructure I know of in the country. This ~200 year history is ably handled here by a team of contributors, and it’s all splendidly illustrated with project photography.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that it was a pretty good and (&) informative book about the history of the New York City water system even though it cost $50.00.

[Peter Wheelwright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for architects and engineers, but a more lively human story is told by Diane Galusha in Liquid Assets: A History of New York City's Water System.