Transcript
Page 1: Istorijski razvoj kanalizacije

О КАНАЛИЗАЦИЈИ

Људима је, чим су почели да живе у градовима, постало јасно да ће, уколико се нешто не уради, врло брзо завршити у смећу до колена. У почетку су тај отпад односили и бацали на поља, али будући да се број становника стално повећавао, проблем се све теже решавао.                         Ипак, ниједном од великих урбаних центара древног света није припала част да постане први који је изградио систем канализације, већ неолитским насељима на острву Оркни које се налази у близини северне Шкотске. Почетком трећег миленијума пре нове ере, становници места као што је Скара Беј изградили су канале обложене каменом и дубоке 35-60 центиметара, који су одводили отпадне воде и фекалије од нужника у одвојеним малим просторијама у кућама. Предпоставља се да су одводи били испод насеља и пружали се све до оближње литице где се садржај изливао у море.                                

Нешто касније, на другој страни света, у долини реке Инд, градски архитекти су морали да се суоче са много већим проблемом канализације. Њихово решење је било изградња мреже одвода од цигала. Требало је да ти одводи прате смер главних улица и пролазе поред кућа. Били су укопани око две стопе под земљом, широки 17-25 центиметара, у облику олука обложени циглом и покривени каменом, даскама и циглама, што се лако могло уклонити ради чишћења.                          Палате су у древном свету биле „опремљене" мрежама канализационих одвода. Кносос на Криту је, око 2000. пре нове ере, имао одводе из сваког дела палате. Главни канализациони одвод је био обложен каменом и у њега је велики број канала „доводио" кишницу. Јаке кише, које су периодично падале, у ствари су чистиле канализацију. У Месопотамији су палате из првог миленијума пре нове ере имале одводе који су били обложени блоковима асфалта. Главне канализационе цеви су биле толико широке да су њихови крајеви морали да буду затварани решеткама, да би се спречио улазак провалника.                            

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Нешто мање напредни (и здрави) начини одвођења канализације, били су типични за класичну Грчку и Рим. Када је Атина била на врхунцу моћи, у четвртом веку пре нове ере, цеви су ишле од кућа до колектора, на улицама, које су повремено празнили приватни предузимачи. У Риму је отворена Cloaca Maxima, који су изградили етрурски краљеви и која је пролазила кроз центар града и шест векова служила као одвод, док је император Август није затворио 33.године пре нове ере ( више због смрада него због здравља). Тако је добијен тунел довољно широк да кроз њега прође коњска запрега.                              Cloaca Maxima je била само једна од многих канализација од опеке које су Римљани изградили у свим већим градовима. Изградња је настављена у мушким и женским манастирима и после пада Римског царства. Заједнички нужници у овим манастирима налазили су се изнад потока претвореног у одвод обложен циглом. Сад је јасно да су многи од „тајних пролаза", за које се веровало да повезују мушке и женске манастире, што је изазвало сумње о забрањеним активностима у средњем веку, у ствари били само канализација.

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Skara BraeClick on the Pictures for a close-up view

Skara Brae is one of the most fascinating prehistoric sites in Scotland. It is on the western facing, Atlantic coast of Orkney. The remains of this prehistoric settlement were found in 1850 after a particularly bad storm had ripped turf away from the sand dunes on the edge of Skaill Bay. The fury of the storm revealed the remains of a group of remarkable stone houses. For the first time in almost 5,000 years the village was once more exposed to the light of day.

In 1924 the site was taken over by the Ministry of Works and a sea wall was built to hold back erosion of the shore line. In 1928 Prof Gordon Childe, of Glasgow

University, excavated the site and stablised these important buildings.

Nobody is quite sure when Skara Brae was first inhabited, as it is clear from the excavations that the earliest of the surviving buildings (radio carbon dated to 3,215

BC) have been built on the foundations of much earlier ones. The most recent structures, however, were abandoned very suddenly. A small pile of bone beads was found strewn along the main passageway suggesting that the owner of the necklace

had snapped its cord whilst rushing from house seven, and had no time to collect the dropped beads.

In one of the wall cupboards a horde of 2,400 inscribed beads and pendants that must have had great value, had been abandoned. Carbon dating says that this sudden

evacuation happened around 2,655 BC.

This is the view from the village of Skara Brae out across the Skaill Bay.

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The houses were all well equipped with all the furniture being hewn from stone.

These houses appear to be a stone age version of a modern housing estate, with a formalised regularity of layout.

Here is typical fireplace. Similar ones were found in most of the houses.

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Some prehistoric architect appears to have planned the whole development so that they all had stone versions of modern conveniences inside each apartment.

They all have standardised stone cupboards, fireplaces, bedsteads, water tanks and seats.

Not all the houses have been equally well preserved but the essential feature of the central fireplace can be seen even in the more damaged houses.

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The floors of most of the houses were covered with a rather disgusting gunge when they were excavated. This had been replaced by gravel.

The best preserved house has been fitted with a glass roof it protect it whilst allowing visitors to look down into it.

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On the side of the bed in this house there is an inscription which might possibly be an early form of writing. (For a detailed discussion of this inscription see Uriel's

Machine, p 190)

All the other houses are now open to the elements. They would have had a turf roof when they were occupied.

It is believed that there were once more houses in the village but these have been washed away during thousands of years of storms battering the seaward side.

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This house is different in layout to the rest of the village and seems to have been used a some sort of workshop. Inside this house were a great number of heat treated rocks

and a layer of well rotted organic material.

Here are some of the many heat crazed rocks found scattered around the floor of this building. These had been subjected to severe thermal shock but heating to red heat and then suddenly cooling. possibly by dropping into a tank of water. Doing this

would have would have heated the water in the tank. 

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This is a close up of a typical heat treated rock.

Archeologist Merryn Dinsley, of Manchester University has suggested that this 'workshop' house could have been a brewery, producing ale from malted spelt,

flavoured with meadowsweet, instead of hops.

