Cool Things Around ELO: East Liverpool Water Works

Recently I had the opportunity to go into the East Liverpool water works with a group of photographers and explorers (some of the best in town ) to take a look at the plant. I must say when I first heard of this place I expected a small old building with not much to see. I thought what could be there to see other than a bunch of old pipes and outdated buildings? I was very wrong.

This place turned out to be a very interesting and fascinating work of engineering. Built in 1916 by the Pitt Construction Co and designed by Chester and Fleming engineers this place was one of a kind in the county. Originaly the plant was built and operated with no electricity planned in its operation just steam boilers and gas. It was not until the 30's that things were converted to electric.This plant has two intake pits both are over 50 feet deep. One of the pits used to have an old Oatis brand elevator that was water powered. It is no longer there but it still has the spiral staircase along the side to get to the bottom. Other things in the building include, original windows that are spectacular, a hand operated crane system, original copper gutters and soffit, one of a kind terra cotta tiled circular roof, and of course lots of pipes some which are date stamped.

The plant used to pump and purify almost 4 million gallons daily but now processes close to 2 million.There is a 30 inch main line that runs from the plant into the Ohio thats roughly around 17 feet below the surface of the river. The water is pumped up to a main reservoir and is gravity feed through different stages of processing. Divers are called in from Pittsburgh to maintain the intake in the river perodicly but most of the maintainance is done by the people that work there. I would like to thank Dave Smith for the time he took to show us around and for the the expert information that he had on the plant. He truly has a passion for his job and the history of this plant.