Lebanon Water System

Lebanon Water System Municipal Water Report Information

The ancient "eternal flames" in the region of modern-day Iraq documented in Plutarch's writings around 100-125 A.D. were likely natural gas escaping from ground fissures and ignited by lightning strikes.

In 1821 in Fredonia, New York, William A. Hart drilled a 27-foot well to obtain a larger flow of natural gas from a surface seepage. This marked the first intentionally drilled natural gas well. Throughout most of the 19th century, natural gas served exclusively as fuel for lighting, primarily illuminating city streets since pipeline infrastructure to individual homes didn't exist.

After the 1890s, many cities began transitioning their street lighting to electricity, prompting gas producers to seek new markets. Robert Bunson's 1885 invention of a burner that mixed air with natural gas demonstrated how gas could provide heat for cooking and building heating.

Pipeline development was crucial for expanding natural gas markets. Though one of the first long pipelines was constructed in 1891, spanning 120 miles from central Indiana to Chicago, extensive pipeline construction didn't begin until after World War II in the 1940s.

Post-war advancements in metals, welding techniques, and pipe manufacturing made pipeline construction more economically viable. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, thousands of miles of pipeline were installed across the United States. Today, the U.S. pipeline network, if laid end-to-end, would stretch to the moon and back twice.