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Merryn has analysed the gunge and found all the necessary components. Some of the houses were fitted with drains, which would have been useful in the brewing process. The reproduction Grooved Ware Beer she produced using Skara Brae technology was

extremely tasty!

It is not clear where the inhabitants of Skara Brae got the fuel for their fires. When the village was a going concern, Orkney was open grassland with hardly any trees. There was no local supply of wood to burn on the many fireplaces of Skara Brae. Yet, from Childes's excavations, and the remains still on display in the 'workshop'  I knew they had sufficient fuel to heat volcanic rock to high enough temperatures to cause it to

heat craze. And why build so many fireplaces, unless you intend to build fires! 

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The suggested alternative fuels of cattle dung or sea weed do not have a high enough calorific value to achieve the temperatures needed to heat craze volcanic rock, or to fire the pottery they made. The peat burnt on Orkney today was not laid down until

nearly a thousand years after Skara Brae was abandoned.

So, the villagers of Skara Brae either relied on drift wood from across the Atlantic to keep their eight fires and workshop furnace burning, or they imported wood from

Caithness or Scandinavia.

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A strange feature of Skara Brae, which has contributed to its preservation, is the layer of rubbish which accumulated outside the walls as high as the roof level.

Archaeologists call it 'midden material' and it is all the junk of the inhabitants for hundred of years, thrown outside to rot.

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Once rotted it greatly enhanced the insulation and longevity of the buildings but how it must have stunk in high summer, when it was first deposited.

This is an advantage in allowing your rubbish to build up around your house though, it gives archaeologists a chance to come along thousands of years later and find out

what you had for dinner.

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The layers of midden in Skara Brae have been analysed and the inhabitants mainly ate sheep and cattle, topped up with fish, oysters and a very occasional side of pork.

Archeologist Euan Mackie noticed that there are far more carcass bones than there are skulls to match them. The shortage of animal skulls shows that the people here

imported pre-butchered carcasses.

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But they certainly developed extremely high standards of Masonry.

There had to be a very good reason indeed to choose to live here when food and fuel had to be brought in. I wonder what it was?

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Both the thoroughness of the design and the quality of building at this site are simply breathtaking.

When the Romans arrived the ancient inhabitants of Britain were barbarians who painted their naked bodies blue, but the city of Rome was two and a half thousand years in the future when Skara Brae had been built complete with its underground

sewage disposal system.

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Here is the pathway back towards the visitor centre and the exhibition hall. The Skara Brae Visitor Centre is a 'must see', if you are visiting Orkney. ( And if you haven't

been there yet, it's a wonderful place to go)

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British Isles (1)(Click on thumbnails to enlarge image)

The Orkney Islands are the location of excavations that show drainage systems dating as early as 3000 BCE. Lavatory-like plumbing systems were fitted into recesses in the walls of homes, with drained outlets, and certain liquid wastes were drained to area(s) either under or outside of buildings/homes.

The Roman occupation of England brought Roman engineering -- and baths -- to England. The ruins of many Roman settlements include this quintessentially Roman invention. The Romans built an extensive complex at Aquae Sulis (Bath) around the natural spring, which they considered sacred. The magificent bath-house, still beautifully preserved, was visited by people from all over the Roman Empire. When the Romans withdrew from England, this technology was largely abandoned and English sanitation fell to the abysmal levels typical of the Middle Ages.

London's early sewers were basically open ditches sloped to convey the wastes to the Thames River, thence out to the sea. These ditches received everything that people could throw into them. King Henry VIII decreed in the late 1500s that homeowners were responsible for cleaning that portion of the "sewer" on which their property fronted. He also created a Commission of Sewers to enforce these rules.

A law was passed during the reign of Henry VIII (in the mid to late1500s) that afforded the legal basis for almost all sanitary sewerage works well into the nineteenth century. For the next 300 years, the metropolitan area outgrew the city limits of London. By 1850, London contained only 5% of the metro area's homes. Each community evolved its own drainage system -- with no thought (physically or cooperatively) to interconnecting with an adjacent community's drainage system.

By the early 1700s, nearly every home in London had a cesspit beneath it -- and the commensurate foul (and often deadly) odors. The odors were especially bad during quiet nights. Cholera epidemics (1830s, 1840s, and 1850s) awakened the need for sewers.

In 1847-48, the British Parliament adopted a sanitary code that applied to all of England and Wales -- but not London. The sewer commissioners heard about attributes of the sewerage systems developed by their ancestors on the Isle of Crete and in Greece; those systems served as examples for the designers of the new sewers soon to come in the London area. The years of the "Big Stink" in London (1858 - 59), led to the installation of large new sewers to deliver wastes to the Thames River -- this time, to a discharge point downstream of the Parliament Buildings! Queen Victoria was so excited about the new larger sewer tunnels that she ordered a small rail line to be installed therein to transport people through the sewer.

See Tracking Down the Roots of Our Sanitary Sewers for more information.

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    Return to photo index Next

Orkney Islands

Skara Brae house site, Orkney Islands. There is evidence that water was piped under the settlement, possibly for sanitation. Several settlements were built on the same site, dating from about 3000 BC.

Source: Photo courtesy Diego Meozzi / Stone Pages

Gurness broch, Orkney Islands, circa 1st century BCE. The broch had a flight of steps leading down from the courtyard to a spring-fed underground water tank.

Source: Photo courtesy Diego Meozzi / Stone Pages

Earth house in Rennibister, Orkney Islands.

Source: Photo courtesy Diego Meozzi / Stone Pages

Scotland

Hollowed wood log pipes in the Museum of Edinburgh, Scotland. Hollowed-out tree trunks were the earliest sewer disposal method used in the city, according to the Museum. Date unknown.

Source: Frans Lamers, Costa Rica.

England

Also on Sewer History

See Diseases and Disease Control.

