Water towers are among the most visible pieces of civic infrastructure and among the least legible to the people who pass them. Their operators, histories, projects, and service relationships are scattered across public documents and local knowledge.
An evidence-backed map and data model for water towers, standpipes, operators, public sources, photos, projects, claims, and conservatively described service areas.
The aim. Make local infrastructure discoverable and historically legible without exposing sensitive operational details.
01The problem behind the project
Water infrastructure is visible in the landscape but difficult to understand from scattered public documents. The project connects field observation, local history, geography, engineering context, and public records.
OpenWaterTowers turns that scattered material into an evidence-backed atlas. It distinguishes verified structures from candidates and links locations to operators, public sources, photographs, claims, projects, and conservatively described service context.
Residents, local historians, civic researchers, infrastructure enthusiasts, and contributors performing safe verification from public viewpoints.
02How it took shape
GeoJSON map layers, structured operator and source records, field-verification guidance, public-source research logs, and a publishing model that distinguishes verified towers from candidates.
The repository uses structured records, GeoJSON layers, research logs, source links, and field-verification guidance. The contribution workflow is intentionally cautious: contributors can document a public landmark without collecting access details or other operational information that would add risk without adding civic value.
Josiah established the civic purpose, public-interest questions, data model, verification workflow, and safety boundary, working with coding agents to implement the repository.
The public repository includes verified records, candidate layers, source-linked research, mapping, a contribution workflow, and explicit code and data licenses.
03What the project means now
The broader idea is that open infrastructure data can be both useful and restrained. Good documentation does not require publishing every discoverable detail; it requires choosing the details that improve public understanding and preserving the evidence behind them.
Coverage is still local and incomplete. The project avoids access details, security signage, restricted utility maps, and sensitive operational information.
Public infrastructure can be documented usefully without treating every available detail as appropriate to publish.
Add a concise current-results summary, richer public-safe media, and more verified records.