I went to Water Works Museum on January 26th.
More than 400 years ago, there was no system for water. At the time, people took a basket to the river and brought it to their house. The first pipe for water was made of wood. Only rich people can use it, so it was for private. However, the pipe that was made of wood was not good. After that, the factories began to be made, many people started living in Boston, and those made water dirty in 1800. Thus, the system for water was made. In 1814, people started living on a hill, so pumps became necessary to distribute water to them. The machines became smaller than the first one, but throughout these processes, their size returned to about the same size as the first one, and the performance became better than the first. Eventually, the size of it became it that is on this photo.
Additionally, I learned that various things and happenings in a city could be factors of water pollution, for example, forest, factory, a tank that is filled with sewage, golf course, and construction.
The bigness of the old machine was the most surprising in this research mission.
This research mission wasn’t directly related to my research, hunger. However, as I wrote above, various things and actions can make the water dirty. I believe that to make plants grow healthily and have a large yield of them, clean water is essential. Therefore, this research mission was beneficial for me because I learned the necessities to make water clean.
In Japan, people can drink tap water, and I have heard that we shouldn’t drink tap water in other countries. Is it not good for our body to drink tap water in the US? This is the question that I have after this research mission.
I want to recommend anyone who wants to know about the water system and its history.
Yuika Sugawara