For Reference

The Roman occupation of England created a number of settlements built with Roman technology, including baths. Aquae Sulis, at the location of the modern city of Bath, included an extensive religious spa built around the natural springs. It is now one of the best preserved Roman ruins north of the Alps. See the Roman Baths Website.

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David Sellers, B.Sc(Eng), C.Eng., MICE, HIDDEN BENEATH OUR FEET: The Story of Sewerage in Leeds, October 1997.

Delivery of water and sanitation services to the poor in nineteenth century Britain.

The Sewers of Brighton, England

The Story of Sewerage in Leeds, England (can be accessed locally also), andHidden Leeds

Sewerage in Nottingham

Caldarium from the Roman baths at Bath, England. The floor has been removed to reveal the empty space through which the hot air used to flow to heat the floor tiles.

Source: Akajune/Wikimedia Commons.

Great Bath at the Roman baths, Aquae Sulis (Bath).

Source: Andrew Dunn/Wikimedia Commons.

The 'sacred pool' of Sulis at the Roman baths of Aquae Sulis is the source of the geothermal spring where the hot water rises before being channelled to feed the other bathing rooms.

Source: Andrew Dunn/Wikimedia Commons.

Section of mosaic floor from the Roman baths at Aquae Sulis (Bath). The main figure is a sea horse.

Source: Andrew Dunn/Wikimedia Commons.

Roman brick channel for the overflow from the sacred spring of Aquea Sulis (Bath).

Source: Andrew Dunn/Wikimedia Commons.

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The Great Bath at the Roman baths of Aquae Sulis (Bath).

Source: Diliff/Wikimedia Commons.

Lead pipe in Roman bath in Aquae Sulis (Bath).

Source: Zureks/Wikimedia Commons.

The remains of the Roman public baths in Leicester, England, at the site of Jewry Wall. At the right is the wall itself which used to be the entrance. The baths date from around 150 AD.

The Roman city of Ratae Corieltauvorum was founded around AD 50 as a military settlement upon the Fosse Way Roman road. After the military departure, Ratae Corieltauvorum grew into an important trading and one of the largest towns in Roman Britain. The remains of the baths of Roman Leicester can be seen at the Jewry Wall and other Roman artefacts are displayed in the Jewry Wall Museum adjacent to the site.

Source: Maksim/Wikimedia Commons

Military bathhouse at Vindolanda, England.

Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort (castra) located at Chesterholm, just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, near the modern border with Scotland.

Source: Tivedshambo/Wikimedia Commons.

Ruin of the bath house at Cilurnum, a fort on Hadrian's Wall, now identified with the fort found at Chesters (also known as Walwick Chesters to distinguish it from other Chesters-es in the vicinity). It was built in 123, just after the Wall's completion, and is now the best preserved Roman cavalry fort in Britain. There is also a museum on the site housing finds from all along the Wall.

Source: SeeSchloss/Wikimedia Commons.

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The Welwyn Roman baths are a small part of the Dicket Mead villa, a Roman ruin which was originally built in the 3rd century AD just north of modern-day Welwyn, Hertfordshire. The ruins were uncovered in 1960 by local archaeologist Tony Rook, and the baths were gradually uncovered over the following 10 years by excavation.

Source: Legis/Wikimedia Commons.

London (and related information)

For Reference

For extensive information about Victorian London, see the comprehensive website atwww.victorianlondon.org. There is a large section about Sewers and Sanitation under "Health and Hygiene," and materials can be found under "Diseases" (cholera and typhus) and by searching "sewer". This website provides a graphic look, in the words and pictures of the time, into the horrible conditions that preceded modern sanitation. A huge thanks goes to Lee Jackson, the creator of the website, for this impressive collection of original materials.

Water-related Infrastructure in Medieval London (pdf). This extensive article includes a section about wastewater systems.

Ernest L. Sabine, Latrines and Cesspools of Mediaeval London (pdf).

Article in Slate online magazine about the sewers of London. "...Joseph Bazalgette is still the emperor of London's sewers, even though 150 years have passed since he was tasked with revolutionizing them, thus ridding the city of cholera and foul smells..." ( html version avail if article is offline)

There is a story that the Bank of England once had a sewer directly under its bullion vault. A sewer worker discovered an opening into the vault, but stole nothing -- and was rewarded for his honesty. A film called "The Day They Robbed the Bank of England" was loosely based on the existence of the sewer entrance.

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Accessed at http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/museum/walkthrough/stories3.htm, 9-10-2007. If site is offline, see here.

Joseph Bazalgette was the prime architect of London's sewer system, built in the mid-1800s.

John Snow Archive and Research Companion for literature, graphics and information about John Snow and the struggle to end cholera in London. Also see the UCLA John Snow webpage.

For a unique look into London sewers, see photos by Steve Duncan of the Fleet Steet River/sewer, the London Bridge sewer, and Westbourne River sewer.

Bored elm pipes from the Abbey Mills Pumping Station, London, England. The use of bored elm pipes underground with quills of lead running off into the houses of the well-to-do seems to have begun in London as early as the 13th century.

All the old London water companies that appeared between the 16th and 18th century used bored elm pipes for distributing water.- Text from information display at the pumping station (see photo).

Source: Roger C. Cracknell, Bibby Transmissions, UK; with permission from Matthew Wood, Wastewater Archivist, Thames Water, Reading, Berkshire.

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Construction of London's main sewer began in 1844.

Source: Mary Gayman, "A Glimpse into London's Early Sewers," Cleaner Magazine, © 1996, COLE Publishing Inc. Reprinted with permission from Pumperand Cleaner.

Street scene in Victorian London showing the squalor common at that time. The boy in the foreground is a street-sweeper who cleaned manure and sewage from the street.

Source: Mary Gayman, "A Glimpse into London's Early Sewers," Cleaner Magazine, © 1996, COLE Publishing Inc. Reprinted with permission from Pumperand Cleaner.

1850 London News illustration showing routine city flooding when the Thames "backed up."

Source: Mary Gayman, "A Glimpse into London's Early Sewers," Cleaner Magazine, © 1996, COLE Publishing Inc. Reprinted with permission from Pumperand Cleaner.

