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

Подписаться 658 тыс.

Просмотров 208 тыс.

50% 1

Thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring the video. If you want to set up your own website, hit this link for more info: www.squarespace.com/itshistory to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Code: ITSHISTORY
New York City is the pinnacle example of American development. Being the most populated city in the United States, it requires a tremendous amount of infrastructure - chief Among the most important of these systems is its waterworks which have a long and complex past. Today we discover a fascinating tale of underground piping, aqueducts, forgotten tanks, and the longest tunnel in the world!
Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @itshistory
IT’S HISTORY - Weekly tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
» CONTACT
For brands, agencies and sponsorships, please contact us at itshistory@thoughtleaders.io
/ kultamerica
00:43 - The History of New York’s early Waterworks
03:34 - New York’s water crisis (The Great Fire of New York & Illnesses)
05:20 - Why New York’s Water administration got into banking
06:59 - The Story of The old Croton Aqueduct
08:08 - How the Croton Aqueduct transformed New York (part 1)
09:07 - A word from our sponsor - Squarespace
10:41 - How the Croton Aqueduct transformed New York (part 2)
11:48 - Construction of the New Croton Aqueduct
12:53 - Construction of the Delaware Aqueduct (The worlds longest tunnel)
14:52 - The modern waterworks of New York
» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Gregory Back,
Editor - Kamil Krawiec
Host - Ryan Socash
Sponsor - Squarespace
» SOURCES
/ itshistory
» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.

Опубликовано:

9 мар 2022

Ссылка:

Скачать:

Готовим ссылку...

Добавить в:

Мой плейлист

Посмотреть позже

Комментарии : 190

@fredross3089 2 года назад

My step dad was one of the sand hogs who worked on the Ashokan tunnel to New York City pre WWII. He had alot of great stories about some of the rock and minerals they cut through, including huge quartz crystals, some of which went to the NY Museum of Natural History.

@rehmsmeyer 2 года назад

Here we go...

@davidjames666 2 года назад

@6:12 your narration on Lead being Plumbum was perfect. the symbol for lead as you know is Pb. You had no messup!!

@galnetdor 2 года назад

I’m surprised you didn’t mention the ongoing tunnel project called water tunnel 3. It’sa huge 100km tunnel built very deep under the city and will replace the older tunnel 1. It started around 1970 and not expected to be complete until 2026.

@samanthab1923 2 года назад

Cool. Never heard of it.

@guyr.6053 2 года назад

Same here, was expecting the video to finish with it. Btw, a part of Die Hard III takes place in this tunnel (its' third act)

@samanthab1923 2 года назад

@@guyr.6053 I remember that! Always wondered where it was.

@JimAllen-Persona 2 года назад

@@guyr.6053 I remember that

@bobainsworth5057 2 года назад

The city started an stopped this tunnel a number of times as it ran out of money for one reason or another. I heard that the other tunnels have Hugh shutoff valves for maintenance reasons but were never shut off because if they did it would shut down water for at least 1/3 of the city. So they started this tunnel so they could shut down parts of it for maintenance. I also remember they finished the tunnel part went Jersey Gov. Christy got in ( that's a time reference). They just had to connect them all together. This released the tunnel workers for the 4 train tunnels they are completing now. This info is somewere I saw a documentary years ago on it.

@davidawelty 2 года назад

I have lived in NYC for 20 years and always been in a 5 story building, always enjoying that gravity fed water. One of my early confronting moments about the value of this idea was during the 2003 blackout - everything was out… but my walkup building in Yorkville, on the 5th floor in the heat of august had cool upstate water flowing. Stupid selfish I know… but as a NYC sycophant… keep these NYC history videos coming. I literally dream of what you might do next. They are all so so so great for a local… again, selfish I know. But there are a lot of us… so collective selfishness? For those New Yorkers who will find this in the future…? I’m sticking to it - keep the NYC history coming!

@ocsrc 2 года назад

The water tanks on top of the older 6 story and taller buildings is amazing. Modern buildings have them too, but many use lift pumps on every other floor to provide pressure. The water flowing during the summer blackout allowed people to fill tubes and not die, like happened in Chicago, Detroit and other cities. During that blackout, Upstate New York towns with their own independent power plants were the only places with the lights still on. That's why hydro power is so important. It works without coal or oil or natural gas, through all weather. We really need to build more wind mills and solar farms The best thing is if you have a house put solar panels on the roof and put in a 10kw windmill And 12 RV batteries If the grid fails, you can power your entire house with just a 5mph wind and 10 hours of daylight A natural gas or propane generator is a good idea too for a backup I was amazed how just 4 6 volt RV lead acid batteries was able to run everything for 6 hours If you are careful you can have a couple days worth power with no source recharging

@macekreislahomes1690 2 года назад

Good ideas. Seems like collective gratitude.

