The saying “They carry water to the angry” has a historical justification. From the eighteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century, residents of St. Petersburg used the services of water carriers. There were about a thousand of them in the city. Water trucks pumped water from rivers and canals with a hand pump and transported it all over the city: the cleanest, from the Neva, in white barrels, dirtier and cheaper, from Fontanka and Moika, in yellow and green. If the water carrier pitches, sells dirty water instead of the Neva, his horse was taken away. And the poor fellow had to harness himself, it's not up to fun. The work is already hard - in any weather, in winter and summer, people need water in every corner of the city.

The construction of a water supply system in St. Petersburg began only in the second half of the nineteenth century, and at first it served only the city center. Only in the twenties of the vulgar century, the profession of the water carrier ceased to exist. In memory of the first public service workers, this monument was erected in 2003 near the first water tower in the city, where the Water Museum is now located: a man in nineteenth century clothes, tensely pulling the barrel on wheels. The weight of the water carrier's work is emphasized by the figure of a carefree little dog running in front of him. Thus, the leadership of the St. Petersburg water utility decided to immortalize the unknown workers of the pre-revolutionary housing and communal services. A reminder for posterity.