Early sewer designs, England.

Source: Mary Gayman, "A Glimpse into London's Early Sewers," Cleaner Magazine, © 1996, COLE Publishing Inc. Reprinted with permission from Pumperand Cleaner.

Oval sewer designs used in London.

Source: Mary Gayman, "A Glimpse into London's Early Sewers," Cleaner Magazine, © 1996, COLE Publishing Inc. Reprinted with permission from Pumperand Cleaner.

Brick intercepting sewer, Brighton, Sussex, England, 1874.

Source: "Sussex History - A Different View,"http://www.sussexhistory.com/sewers.htm; accessed 25 September 2002.

Details of Isaac Shone's Pneumatic Sewerage System, circa 1884. This system was successfully used in London. It is a "separate" system, with sewage and rainwater disposed of by separated systems. Gravity delivers sewage to district collectors, then pneumatic ejectors raise sewage and deliver it to disposal points. See pp. 30-33 of source article for detailed information.

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Samuel M. Gray, Proposed Plan for a Sewerage System, and for the Disposal of the Sewage of the City of Providence (Providence: Providence Press Company, Printers to the City, 1884), Plate 11, opposite page 30.

Details of Isaac Shone's Pneumatic Sewerage System, used in London circa 1884.

Samuel M. Gray, Proposed Plan for a Sewerage System, and for the Disposal of the Sewage of the City of Providence (Providence: Providence Press Company, Printers to the City, 1884), Plate 12, opposite page 32.

Sections of London sewers, circa 1884.

Samuel M. Gray, Proposed Plan for a Sewerage System, and for the Disposal of the Sewage of the City of Providence (Providence: Providence Press Company, Printers to the City, 1884), Plate 13, opposite page 50.

Return to photo index Next

London (and related information)

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For Reference

See Shakespeare's Sonnets website for excellent illustrations of London andLondon Bridge in the 1600s, showing city congestion and heavy use of the Thames River that led to extreme pollution of the river. (The London page also has a view of London Bridge, which can be seen on the far right.)

For Reference

The online magazine Slate has an  extensive article about sewers and sewage treatment in London, including a number of photos.

Design for outfall sewer on the north side of the Thames River, London, circa 1910. It consists of three 9 ft. by 9 ft. culverts side by side, laid with a fall of 2 ft. per mile on a bed of concrete.

J. T. Brown, W. H. Maxwell, editors, "Sewerage,"   The Encyclopaedia of Municipal and Sanitary Engineering (New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1910), p. 430.

Oval sewer design similar to those used in London (storm sewer for Franklin Street, Tucson, Arizona, 1915).

Source: Alfred D. Micotti, Proposed additions and extensions to the sewer system of the city of Tucson, Arizona, M.S. Thesis, University of Arizona, 1915. University of Arizona Library Special Collections Call no. E 9791 1915 1.

Oval sewer design similar to those used in London (storm sewer for Alameda Street, Tucson, Arizona, 1915.

Source: Alfred D. Micotti, Proposed additions and extensions to the sewer system of the city of Tucson, Arizona, M.S. Thesis, University of Arizona, 1915. University of Arizona Library Special Collections Call no. E 9791 1915 1.

Oval sewer designs used in London.

Source: Mary Gayman, "A Glimpse into London's Early Sewers," Cleaner Magazine, © 1996, COLE Publishing Inc. Reprinted with permission fromPumper and Cleaner.

The British Commission of Sewers responded to intolerable working conditions in a report mandating that "...no common sewer should be so small that an ordinary sized man shall not be able to cleanse it." Circa 1840-50.

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Source: Mary Gayman, "A Glimpse into London's Early Sewers," Cleaner Magazine, © 1996, COLE Publishing Inc. Reprinted with permission fromPumper and Cleaner.

Mid-1800s traffic jam on the London Bridge shows the unsanitary conditions prevalent at the time

Source: Mary Gayman, "A Glimpse into London's Early Sewers," Cleaner Magazine, © 1996, COLE Publishing Inc. Reprinted with permission fromPumper and Cleaner.

An experiment on street cleaning with fire hoses led to the first use of the jet hose to clean street surfaces. London.

Source: Mary Gayman, "A Glimpse into London's Early Sewers," Cleaner Magazine, © 1996, COLE Publishing Inc. Reprinted with permission fromPumper and Cleaner.

Sewer profile and details, Hamburg, London, Paris, circa 1858.

Source: E. S. Chesbrough, Chief Engineer of the Board of Sewerage Commissioners, 1858 Chicago Sewerage Report (Chicago, Illinois: Board of Sewerage Commissioners, 1858).

London (and related information)

Plan of the Southern Outfall Works at Crossness, London, 1930. See reference below for other plans and maps from the London County Council.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), Plan 5. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

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Plan of the Abbey Mills Pumping Station, London, 1930.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), Plan 6. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

Abbey Mills Pumping Station, main engine house, London, 1865-68.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), p. 49. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

Hammersmith Storm Water Pumping Station, gas engines and centrifugal pumps, London, 1922-24.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), p. 49. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

Northern outfall sewer in course of construction, London, 1900-1907.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), p. 50. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

Northern outfall sewer in course of construction showing cast-iron sewers over Abbey Creek and Channelsea River, London, 1902-1906.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), p. 50. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

Southern High-Level sewer, Crossness to Catford, in course of construction, London, 1904-1906.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), p. 51. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

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Sludge vessel, England, 1926.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), p. 51. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

Weir channel under Hammersmith Road, London, 1905-1908.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), p. 52. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

Weir channel under Hammersmith Road, London, 1905-1908, showing brick construction.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), p. 52. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

Sewer tunnelling in compressed air, London, 1909-1912.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), p. 53. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

Penstock on outfall sewer No. 1, Deptford Pumping Station, London, 1860-1862.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), p. 53. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

Wandsworth Aqueduct, Southern High Level Sewer, London, 1882-1885.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), p. 54. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

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Overhead sludge tanks, Northern Outfall Works, Beckton, 1894-1895.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), p. 54. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

Map of sewerage works in London, 1930.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), Plan 2. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

Map showing low-lying land within the administrative County of London, 1930.