@robertphillips6296 2 года назад

The symbol for Chase Manhattan Bank is actually a wooden pipe chase. The lake inside of Central Park was originally a reservoir and was at one time to be filled in, but the city residents spoke out against that and it remains a lake today. City police officers annually dive and search of that lake to recover guns, bicycles and other items that have been thrown in it. The reservoirs in upstate New York are guarded by NYC Police Officers. I remember seeing photographs of the inside of the first aqueduct when they were able to close it down for maintenance after over one hundred fifty years of continuous service. I believe the current want supply enters the city an a large cavernous facility 4 stores underground. Hasn’t another even larger water tunnel been dug and placed into service.

@cme98 2 года назад

The symbol of Chase Manhattan should be: the Grinch, or Ebenezer Scrooge.

@whyjnot420 2 года назад

The level of mastery we have attained in getting clean water to people in cities is one of the most magnificent achievements of the modern world. It might be true that in ancient Rome there was more water being brought into the city per person but just how clean that water was, well, likely not the greatest. It is not like keeping water clean is not an ongoing issue as well, in my own little city, around 30+ years ago there was a dry cleaner who just dumped their chemicals out their back door (more or less literally) and the water has slowly been leeching down the side of the valley it is on. In the area where this is a problem, even though it is a place that has sewers, the city never ran water lines to many of the roads there. So people have well water and many of these houses either have expensive filtration equipment or they have to bring their drinking water in from elsewhere (though well water here is still safe enough for showering). (this is in Connecticut btw)

@user-xg8yy7yl1d 2 года назад

The water being brought to Rome was probably way cleaner than whatever water could have been obtained in the area of Rome itself.

@nomercyinc6783 2 года назад

it is not hard to make potable water. thinking so is just lazy or uninformed

@whyjnot420 2 года назад

@@nomercyinc6783 "Making" it, is just one part of "getting" it.

@flaviusfake271 2 года назад

I wouldn't qualify getting water to our cities as an "achievement". The environmental impacts often not sustainable are an embarrassment and clear indication of overpopulation on our planet. The Colorado river runs dry before the ocean. Owens valley lake is dry due Los Angeles and nearby farming. Mexico city and Las Vegas rely on underground wells for large portions of their water which are slowly diminishing each year. Mexico city famously drop 20 inches a year from pumping water from under their city. Las Vegas takes water also from hundreds of miles away. Aral sea is another example where the lake was dried up in the 2010s due to water consumption. Often smaller towns and farms are destroyed to provide for the big city. It makes me laugh when some claim we have pollution, housing, food and water issues. Well maybe population are too high and unsustainable. Another stupidity is not eat meat. You cannot grow crops on most lands plus even fertile land only for a few years. Grass can grow every year and almost anywhere hence why our ancestors had lifestock too. The disconnect is very real nowadays about our current state and how to treat our planet in a sustainable way.

@user-xg8yy7yl1d 2 года назад

@@flaviusfake271 Cities were a mistake and de-urbanization along with land reclamation can't come soon enough. Cities also create very selfish materialistic greedy people detached from the reality of the world because they live in an artificial and unhealthy habitat.

@pauldudley8837 2 года назад

I'm a former Chase employee and it's funny that I think it's now 30 years since the bank has been called Chase Manhattan today it is called JPMorgan Chase. Chase recognizes the fact that among its heritage Banks in the past it goes back to the Manhattan company and in the corporate headquarters there is an example of a hollowed out log that was used for distributing water. Not to mention the guns that were used in the Alexander Hamilton Aaron Burr duel.

@jstoney6471 2 года назад

Flash Back 10years and I was doing a Street Restoration job in Brooklyn and found the original Wood and Lead lined piping STILL serving 8 houses in Brooklyn! Spent 25 years doing Civil/Structural engineering in NYC!

@davidfusco6600 2 года назад

My grandfather worked on the Ashokan dam. My mother grew up only a mile or two from the dam in Stone Ridge NY. It’s still a beautiful place to go to, antique shops, lots of history, apple picking, we’ve made our yearly family “pilgrimage” there for as long as I can remember.

