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101 stories matching reservoir
- Tacoma’s Growing Pains: A City Parched
Citizens demand answers as reservoir delays and equipment failures leave South End neighborhoods with dwindling water pressure.
- The Sewer Plan That Imagined a City of 200,000
Engineer J. S. Camp presented Olympia’s council with a tide-powered reservoir and automatic flush tanks, a system meant to grow with the capital city.
- Seattle’s Quest for Reliable Water
How a local reservoir project aims to secure a steady water supply for a growing city.
- The Flooding of the Talbot Coal Mine
A sudden rush of water from a subterranean reservoir halts production, leaving the company to debate expensive drainage tunnels versus imported pumping gear.
- The Desert That Could Bloom: Pasco’s Irrigation Revival
Philadelphia capital revives an abandoned Palouse canal project, promising water for 5,000 acres this summer and eventually 15,000 acres near Pasco.
- The Water Main Blowout on Lake Washington
A faulty metallic plug failed under pressure, exposing the vulnerability of Seattle's early water infrastructure.
- Newport Nearly Drank Itself Dry
A dry month and a heavy hand with the sprinkling can brought the town to the edge of a water famine. The water company has more than doubled the flow from its springs and is digging a reservoir to catch what was running to waste.
- The Blast at the Water Pipe
A reckless explosion near a city water main in Tacoma threatened the reservoir supply, forcing a frantic overnight repair.
- A Cement Plant Rises at Sullivan Creek
Crews push a 15-acre cement works, a 70-foot dam and mountain reservoirs—and bring in a diamond drill to test coal and lead.
- Taming the High Lakes for Irrigation
Northern Pacific begins damming alpine reservoirs to feed the burgeoning Yakima Valley farms.
- The Battle for the Washtucna Coulee
A railroad and the government clash over a plan to turn a vital transportation artery into an irrigation reservoir.
- The Vision for a Central Park
Superintendent Schwagerl plans to transform a forty-acre ridge tract into an exposition of native Washington flora and a scenic reservoir.
- The City Buried Its Own Mistake: Coroner’s Verdict Blames Seattle for Deadly Boiler Explosion
A coroner’s jury has issued a scathing indictment against the city of Seattle, its building inspectors, and a plumber for the negligence that led to a Tuesday night explosion. The verdict fixes blame on the municipality for allowing a dangerous steam heater beneath a public sidewalk without proper oversight.
- Oroville Council Pushes for Bond-Funded Water System
After years of fiscal hesitation, the City Council moves to finance a new water pumping station and reservoir to support the town’s growing population.
- A Million Dollar Water Guarantee
Federal investment in Yakima Valley reservoirs secures long-term water rights for 160,000 acres of farmland.
- The Ghost Stories of the City Reservoir
While typhoid fever rages in Tacoma, the city council struggles to address public panic over rumors of bodies dumped in the water supply.
- The Water Monopoly Standing Between Yakima and Its Best Orchards
A fruit grower warns that the Washington Irrigation Company’s control of reservoir sites could block the high-line ditch needed to open Yakima County’s frost-safe uplands to orchards.
- Lake Washington Water Flows Into the City
A new engineering milestone as city reservoirs are filled from the lake, promising both hydration and fire protection for a growing Seattle.
- Yakima's Water Was Not for Sale
A farm paper accuses the Washington Irrigation Co. of trying to monopolize Yakima Valley reservoirs — and of bullying the legislature to get them.
- Walla Walla's Growing Pains and Water Worries
A civil engineer lays out a blueprint for the city's future water supply, warning that small, aging pipes are a danger to fire safety.
- Olympia Bought a $1,500 Sewer Map Critics Called Worthless
A letter to the editor accuses the city council of buying a stranger's sewer plan without scrutiny—complete with a harbor reservoir already condemned in San Diego.
- Tacoma Refuses to Pay Water Contractors—and Keeps Building
The city council rejects more than $22,000 in damages from contractors cut out of the Maplewood Springs project, then votes for a new South Tacoma-to-West End pipeline, reservoir and pumping station.
- Seattle’s Water Famine Blamed on Political Spoils System
A new city administration’s mass firing of experienced water department staff leads to a catastrophic loss of service during infrastructure upgrades.
- Bringing Fresh Water to a Growing Seattle
Capitalists John Leary, Gatzert, and the Schwabacher brothers race to construct two massive reservoirs to serve a city of 60,000.
- Seattle’s Massive Water Ambitions
The Spring Hill Water Company is betting its future—and the city's growth—on a monumental pipeline from Lake Washington.