Water Supply: The History of Newark's Life Source
Date
2009-08-19T18:06:04Z
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Abstract
Access
to water supplies was important to the city’s forefathers. Newark was founded before
the American Revolution as a crossroads village due to its fortuitous location at the
head of navigation between the banks of the White Clay and Christina Creeks. The
rolling Piedmont creeks in and around Newark provided accessible hydropower for
dozens of mills and industries during the 18th and 19th centuries. As the city’s thirsty
population quadrupled during the second half of the 20th century, new wells were
drilled in Coastal Plain aquifers, and the long search for a new reservoir was underway.
With the completion of the Newark Reservoir in 2006, the first major reservoir built in
Delaware since the Great Depression, Newark’s is the only water system in the First
State that has the flexibility to provide drinking water from groundwater and surfacewater
sources.
Description
historical booklet
Keywords
water, supply, Newark, Delaware, history, White Clay Creek, reservoir, drought, Koelig Farm