Source: Sir George W. Humphreys, Main Drainage of London, (London: London County Council, November, 1930), Plan 3. Courtesy of James Joyce, P.E., Technical Director, Odor and Corrosion Technology Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas.

Sewer worker, England, 1950. Workers called “flushers” wore protective clothing when they entered London’s sewers.

Source: Jon C. Schladweiler, Historian, Arizona Water Association.

Bristol, England

A hollowed-out wood water supply pipe around 500 years old put in by monks, Bristol, England.

Bristol started sewer construction around 1854, although a famous slave trader, Goldney, was one of the first to lay a sewer at Randall Road in Bristol, probably around 1780.

The Bristol City Council put in all Bristol sewers prior to the formation of Wessex Water, and was also the inventor of the energy dissipation vortex and the concept of dynamic separation in the early 1950's. The

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concept was adopted by new York and Chicago in the early 60's.

Source: Julian Britton, Senior Engineer, Wessex Water, Kingston Seymour Village, North Somerset, England.

Construction of the main outfall tunnel to the Atlantic, Bristol, England, 1955.

Source: Julian Britton, Senior Engineer, Wessex Water, Kingston Seymour Village, North Somerset, England.

The last brick egg-shaped sewer constructed in Bristol, England, 1961.

Source: Julian Britton, Senior Engineer, Wessex Water, Kingston Seymour Village, North Somerset, England.

Grouting the base of the inverted syphon under the river Avon, Bristol, England, 1966.

Source: Julian Britton, Senior Engineer, Wessex Water, Kingston Seymour Village, North Somerset, England.

Energy dissipation drop pipes - Illustration, 1958.

The Bristol City Council invented the energy dissipation vortex and the concept of dynamic separation in the early 1950's. The concept was adopted by new York and Chicago in the early 60's.

Source: Julian Britton, Senior Engineer, Wessex Water, Kingston Seymour Village, North Somerset, England.

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TRACKING DOWN THE ROOTS OF OUR SANITARY SEWERS

THE EARLY "ROOTS"

3200 BCE Scotland

The Orkney Islands are the location of excavations that show early drainage systems. First lavatory-like plumbing systems were fitted into recesses in the walls of homes --

with drained outlets. Certain liquid wastes drained to area(s) either under or outside of buildings/homes.

4000 - 2500 BCE Eshnunna/Babylonia - Mesopotamian Empire (Iraq)

Had stormwater drain systems in the streets; drains were constructed of sun-baked bricks or cut stone. Some homes were connected. [The need for proper disposal of human wastes was not fully understood -- but there was a recognition of some of the benefits (less odor, etc.) of taking these wastes away from homes.]

In Babylon, in some of the larger homes, people squatted over an opening in the floor of a small interior room. The wastes fell through the opening into a perforated cesspool located under the house. Those cesspools were often made of baked perforated clay rings -- ranging in size from 18" to 36" in diameter -- stacked atop each other. Smaller homes often had smaller cesspools (18" diameter); larger homes ... more people ... had larger diameter cesspools. The annular space (1') outside of the cesspools' walls were often filled with pieces of broken pottery to better the percolation rates.

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Origin of the earliest known pipe: Babylonia was documented by many as one of the first places to mold clay into pipe (via potter's wheel). Tees and angle joints were produced and then baked to make drainage pipe ... all as early as 4000 BCE.

Knee and T joints, BabyloniaSource: Cast Iron Pipe, by United States Cast Iron Pipe & Foundry Company, 1914.

3000 - 2000 BCE Indus Civilization - City of Mohenjo-daro (Pakistan)

Mohenjo-daro: "The Mound of the Dead." Well-evolved society: commerce, wheeled vehicles, domesticated animals, cotton

cloth. Wealthy lived well; peasants lived in hovels (but many had sanitation facilities). Drainage systems were located in the streets (masonry; rectangular x-sections). At the ends of the drains were wooden "bar screens." Liquids entered brick-lined

cesspools (soak-pits) or were conveyed to the local river for discharge. Homes had bathrooms -- on the street sides -- connected to sewers in streets. Bathrooms and latrines were often located next to each other (wells were often

nearby, in an adjacent room) inside each home on the street side of the home. The bathroom being located next to the latrine indicates that people understood the importance of cleanliness. Water was used for flushing.

Second-floor bathrooms existed, with terra-cotta piping and vents. Some homes had garbage chutes.

Solids traps were located along plumbing lines and also along street drains (sewers). Some homes connected to underground soakage (perforated) jars. Manholes (with stone covers) were positioned along the street drains.

3000 - 100 BCE Aegean Civilization - Isle of Crete (Minoans)

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Crete was an island of variable climate and geography; it also had steep slopes. Knowledge of "hydraulics" was quite evolved. Until Roman times, Minoan plumbing and drainage were the most developed in what

was then the Western World. Drainage systems of terra-cotta pipe (clay pipe with bell & spigot joints, sealed with

cement) and open-topped channelized drainage systems built of stone conveyed storm water primarily, but also human wastes. Some of the sewers were large enough for people to walk through.

Bathtubs with no drains were used. Latrines were flushed with water from large jars. Many of the drains from 2000 BCE are still in beneficial service today on Crete. The Royal Palace at Knossos had a latrine on the ground floor with a rooftop

"overhead" water reservoir (which collected rainwater): the first flush toilet!? The toilet consisted of a wooden seat, earthenware "pan," and the rooftop reservoir as a source of water.

2000 - 500 BCE Egypt/Palestine

Certain homes of aristocrats had copper pipes that carried hot and cold water. Many religious ceremonies included bathing. Complex public waterworks were constructed in Palestine. Later, religious aspects of bathing were strengthened by Jews under Mosaic Laws.