@RKO36 2 года назад

If my math is right... 13 inches per mile is 0.25 of an inch every 104'-2". That's pretty impressive!

@whyjnot420 2 года назад

I have installed pipes underground connected to the drains on gutters, for the purpose of moving the water away from structures. Even using a laser level it was hard to get 1" of drop over 10 feet. Granted this did not involve the detailed planning a city water supply would get, still it made me really appreciate just how precise both ancient and modern stuff really was. (The stuff we did, it was just digging trenches and laying pipe, then covering it back up. Nothing spectacular or really special)

@jhogan1960 2 года назад

I'm a water treatment plant operator. I love videos like this relating the history of potable water conveyance and infrastructure.

@larryn1929 2 года назад

You've done a great job on the water of NYC....now how about the garbage....like the Fresh Kills Landfill!

@JimAllen-Persona 2 года назад

Supposedly cleaned up .. or was that Arthur Kills?

@samanthab1923 2 года назад

@@JimAllen-Persona Fresh Kills is the landfill. Arthur Kills is the water nearby.

@augsdoggs 2 года назад

@@samanthab1923 I know of the Kill Van Kull waterway and Arthur Kill Road, but didn’t know that there’s a waterway called Arthur Kill.

@samanthab1923 2 года назад

@@augsdoggs All those crazy Dutch names. There’s actually a Fresh Kills estuary too.

@augsdoggs 2 года назад

@@samanthab1923 Yes I worked for companies capping several sections of Fresh Kills Landfill. Some sections were closed while the landfill was still operating, others were capped after the place was fully closed, such as the estuary area. I lived on SI for nearly 40 years. I suppose that you’re from there as well.

@tocooh6838 2 года назад

Could you do a video about the location of the Croton Reservoir and the connection between the Jerome family and Winston Churchill.? I worked there and we found buried brick walls from the Jerome Race Track buried about 12 below grade.

@samanthab1923 2 года назад

That’s an interesting little story. My dad grew up in the Bronx. On Sedgwick over near the res. I never knew Jerome Ave. was named after her dad.

@kennethbuettner9352 2 года назад

Jenny Jerome was an American from a socially prominent New York City family. She married into an English family, as did many young woman of her age. Now of her children was Winston Churchill.

@jaysea802 2 года назад

I second this! I grew up living on the ("New") Croton Reservoir and it's history has always fascinated me

@rogerpenske2411 2 года назад

As usual, Ryan, very well done

@jasons8479 2 года назад

We take this absolute necessity for life so much for granted. Must be a testament to the quality of the systems in place that continuously bring clean water to us. We forget how incredibly fortunate we are to almost never have to do without.

@douglasmclean2802 2 года назад

Another awesome episode!

@electropainted 7 месяцев назад

wonderful broadcast quality doc...well conceived, well executed!

@nickyborrisino 2 года назад

I already learned most of this information from Jerry Parks, the truck driver, in Die Hard 3.

@RobertWilliams-mk8pl 2 года назад

Yeah, people like really exist.

@benjaminniemczyk 2 года назад

An excellent documentary on the astonishing story of the NYC water supply (one of my favorite topics to contemplate, especially when visiting the Catskills). The most important fact is stated at the end: that gravity is what brings the water to the city. There of course were engineering challenges, but the supply is a stroke of good luck, as is NYC period! The topography made all this possible. When I stand at the Ashokan Reservoir each year, I am amazed at the fact that this water will eventually be in my home!

@vocaloid577 2 года назад

Keep up the good work dude nice video

@mitchellbarnow1709 2 года назад

Excellent video!

@dannyjones3840 2 года назад

Another great video brother!! And New Yorkers pronounce it Ak-waduct lol. I grew up in the Bronx, right near the Jerome Park Reservoir. On a hot summer day nothing beat opening the cold water on the faucet, and drinking straight from it. If you could do a story on the very interesting history of the Jerome Park Reservoir, that would be awesome!!

@colinbarrett3016 2 года назад

Most interesting...watching from 🇨🇦

@HBC423 2 года назад

I've always heard the Roman's knew about the dangers of lead. Their water was just so mineral rich it coated the pipes and provided a barrier against the lead

@andresespejo525 2 года назад

Great video

@n8spectacular 6 месяцев назад

Ryan, the Old Croton Aqueduct is now a nature trail. You can pick it up in Bronx and take it all the way up to Croton, apparently. There are a few detours as areas were developed before it became a park. There is an entrance less than a mile from my house in Yonkers.

