Water and sewer mains are installed during the rapid, pre-World War II construction of the Malton Airport in 1938.

How did water from the Credit River keep the railway rolling through Streetsville? Which was the first community in Peel to build a water distribution system? How did people get their water before that? And why was water so important to Canada’s war effort during WWII?

Read the The Peel Water Story and find out! This new illustrated book is a must-read for anyone interested in local history or the environment. You can find it at the Peel Archives or at any public library in Peel: Brampton, Caledon, or Mississauga.

Here’s an excerpt from the Peel Water Story:

"Fires are great promoters of waterworks," a civil engineer once shrewdly observed. Most of Canada's earliest urban water systems were built privately and came into being, not to supply citizens with potable water, but for the purpose of protecting property investments from fire.

In 1880, as the Town of Brampton grew and property values rose, Town councillors were increasingly concerned about the unavailability of water for firefighting. About this time, Brampton studied Toronto's water system, which importantly included fire hydrants. As a result, by September, 1882, Brampton lived up to its title of County Town by being the first community in Peel to construct its own water hydrant system, at a cost of $58,000. Brampton's water system quickly became the envy of many Canadian towns and cities.

Brampton had made a first attempt to pipe spring water to Town from the Carter farm, but it proved ineffective. It was Snell's Lake (now Heart Lake), as the closest large body of water, that became Brampton's exclusive source of municipal water in 1882, and for the next thirty years. Situated at a higher elevation and several kilometres north-east of the Town, this spring-fed, kettle lake supplied the gravity system, which created good water pressure for firefighting. At a cost of $10,000, the distant lake was connected to Brampton via a 12-inch, cast iron feeder main, 2.5 miles long, which connected to 1.5 miles of 6 inch iron pipe, and finally to two miles of 1.5 inch wooden pipes.

Read the book, available at the Peel Archive as well as in every school and public library in the Peel. Visit peelwaterstory.ca and learn about the history of your community, and your water supply.

The Peel Water Story is published by the Region of Peel’s Department of Public Works, which provides municipal water and wastewater services for the more than one million residents in Peel. Other contributing partners include: Peel Heritage Complex, Credit Valley Conservation Authority, Learning for a Sustainable Future, Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, Streetsville Historical Society, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Woodland Cultural Centre.

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