Bodily cleanliness equated with moral purity under the rule of King David and King Solomon.

In Egypt, certain more well-to-do homes had "toilets" -- the toilets used beds of sand to catch/contain the wastes. Servants cleaned the sand regularly.

726 years before the birth of Christ (in the reign of King Hezekiah), the City of Jerusalem built a "pool" and a conduit to bring water to the city [II Kings, Chapter 20, 20th verse].

300 BCE - 500 CE Greece

Pipes of lead (of lengths of 10 feet or more) and bronze were used by the Greeks to distribute water.

The sizes of lead pipe in the early years took their names, not from the resulting internal diameters, but from the width of the sheet of lead before it was bent into a pipe. The linear joint was soldered with an alloy of lead and tin.

Greece had a system of aqueducts, but for the most part, few above-ground structural arches were incorporated; a lot of tunnels through hills, siphons under valley/rivers, etc.

Sewers in Athens delivered storm water and human wastes to a collection basin outside of town.

From the basin, the storm water and wastes were conveyed through brick-lined

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conduits to fields to irrigate (and fertilize) fruit orchards and field crops.

200 BCE - Early CE China

The contents of a tomb of a King of the Western Han Dynasty shows the presence of an antique latrine, complete with facilities for running water, a stone seat, and a comfortable armrest.

800 BCE - 300 CE Rome

Complex drain systems evolved (initially, and primarily, for storm water and for draining marshes).

Public latrines were used by many people, but for the most part, human wastes were thrown into the street.

First sewer constructed between 800 and 735 BCE. Rome had extensive street washing programs (water supplied by aqueducts, the first

being built in 312 BCE). Only a few homes had water piped directly from the aqueducts. The vast majority of the people came to fountains to gather their water. Even though not many homes were directly plumbed into the sewers, when the wastes were thrown into the street, the street washing resulted in most of the human wastes ending up in the sewers anyway!

Direct connection of homes to the sewers was not mandated until nearly 100 CE. (Cost was a factor; also mandating such a connection was then considered an invasion of privacy.)

Sewage resulting from the public baths and the included latrines was discharged into sewers. It is worth noting that the Romans recognized the value of their water (which had been transported to the city via aqueducts, often over a distance of 20-30 miles); as such, any wastewater from the public bath facilities was often re-used, frequently as the flushing water that flowed continuously through the public latrine facilities. From the latrines, it flowed to a point of discharge into the sewer system.

The Romans were proud of their "rooms of easement" (i.e., latrines). Public baths included such rooms -- adjacent to gardens. There Roman officials would sometimes continue discussions with visiting dignitaries while sitting on the latrines. Elongated rectangular platforms with several adjacent seats were utilized (some with privacy partitions, but most without). These latrine rooms were often co-ed, as were the baths. As noted earlier, water from the public baths, or brush water from the aqueduct system, flowed continuously in troughs beneath the latrine seats; the sewage (along with waste bath water) was delivered to the sewers beneath the city, and eventually to the Tiber River.

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Ruins of a public latrine from Roman era (1st Century CE)Source: Courtesy of Steve Harding, 1998, Ephessos, Turkey.

In Rome, water was distributed with lead pipes. To make pipe, sheets of lead were cut in ten-foot-wide strips and bent around a wood mandrel and joined by solder.

The 11' x 12' Cloaca Maxima ("Main Drain" -- finished in 510 BCE, and made of hewn stone, no cement) drained to the Tiber River. Its original purpose was to drain a marsh ... upon which a large portion of Rome was eventually built. The sewer has remained in service for over 2400 years.

Thievery of water was a significant problem:A quote from Frontinus, the Water Commissioner of Rome:

"I desire that nobody shall conduct away any excess water without having received my permission or that of my representatives, for it is necessary that a part of the supply flowing from the water-castles shall be utilized not only for cleaning our city but also for Flushing the sewers."

Sewer infrastructure throughout the city was essentially completed by 100 CE; some direct connections of individual homes began to appear. Terra-cotta pipe was utilized. If a pipe had to withstand pressure, it was often fully embedded (i.e., sealed) in concrete -- a practice the Romans started.

Sewer odors were a problem, since there were very few vents from the sewers. Any connections to public baths, or to the few houses that were connected, served as vents in the early years -- making life interesting (odor-wise) in those facilities.

The initial purpose of the early sewers was to accommodate storm water runoff (and

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in at least one case, to drain a marsh); later, sanitary sewage began to be slowly added to the flow.

Dejecti: Effusive Act: Damages to be paid by the throwers of wastes into the street -- if the person hit was injured (no damages paid for clothing), and only if the incident happened in daytime hours.

Roman courtesy also extended to visitors, and to people with emergencies:o Huge vases were provided for use at the edges of towns at entrance roads and

at exit roads (i.e., early port-a-potties.)o Vendors worked the streets of Rome and other cities providing access to

pottery jars (and "modesty capes") -- for a price.

The result was fewer wastes on the streets of Roman cities; still, the majority of human wastes (of the masses) ended up in the streets.

Little known fact: lead poisoning was common among upper-class Romans -- they used lead to sweeten wine and grape pulp (as a condiment). The Romans did not have sugar and learned that lead would sweeten wines and other acidic foods. Lead acetates (a.k.a. "Sugar of Lead") were the reason that many Romans became insane, sterile, or gravely ill in their later years.

Some cities/areas such as Mohenjo-daro, Babylon, Crete, Eshnunna, and Palestine had strict rules about sanitation. Others, such as Rome and the Greek cities, had fewer rules; the streets were, in large part, open collector sewers! 

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THE MIDDLE AGES "ROOTS"

[Essentially, very little progress was made from 100 BCE through the early nineteenth century.]

New Emphasis: "Make War, Not Civilization/Sanitation"

The Roman Empire fell in early CE along with the concepts of baths, basic sanitation, aqueducts, engineered water or sewage systems, etc.