@ericrohrbaugh2713 2 года назад

An amazing feat of engineering. Thank you for the video!

@chriswitmer9754 2 года назад

4:54 "That Aaron Burr ?" , "Oh THAT Aaron Burr"

@evilmotorsports5076 2 года назад

The guy from the "Got milk" commercial?

@sped6954 3 месяца назад

04:54 Not Aaron Burn?

@A_Clark 2 года назад

"You cannot photograph the smell." -19th century New York guy.

@promiscuous5761 2 года назад

Thank you...

@211212112 Год назад

We are currently digging a tunnel from Manhattan to the source of the Thames. The idea is to supply oneself with water while denying everyone else.

@joshalger6059 4 месяца назад

These are incredible engineering feats for the time they were constructed and still functioning properly…not a single pump in the catskill aqueduct

@jeffghitelman6809 2 года назад

It's aaaaqueduct ..like hat. And many thanks for NOT using that scratched film effect filter! Much easier to watch your work.

@uppercasedtheelowercases3123 2 года назад

When the Ashokan was almost dry in spots 25+ years ago, my buddies dad went with his metal detector. Since the reservoir is a small town that was flooded, there's lots of things to find.

@vondumozze738 2 года назад

For a more detailed story, see if you can get a hold of Water for a City by Charles Weidener Rutgers University press, 1974. It has a lot of naps, illustrations and photos.

@pathilly7258 Год назад

I worked on water tunnel 3 started right out of high school 1980 just retired after 40 years

@missfeliss3628 Год назад

plumbum! lol love it...i wonder if i have a plum bum or a purple bum

@michael_mouse 2 года назад

Q&A... the former rather than the later 🥱

@jstoney6471 2 года назад

Water Tunnels #1 &#2 PALE in comparison with Water Tunnel #3...worked on the Main Pumping Chamber underneath Van Cortland Park in the Bronx....850ft Down and 1000ft x 1000ft x 500ft...Did my job for 25 years!

@katherinekinnaird4408 2 года назад

I live in Bakersfield California and I find that Aquaduct is mostly used ,but... so either slightly other version of the word is in use.😉

@SlapShotRegatta22 2 года назад

"The city saw these challenges coming..." Hmmmmm, seems like they've lost that ability in the past decade or so.

@SilasBudman420 2 года назад

Don’t think I’ve ever caught a video this early

@vashman01 2 года назад

I knew exactly what the title was referring to. I live right next to it.

@nedbates 2 года назад

Robert Daley, author of "The World Beneath the City," should be proud of your unabridged treatment of his 1959 book's first several chapters!

@bongwelll 2 года назад

I live in NYC for the last two decades. They say it like the first way you said it.

@BeerDad69 2 года назад

Holy shit!

@VIPER0308 2 года назад

Great video! I wonder if Mickey O'Brien of aqueduct security is still on the job?

@JimAllen-Persona 2 года назад

That always seemed like a great gig to me… city cop patrolling an upstate reservoir.

@TheLewistownTrainspotter8102 2 года назад

"Yeah, they said he was a jolly, old, fat guy with a snowy, white beard. Cute little red and white suit. I'm surprised you didn't see him. 😉"

@CellaDragon 2 года назад

Him: As the RU-vidr’s say… Me: Wait, aren’t YOU a RU-vidr…? Sounds like something my history teacher would say before the school Bell 🔔

@justintyme4690 2 года назад

Crazy what we can accomplish when we come together.

@jonathanrichter4256 2 года назад

If you're from New Jersey, as I am, it's ACK-wah-duct, not AHK-wah-duct.

@christianhansen3292 2 года назад

Amazing. Ack like Aflac! but u can say it the other way and still be correct.

@douglachman7330 2 года назад

If you're into such history, did you know both rivers (the east and hudson) were created by a breaking ice dam of huge proportions in the badlands long long long ago.

@PronatorTendon 2 года назад

Are you referring to ice age meltwater?

@TheArtmaster67 Месяц назад

I agree but plumbum is funny word in the old history but I not sure who came up of it

@TA_Plus_Hemi 2 года назад

Look I got to be honest your videos are great, I wouldn't be upset if they were a little longer some more facts put in but they're awesome. My one request is can you turn down the music for the intro?

