Crews Excavate 205-Year-Old Wood Water Mains In Philadelphia

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Workers have excavated 205-year-old wooden water mains in Philadelphia.

The city's Water Department says workers replacing a water line on Wednesday came across what looked like old logs. A woman who had attended a lecture by the department's historian saw them and thought they were water mains.

The ones discovered this week were likely installed around 1812. They hadn't been in use since the early 1830s but had been left in the ground. The city began replacing wooden pipes with cast iron in 1819.

The old mains have been saved and stored for educational purposes.

Philadelphia