Deuteronomic Code (Deut. 23:13) followed: "and you shall have a stick with your weapons; and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it, and turn back and cover up your excrement." This is thought by many to be the first recorded instruction to mankind regarding sanitation/hygiene.

Sanitation reverted back to the basics (at best) -- very primitive. During the so-called "Dark Ages," there arose a brotherhood among men noted

for skill in combat. There also evolved a creed that uncleanliness was next to godliness. As such, bathing/sanitation became quite uncommon; homes, towns, and streams became filthy.

Diseases were commonplace; epidemics decimated towns and villages. Twenty-five percent (or more) of the ancient European population died of disease (cholera, plague, etc.). The major transmitter of the plague was rats (actually bacteria conveyed from rats to people via flea bites). The rat population thrived amongst the mess and stench commonplace in medieval times.

The reawakening was slow. During the 1500s, the Reformation slowed progress.

Bodily functions were performed anywhere/anytime! The British royal court posted a warning (1589):

"Let no one, whoever, he may be, before,at, or after meals, Early or late, foul thestaircases, corridors; or closets with Urineor other filth."

Etiquette books (1530-1700s):Erasmus (1530): It is impolite to greet someone who is urinating or defecating.The Gallant Ethic (1700): If you see someone relieving themselves, you should act as if you had not seen them!

Larger European cities: dreadful filth and stench were evident almost everywhere.

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Certain castles had garderobes (a.k.a. latrines, gongs, or jakes) installed; they drained into cesspits beneath the castle, or directly -- via "free-fall" or by masonry shafts -- into the moats.

Cesspools for human wastes were frequently placed under the floors (often made of wood) of castles. In 1183, when the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire held a Diet in the Palace of Efurt, the floor of the main hall broke; many of the dinner guests fell into the cesspool and drowned; luckily, the Emperor survived. A similar event occurred in England in 1326: Richard the Raker had just been seated for a meal when the wood floor gave way -- drowning him.

Certain more well-to-do people used chamber pots (a.k.a. jordans) and kept them in small cupboards (called close-stools) padded with velvet and/or decorated with gold/silver. Some people had servants (called "Grooms of the Stool") whose job was to clean/maintain the chamber pots.

Berlin, Germany

In the 1670s piles of garbage were accumulating -- a new law was enacted which required visiting peasants to take some garbage home with them!

Berlin's first central waterworks and transmission system was constructed in the mid-1800s (designed by English engineers); within 70 years the need for a sewer system became apparent. Early on, the sewage went to sewer farms.

Denmark

Hangmen also cleaned latrines ("job diversification"?!).

Paris

Paris was founded on the site of an early Roman city called Lutéce. Early sewers were the natural washes/streams. As cities developed, these

natural drains were structurally covered -- the earliest one in 1370. Early on, these sewers were used primarily for storm waters. The Menilmontant sewer, first noted in the early 1400s, was initially an open wash and later a closed conduit. It intercepted surface flows from Paris' north slope area (i.e., that area lying on the right bank of the Seine River). It was called the "Great Drain" (grand ègout or ègout de ceinture).

Chamber pots were emptied into streets.

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New courtesies evolved: gentlemen, when escorting ladies, positioned themselves closest to the street! -- thereby positioning themselves (rather than the ladies) nearer to where the sewage would hit the ground after being thrown out of second-story windows.

Prior to the wide use of cesspools in Paris, cesspits (ones that percolate) were widely used. Their use in combination with the large growing population, however, resulted in the subsoil of Paris becoming putrid. Cesspools, instead, were then encouraged. However, they required periodic/routine cleaning, which the city couldn't adequately provide. Another stinky mess arose.

Privies were encouraged; poor maintenance resulted. "Nite Soil" program started to facilitate the collection and disposal (elsewhere)

of the wastes (in community cesspools, rivers, vegetable gardens). The problem was that all of the people could not afford the service.

Plumbing began reappearing, but not for sanitation; instead, it initially brought water (for example) to public fountains and the gardens of Versailles.° 1583: Public gardens were being "fouled" by people relieving themselves -- so public latrines were built. People were charged for their use. Perhaps these were also the first "pay toilets" ... since the early "latrine" vendors in Rome.

1739: Separate toilets for men and women first appeared at a restaurant in Paris.

1830s: A series of cholera epidemics started; the reawakening began. New and bigger sewers (called "Les egouts" [pronounced lay-ZAY-goo]) began to be constructed in the 1840s-1890s. They became the pride of Paris. The design father of the complex system of sewers under Paris was Eugéne Belguard. The construction of this newer/larger system started in 1850, on borrowed money. By 1870, over 500 km of new sewers were either in service or under construction. By 1930, the entire system (a "combined" system) was finished: "One sewer for each street."

From these times, "Sewerman" became a profession. Tours of the sewers were given by the "sewermen" on weekends. Some of the sludge found in the sewers was removed through manholes. Most of it was moved downstream via boats (with "wings") to the discharge point of the sewer into the river -- where the sludge was pushed onto barges, from whence it was transported to various places of reuse or disposal.

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A boat trip through the Paris sewer (1896)Source: Paris Sewers and Sewermen by Donald Reid, 1991.

Cesspool solids were taken to farms; the liquids were taken to the sewers. Beginning on/about 1835, new sewers were made 6 feet or more high -- to

better allow people to walk the sewers standing up to clean them. These sewers were designed to convey everything (refuse, animal wastes, human wastes, etc.) from off the street.

Later, when it was found necessary to install water mains in the sewers, one side of the top of the sewer was widened out to provide a place for the water mains (i.e., like the letter "P" in shape). The water mains were placed in the sewer so leaks could easily be detected; they believed leaks couldn't happen if the main was buried in earth. Later on, gas mains were also installed in the sewers, until leaks (and the resulting explosions) changed that procedure!

As in any society, there were doubters: big sanitary sewers were feared by many of Paris' residents. There was a concern that the sewers might leak and foul the groundwater.

