Sandusky’s water service turns 150

Sandusky marked 150 years of public water service Sept. 21.

On that date in 1876, the city's first Water Works plant went into service on a site near where the Justice Center stands today. Voters had approved the project the year before, and water was flowing 15 months after construction began, the city said.

Before then, the city was surrounded on three sides by water but had no public supply. In 1877 the Sandusky Register described what residents had been drinking as the "underground drainings" of barnyards and ditches.

The original plant included a standpipe that the Register called the largest in the world. The 1924 tornado destroyed it.

In 1940 the plant moved to its current site, now known as Big Island Water Works. The city said the plant treats and pumps millions of gallons of water every day for Sandusky and the surrounding region.

The Sandusky Library's archives hold photos of the original plant, which the city shared for the anniversary.

Source: City of Sandusky on Facebook