A Prospect Heights manhole cover reveals the source of Brooklyn’s water supply a century ago

It’s not the only Brooklyn manhole cover with “Catskill water” embossed in iron. But it’s the one that caught my eye when I found myself at St. Marks Place and Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights earlier this summer. And it led me to do a little research and discover that in 1917, Brooklyn began getting the bulk of its fresh water from the then-new Catskill Aqueduct. I knew about the Croton Aqueduct—the engineering marvel that brought clean water to Manhattan in 1842 and helped the city develop into a modern metropolis (and stop residents from relying on fetid wells and polluted ponds, which spread disease). But the Catskill Aqueduct? This upstate watershed, meant to ease the enormous demand for water in the early 1900s, featured 92 miles of tunnels and distribution pipes that carried water under the East River to the faucets of the borough’s homes, schools, hospitals, and businesses. Click into the map in the second image for a closer look at the route the Catskill Aqueduct was to…