Unearthing Madison's history
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Fighting for safe water
It's hard to imagine that in a city surrounded by lakes, access to safe water was a concern from the beginning. But as Madison's population boomed in the 1860s and 70s, diseases like typhoid and cholera were becoming prevalent. It would take a UW Madison engineering student to help people understand why.
Magnus Swenson saw that most Madison homes had private wells and sewage cesspools, often located close to each other. He theorized that there was a connection between outbreaks of illness and the use of private water wells, so he set out to prove it with his senior thesis entitled, "The Chemical Analysis of Madison Well Waters."
Swenson tested 52 private wells around the city and found 87% of them were contaminated by organic matter, ammonia, nitrites and chlorides coming from sewage. His professor, Roland Irving, insisted in an 1880 Wisconsin State Journal article that most of Madison's well water was unfit to drink.
"...no words can exaggerate the terrible condition of a large number of our wells, nor the evils that are likely to come on the place in the future from faulty drainage and vitiated water supply."
The study immediately encountered pushback from some of Madison's most outspoken citizens. Prominent Madisonian General Simeon Mills fought the findings, claiming, "Madison would be better off never to have heard of Swenson, for the senses of sight and taste are sufficient to prove whether or not water is fit for drinking."
Madison's public waterworks is born
Gradually, however, public opinion shifted to support the creation of a separated sewage system and waterworks. As several private companies stepped forward to offer proposals for a municipal water system, newly-elected council member John Heim fought to keep the system public.
On August 6th, 1881, the council voted to make the water works a public entity, and John Heim was appointed its first superintendent. In May of 1882, contracts were signed, and by October, the waterworks was installed. It cost $36,000 for a new pumping station and 12 miles of main pipe.
Since then, Madison Water Utility has grown to support a population of over 236,000, operating a vast system that includes 22 deep water wells, 828 miles of water main, and more than 8,000 fire hydrants. MWU pumps more than 10 billion gallons of water a year to homes, businesses, schools, and hospitals across the City of Madison, as well as Maple Bluff, Shorewood Hills, Town of Madison, Blooming Grove and Town of Burke.
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- A funny song about a serious thing
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- Paying for Progress
- The long road to smart meters
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History
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- Finding Madison's foxes
- Bidding farewell to Madison’s “legacy” main
- Madison Water Utility turns 135!
- World War II-era journals discovered at construction site
- EPA seeks details of Madison’s Lead Service Replacement Program
- Rediscovering the reservoir
- Unearthing Madison's history
Our People
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- Imagine a Day Without Water
- High school students get hands-on training at MWU
- Worst winter ever? Lessons learned from the "polar vortex" winter of 2013-14
- Imagine a day without water
- MWU releases Annual Water Quality Report
- EPA seeks details of Madison’s Lead Service Replacement Program
- Madison women make history -- with a little help from their friends
- Sometimes, it's what you don't see
- MWU honored for winning Best-Tasting Water in the state!
- Wisconsin's first ever women's tapping team created at MWU
Serving the Community
- “Got Water?” project announces 2020 hydration station schools!
- Final segment of decade-long water main project underway
- Toilet Rebate Program hits 1 billion gallons of water saved!
- Worst-case: What happens when a water main breaks under an airport taxiway?
- Wild February weather takes toll on water mains
- “Got Water?” initiative reaches more than 11,000 students
- Imagine a Day Without Water
- Madison Water Utility adds first new well in more than a decade
- High school students get hands-on training at MWU
- Two Madison Water Utility projects getting national attention
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- What does your water dollar pay for?
- You can now register to vote at Madison Water Utility!
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- The Water Wagon: A cool lesson in sustainability
- New downtown community garden takes root in unlikely spot
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- Major public works project set to begin on north side
- When there's a fire: MWU's critical mission
- Wisconsin Water for the World: Making a difference one village at a time
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- The winter that won't be forgotten
- Frozen on the inside: Indoor flooding season is here
- Bad Medicine
Sustainability
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- EVERY DROP MADISON poll closes soon!
- Average aquifer levels highest in a generation
- Toilet Rebate Program hits 1 billion gallons of water saved!
- Lost Lou and Peter Barryman tune about conservation gets new life.
- Flushing program puts Madison "on the forefront"
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- Annual water use in Madison drops by a billion gallons in six years
- Madison Water Utility adds first new well in more than a decade
- A funny song about a serious thing
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- Catching catastrophic plumbing problems -- through email
- 100 miles of main
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- How low can we go?
- Why all the main breaks?
- Madison woman gets serious about water conservation, wins an iPad
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- Our graywater experiment: 10 years and counting
- Madison Water Utility first in state to launch "ultimate conservation tool"
- When winter's over: the lasting impact of road salt
- Why all the main breaks?
- Bad Medicine
- Our graywater experiment: 8 years and counting
Water quality
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- EVERY DROP MADISON poll closes soon!
- Imagine a Day Without Water
- Widely used chemicals detected in two Madison wells
- Saving Madison from salt
- Into the bore hole: Tackling the road salt problem at a west side well
- Saving Madison from salt
- Madisonians cite safety and conservation as top water issues
- Why add chlorine? The story behind water disinfection
- Water main flushing puts Madison "on the forefront"
- EPA looks to Madison as leader on lead pipe issue
- Saving Madison from salt
- No easy answers for Well 8
- As Safe Drinking Water Act turns 40, Madison ramps up testing
- Taking safety seriously: The story behind water chlorination
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