Monday 3 December 2007

Footbridge across Johnston's Creek Storm Water Channel


The same channel as show yesterday, looking in the opposite direction towards its outlet at Rozelle Bay. This was originally a natural waterway which provided fresh water to the earliest settlers in the area.

I found out at
this website, where there are some good historical pictures, that the aqueduct shown yesterday was a sewer aqueduct.

"Before 1890 the watercourses which served to carry stormwaters were almost entirely in their natural state. These were receptacles of the sewerage of the large population and led to health problems for the community. By 1900 numerous stormwater channels had been constructed, causing the mortality rate to be greatly decreased in these constructed drainage areas. The Johnstons Creek trunk drainage system was constructed during the period of 1895 to 1900 by the Public Works Department."

It is listed as a heritage item. Most storm water these days is carried underground, of course (although Sydney gets such huge downpours from time to time that sometimes it just doesn't cope, especially as development becomes more intense and population density increases)

3 comments:

  1. Is Bridges the theme for December ?
    Thank for you stopping by.
    This Romans are crazy !!

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  2. More bridges than you can think of in Sydney, the choice is indeed vast, but the coathanger remains my favourite.

    Thanks for stopping by, Sally. Your visits are always a treat. Snow usually comes every other year in Avignon, and lasts no more than 24 hours. One little white day, time to talk a stack of great pics, that will be enough for me !

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  3. Enjoying your bridge series! And interesting facts, too. Back in Chicago they reversed the course of the river to solve sewage problems, so it's interesting to see what other cities have done.

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