@cliffwoodbury5319 2 года назад

its the longest known tunnel - there are probebly so many tunnesl under this nation that are way way longer

@johnswartz2423 2 года назад

When they had a fire; and wooden water pipes ? they would dig a hole down to the water pipe,& drill a hole in it --and then use buckets to create a bucket brigade ; Just imagine how long this process took…. while someone’s house is burning down! to put out the fire ….and this is where the term fire plug came from : because once the hole was not used? it was plugged with a wooden stick going up toward the surface and called a fire plug…. Very soon someone had the idea of putting a riser and a valve on it and that was the first water hydrant for fires

@Peter-pv8xx 2 года назад

Norton!

@RonnieRawdawg 2 года назад

I've driven past it so many times down 684 and never knew it

@ridleyscurry2480 2 года назад

plumbum... I like that word

@_Breakdown 2 года назад

15:35 - - *QUESTION: “The system adds FLUORIDE to prevent TOOTH DECAY”* *(?) ... TOOTH DECAY FROM WHAT? CHLORINE??*

@Dong_Harvey 2 года назад

"Is it Aqueduct or Aquaducked?" In some cities its Aqualung

@kwbalance108 2 года назад

I say Ah-kwa-duct since the word derives from Latin's "aqua". But for something like this, especially as it's not a last name (e.g. Porsche), tomato tomato!

@MyPhobo 2 года назад

Did every city in the US have a 'great fire' at some point? Chicago's is probably the most famous. I live in Detroit which had a 'great fire' in 1805 (Our motto is even: 'Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus' or 'We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes' which is a pretty good motto for Detroit especially now that it seems like it's going through a Renaissance) and now New York too. I'm guessing that almost every City has had some kind of huge fire at some point. I know London has had at least one.

@samaulicino4202 2 года назад

yes... things that make you go hmmm??

@funny3scene 2 года назад

Oh Detroit is going through a renaissance huh? Not sure I would’ve put it quite so elegantly. 😂

@Ti_Taannikk 2 года назад

Imagine finding an old pot in your backyard thanking that it was somebody’s pottery or something used in the kitchen Then you find out it was just an old shit pot LOL

@coreym162 2 года назад

Plumb Bum! Still relevant. Plumber's crack the British version though xD

@Claytone-Records 2 года назад

Fluoride in the water? Why not just toss leftover garbage from the aluminum industry?

@auaggoldbug4151 2 года назад

Fluoride was NOT added to water for teeth!

@Claytone-Records 2 года назад

@@auaggoldbug4151 I know.

@deezynar 2 года назад

13 inches of fall per mile is about 1/400th of an inch per foot.

@kurtbuck3275 2 года назад

Why do you think fluoride in the water is a good thing?

@peterpirando2024 2 года назад

What about the new water tunnel?

@natecrosman9506 2 года назад

Arron BURR, come on.

@7389ma 2 года назад

When I was growing up it was called aqueduct

@jimurrata6785 2 года назад

And so was the race track....

@valvsto100 2 года назад

Fluoride added for "tooth decay" and pineal gland decay.

@mattsmocs3281 2 года назад

Bruh this is so early and no comments like. How.

@WhiteDwarfVR4 2 года назад

World's largest acknowledged tunnel* Also.. "Fluoride to prevent tooth decay" 🤣🤣 learning is always more fun with little bits of comedy sprinkled throughout. Fluoride is already in toothpaste, which spends much more time exposed to the teeth compared to drinking water, after which time It is spit out, as per the instructions. It is not meant to be consumed. However, the powers-that-be learned a few tricks off of ole Adolf. And they are so subtle hardly anyone notices.

@filanfyretracker 2 года назад

really NYC has one of the most amazing water systems in the history of civil engineering. Must take a huge amount of people to run the water department as something this big and complex must need constant work.

@marstondavis 2 года назад

New York City has some of the best tasting water in this nation.

@christinecollins6648 2 года назад

Akkkwa, ahhhqua, both are common

@dj_paultuk7052 Год назад

Well its not the longest tunnel in the world. That belongs to the tunnel in the Swiss Alps which is 35 miles long.

@didpip 2 года назад

Aaron Burn?

