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Water for Gotham: A History.

Download Ebook Water for Gotham: A History.

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Amazon.com Review

"The chief disadvantage of New York," observed the Swedish botanist Peter Kalm in the mid-18th century, "is the want of good water." The Dutch farmers who settled on Manhattan in the 1600s found the island, which is fronted by a salty inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, to have only small quantities of surface water. Hampered by the hard rock that underlay the island, subsequent generations of Manhattanites had difficulty sinking wells, and many had to make do with polluted, dangerous sources of drinking water. In Water for Gotham, Gerard T. Koeppel relates the complex history of how the metropolis came to acquire dependable sources of water for an ever-expanding population. Those sources lay far from the city, but engineering problems were much less difficult to overcome than was the political opposition to this reliance on the world beyond Manhattan Island. Even after a cholera outbreak killed scores of New Yorkers in 1832, some of the city's leading financiers insisted that the old wells would do just fine. Finally, Koeppel writes, through the efforts of DeWitt Clinton and other farsighted civic leaders, New York raised money to build a system of canals and aqueducts leading up the Hudson and Croton river valleys into the water-rich Catskill Mountains, getting the funds for the construction from European banks and private bondholders. Nearly a century later, all five boroughs were finally well served by pipes that brought in nearly 400 million gallons of fresh water a day--scarcely a third of the present metropolis's demands. Water for Gotham is, well, dry at times, but it does a fine job overall of making sense of an overlooked aspect of New York's history. --Gregory McNamee

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From Publishers Weekly

From its founding as New Amsterdam in 1624 until 1850, Manhattan was plagued by two disasters that killed thousands of residents and caused millions of dollars of damage: unrestrained outbreaks of infectious diseases, including small pox, yellow fever and cholera, and uncontrolled fires that destroyed blocks of stores and residences. The reason: no clean water supply. Koeppel, a former editor at CBS News, has written a vivid history of how Manhattan finally got reliable drinking water. Relying on primary documents, diaries, personal histories and maps, he charts the internecine schemes and failed business ventures to alleviate the island's water problems, from Christopher Colles's attempt to build a reservoir and a steam engine in 1774 to Aaron Burr's and Alexander Hamilton's fraudulent 1789 Manhattan Company (which never delivered promised water but did become the hugely successful Chase Manhattan bank), to John Jevis's successful 1850 project to divert the waters of the Croton River into the rapidly growing city using a complex set of aqueducts and waterworks. Each element in Koeppel's panoramic view of Manhattan's past--including the histories and medical records of families who died in epidemics and the brutal reaction to the Great Negro Plot of 1741, in which slaves sent to fetch spring water for their masters may have organized a series of thefts and fires--is intricately bound to the public's need for clean water. Though it lacks a strong narrative drive, Koeppel's graceful history is written with a wit and intelligence that will please fans of urban history. Agent: Russ Galen. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product details

Hardcover: 376 pages

Publisher: Princeton University Press; First Edition edition (March 13, 2000)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0691011397

ISBN-13: 978-0691011394

Product Dimensions:

6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

4.4 out of 5 stars

15 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#459,586 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

As a resident of the Croton Watershed, I was pleased by the detailed history of this system presented in "Water for Gotham." At one time, I was a member of New York City's Croton Citizen Advisory Committee. My knowledge of the NYC water supply system almost got me into trouble once when I arrived at the bottom of my favorite hiking trail to find it guarded by two uniformed officers. I said: "Oh, you must be here for the access shaft to the Catskill Aqueduct." That was the wrong thing to say. I had to do some explaining.Today the Croton system contributes more than ten percent, typically 100 to 150 million gallons per day, to the water supply of 9 million people. The quality of Croton water is as good today as it was at the beginning of the twentieth century. It meets all federal health standards. Despite this, New York City is building a multi-billion dollar filtration plant to filter water that does not need to be filtered. The consequence of the filtration plant scheme will be the abandonment of protection of the Croton Watershed. Many of today's watershed residents appreciate the reservoir system that lends so much to the beauty of the area, but also see New York City as a distant imperial power whose officials often have little regard for the integrity of the watershed.If you wish to know where your water comes from, this is an excellent place to start.

I have always had a great interest in NYC and surrounding history. The book Gotham, one of the greatest history books ever, covers everything, BUT, this book brings you the rough, tough difficult rise of NYC from the perspective of WATER. This resource we take for granted everyday literally shaped the development and the problems of that development of NYC.While much of the book deals with the politics and fights (same thing) to find the right water source for a modern day reservoir, namely the Croton, I particularly enjoyed the earlier parts of the book.My only complaint about the book and understand it was a necessary evil to do the issue justice, was just how much detail was included regarding the political shannigans to finally get the Croton Aqueduct built. I would have like more detail of the earlier parts of NY and their water.It is amazing to envision, NYC as an island of valleys, ponds, streams, large hills, etc. Further amazing to think of its now concrete harbors as tidal marsh lands, where yellow fever harbored in the never ended mosquito propagation. While people like myself, look back at those early days with envy, reading about their "sewage" and how it tainted their so called water supply makes me happy that I am reading about it rather than living it.My impetus to read this book stemmed from my interest of the "Collect Pond" and how it shaped NYC industry and how amazing to think there was actually a lake in Manhattan that was 70 feet deep!I highly recommend this incredibly well written book, that I just couldn't put down. I would find a map of NYC and follow the streets as you follow the history. It makes it much more interesting.

New York City has always struggled to meet the demands of it's citizens and visitors and few challenges have been as controversial and contentious as the search for adequate water. In Water for Gotham Koeppel related the story of the high minded idealists and the low down scoundrels (including a Vice President of the United States!) who alternated between working together and fighting among themselves to establish a permanent solution to this most vexing of the Big Apple's problems. While he does delve a bit into the engineering of the many solutions, this is more a book about the people and the stories of the many projects from precolonial times to the end of the nineteenth century when a steady supply was finally assured, at least for the moment.This is a fairly fun book to read with it's many characters and story lines. It does at time slow down in the discussion of the political battles for that most important element of any construction project (money!) but most of the time it keeps up a good pace for the reader. There are adequate maps and illustrations to view. And it does have a happy ending... so far.

A truly well-rewarded book and why it took so long to find the proper water source for NYC and it's base need of good water. The only question noylt addressed in any measure was "why the Hudson River was never considered?. At a time when there were no pesticides, no chemical waste, etc. Why was the obvious choice not the unbelievably robust Huddon???

In "Water for Gotham," Gerard Koeppel tells in a compelling way what could have been--ahem--a dry story. Its focus is on the civic history of a nascent metropolis thirsty for water, the self-interested politicians who used that thirst for their own ends, and the few dedicated visionaries who labored against man and nature to bring cold, clean water to Manhattan. Koeppel paints a vivid picture of life in New York from colonial days through the early-1800s, when the Croton Aqueduct was opened.One of the few significant criticisms I have about the book is that while it frequently discusses structures, equipment, and emerging technologies, little effort is made to clearly explain and describe them. While the book is not meant to be a technical or engineering review, better explanations (as opposed to cursory descriptions) of some of the methods of construction (e.g., dams, the aqueduct) would have been appreciated.A second criticism is that the book ends too abruptly with the arrival of water through the Croton Aqueduct, with only passing mention of later developments to the City's extensive water supply system. An additional chapter on how the other reservoirs in the system were created--sometimes through contentious legal battles and property condemnation--and the disposition of some of the original Croton structures, would have been welcome.Notwithstanding these minor quibbles, the book is enjoyable, informative and enlightening. Recommended.

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