Although we use running water every day, it’s easy to take it for granted.
Indoor plumbing for drinking water was a rarity in Colonial America. Some colonists regarded water as “lowly and common,” better suited to barnyard animals than humans. Perhaps that explains why it took nearly a century for indoor plumbing to develop.
Those colonists relied on digging wells and utilizing readily available natural, unpolluted water sources like springs, streams and ponds — sources that in most European cities had already been fouled. Even if water was not the favored drink in early America — many people preferred something stronger, perhaps brandy or ale — water was the standard drink for most.
Hollowed out tree logs, connected to each other to form a network, were a common method for transporting water. In 1652, the first city waterworks system was created in New York using such a log network; at first, it helped the fire brigades fight fires, but with the advent of steam-powered water pumps the pressure rose too high for wooden pipes. Water supply technologies, including lead pipes, continued to progress through the 1700s. (It was not until 1986 that lead water pipes were banned, though millions are still in use.)
One of the most significant advances in plumbing was the introduction of cast-iron pipes, allowing for safer transportation of water over longer distances and at higher pressures. Philadelphia became the first city in the world to use cast-iron pipes for its water and the first in the U.S. to build a citywide waterworks. About two decades later, in 1829, Boston’s Tremont Hotel installed indoor plumbing for its guests, with indoor toilets and running water — the first of its kind.
In 1830, the first public water main was installed under New York City’s streets; the first floor of the White House received running water three years later. Nonetheless, cast-iron pipes were prone to…