This book is a historical account of the development of Winnipeg's municipal water supply as an example of the history of settler colonialism. It tells the story of the construction of the Winnipeg/Shoal Lake Aqueduct, completed in 1919. It examines the cultural, social, political, and legal mechanisms that allowed the rapidly growing city of Winnipeg to obtain its water supply by dispossessing the Anishinaabe people of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation of their land, and ultimately depriving them of the very same commodity--clean drinking water--that the city secured for itself. It incorporates archival images that document the expensive and ambitious construction process and addresses these issues within the larger context of colonialism in Canada.