@johnswartz2423 2 года назад

Roman plumbing brought fresh clean water to an area , who’s population ….was shitting itself , right up to its ears… Therefore : they developed a method of plumbing… to remove sewage… There is evidence of ancient South American cities that had huge plumbing underground sewers that were like caves but they all made of brick and stone etc. I would like to know where all of that waste water went and what is the current result of it’s presence …in the past

@josephsager9425 2 года назад

You promised "forgotten tanks" at the start of the video. Did I miss that part?

@Auzz2717 2 года назад

Known...

@paiddj3397 2 года назад

It's no surprise, Chase has been screwing up forever

@abelinkinxvi1735 2 года назад

“Aqua”-“duct”

@timothylines631 2 года назад

canonsvile dam local 825. up state n y.

@hanshaveron 2 года назад

They add fluoride to help tooth decay- sure 😂

@ProfSimonHolland 2 года назад

its interesting that you are 'amazed' NYC has a central water supply.. doing something for the community and common good.... isn't amazing... its vital and normal...not having city water is weird to me in europe. i guess its a political divide.

@asininetwat8384 2 года назад

I believe water is a universal right too but I was under the assumption that he was amazed at the technical feat of bringing water to so many houses and buildings rather than the politics of how it got there

@thefloridaredneck 2 года назад

Soooo how long is the tunnel?

@lylecoglianese1645 2 года назад

About 13:23 it said 85 miles.

@xHowler 2 года назад

It's 'Octadoc

@neildavy2601 2 года назад

Longest tunnel in the world you say, but what about the DUMB's and the Electromagnetic powered train from LA to New York in just 2.6 hrs, 35 miles underground?! Other than these, great video Ryan!

@jeffreyyoung4104 2 года назад

Now the other side of the coin, what do they do with the waste today?

@paiddj3397 2 года назад

It's the The Bronx

@beth-rg8bm 2 года назад

16:43 And yet New York is built on a kildare that makes Yellowstone's look tiny...Yeah New York 🙄!

@jerrywestaway9316 2 года назад

Some Say Potato , Some Say Potahto

@robertcuminale1212 2 года назад

It was Aaron Burr not Aaron Byrne. You might remember that he was once a Vice President Of The United States. Not mentioned is that maintenance of the water pipes is impossible since they cannot be shut down. No valve on Tunnel One has been turned in 60 years because the ear that they would break. Most are rusted shut and need to be replaced. One problem is where to put the backed up water if Tunnel One is closed off for repairs.They need cross tunnels so water can be rerouted.

@constitution_8939 2 года назад

I believe that Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton because Burr believed Hamilton a Traitor who was a Rothschild agent hence his insistence on the formation of the First Bank of America instigated by Hamilton for the Rothschild's.

@haroldalexis4200 2 года назад

Wow what water history New york City developed over the years. But when The. New York Public Library or todays BRYANT PARK what & where does our water supply today in Manhattan? 🤔

@daveduffy1755 2 года назад

A qua duct not U qua duct or ARE qua duct

@vinniemorciglio4632 2 года назад

Aaron Burr.....

@ocsrc 2 года назад

We did a story about the schoharie creek and the tunnel to the Ashokan and the pipes to the Sawmill It is an incredible story and the volume of water is almost the entire state that feeds NYC Even Binghamton area has lakes that are sources for NYC And the Hudson River from Plattsburgh to Newburgh and the Mohawk river from Buffalo to Troy feed NYC The fire of 1776 is a separate story The War was starting and the British actually attempted to burn down NYC and kill all their enemies So many years in School you needed to take Social Studies, but they don't teach any of these things Water was used to power all the Mills as well, and all the towns and cities dumped raw sewage into the rivers Until the 1960s all the cities dumped all their sewage into rivers The 60s saw sewage treatment plants in major cities and urban areas But even as late as the 2000s the cities were forced to build new pipes to stop dumping sewage into rivers I remember in the 70s and 80s watching waterfalls of sewage pour out of tunnels on the side of the river in my city. They were finally retired in 2010 when the EPA forced the city to put in new pipes and they had to tear up every street and hook the new pipes to the houses that were built in the 1800s During the summer the Black Water District which is supposed to keep salt from coming up the Hudson River, they drain Sacandaga resivour into the Hudson River and even still, the salt gets all the way to the federal dam in Troy. There is a lot of trouble in the near future because there is not enough water for NYC and NY state The fracking has poisoned all the ground water in southern tier NY and all of northern PA The Delaware river feeds the water to the cities in PA and NJ The watershed of PA in the south is for MD and DC