Again, the early sewers were created for storm water runoff; later on, sanitary sewage was added ... the result was a "combined" system.

London

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In the early years (as early as 1290), running water was used to carry away wastes when it was available -- at castles or at a few public latrines -- but such instances were indeed in the minority.

The earliest recognized mention of English sewers comes from a 14th century record telling that the wastes from the King's kitchen had run in an open trough through the Great Hall; the odors were frightful. It was ordered that an underground conduit be built to convey the wastes to the Thames River.

London's early sewers were basically open ditches sloped to convey the wastes to the Thames River, thence out to the sea. These ditches received everything that people could throw into them. King Henry VIII decreed in the late 1500s that homeowners were responsible for cleaning that portion of the "sewer" on which their property fronted.

He also created a Commission of Sewers to enforce these rules; however, it was not until 1622 that the Commission was seated.

Enactment of Henry VIII's Oath for Commissioners of SewersGrey's Inn, London

1622

Ye shall swear that you, to your cunning, will and power shall truly and indifferently execute the authority given you by this Commission of Sewers, without any favour, corruption, dread or malice to be borne to any manner of person or persons.

And as the case shall require, ye shall consent and endeavor yourself for your part to the best of your knowledge to the making of such wholesome, just equal and indifferent laws or ordinances as shall be made and devised by the most discreet and indifferent number of your fellows being in Commission with you for the due redress, reformation and amendment of all and every such things as are contained and specified in said Commission.

The same laws and ordinances to your cunning wit and power, ye shall cause, to be met to due execution without favour, need, dread, or malice of affection as God so help you and all Saints.

A law was passed during the reign of Henry VIII (in the mid to late1500s) that afforded the legal basis for almost all sanitary sewerage works well into the nineteenth century. For the next 300 years, the metropolitan area outgrew the city limits of London. By 1850, London contained only 5% of the metro area's homes. Each community evolved its own drainage system -- with no thought (physically or cooperatively) to interconnecting with an adjacent community's drainage system.

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In 1596, Sir John Harrington invented a device for Queen Elizabeth (his Godmother) that released wastes into cesspools -- an early version of the modern-day toilet; poor seals caused odors to still be a problem. [NOTE: Modern-day flush toilets have three basic elements: a valve at the bottom of the water tank, a wash-down system, and a float valve to fill the tank in preparation for the next flush. Harrington invented the first two. It wasn't until the late 1800s that a plumber by the name of Thomas Crapper was able to enhance Harrington's idea -- and that of Alexander Cummings (1775) -- with the then-available industrial-age manufacturing technology to produce, on a wider scale, the forerunner of the modern-day toilet, all in an age (the late 1800s) when the connection between human wastes and disease finally began to be understood.]

More on Mr. Thomas Crapper: He was the refiner of others' concepts (not the inventor). In 1880, he was commissioned to install bidets and urinals in the homes of the royal family. In 1891, he was granted a patent for a new idea: a seat-activated flushing device. His main business was the manufacturing of water closets; his name was embossed on each one. His name became synonymous with toilets ... our troops came home from World War I calling toilets "crappers."

A familiar rhyme -- "Ring a ring of rosy, a pocket full of posies. Atchoo, atchoo - all fall down" -- actually describes the symptoms of the Great Plague of 1665, which killed over 60,000 people in six months. "Ring of rosy" refers to red-ringed spots; "a pocket full of posies" describes the bouquets of herbs carried by people of that time to ward off bad air. Congestion/sneezing often preceded death. Most Londoners "fell down" from disease/sickness in the heat waves of 1665.

By the early 1700s, nearly every home in London had a cesspit beneath it -- and the commensurate foul (and often deadly) odors. The odors were especially bad during quiet nights.

The London Bridge was structurally so immense that houses were actually built (and occupied) upon the bridge; sanitary facilities were quite available: a straight drop into the Thames River!

Cholera epidemics (1830s, 1840s, and 1850s) awakened the need for sewers. London's oldest "sewer," known as the Ludgate Hill Sewer, was constructed in 1668. (Initially, it was an open channel fed by springs, big enough to be used by boats. It was covered in 1732.) Early sewers (initially, natural watercourses that had been covered) started in the London area in the 1730s -- primarily for storm water.

Privies/cesspools were used to collect home wastes; some of these facilities also "collected" the methane generated by the decaying waste. The result was

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often explosions/fires ... and death. In the 1840s it was learned that sewers must be cleaned continually; many of the early sewers were too small for people to enter to do the cleaning work. It was then decided that no new sewers should be constructed that would be so small as to not allow ordinary-sized people to enter and do the cleaning.

Early sewerage problems were compounded by a lack of authority to compel landlords/property owners to connect the building to the sewer. That changed in 1847 following several outbreaks of cholera. A well at 40 Broad Street was found to be contaminated with sewage from a nearby overloaded/flowing privy; the well was removed from service and the cholera outbreak ended.

The London area had a basic problem relative to sewering. Its elevation was 30 feet below the water surface of the Thames at high tide -- making drainage to the river difficult at best!

In 1854, Dr. Snow made the connection between human wastes (from over-loaded privies) and water supplies (wells) within the "Broad Street Neighborhood."

Also, Louis Pasteur in the mid-1800s proved disease could be caused by germs. Knowledge was building up, but it would still take time for society to mend its ways.

The link between bacteria and infectious diseases was beginning to be understood!

In 1775, Alexander Cummings (a watch maker and mathematician) made a version of a toilet that had a "trap" (utilizing water as the seal) for keeping odors from coming back into the house. Still, it would be another hundred years or more before the "toilet" would be widely used. In 1778, the Cummings model was improved by a cabinetmaker named Joseph Bramah. During this same time period, the "earth closet" was developed. Instead of water, earth was used as the "flushing" medium. Later "pan closets" came into being; they were operated like some cigarette ash trays -- the bottom had a trap door which was opened to allow the wastes to fall through into a cesspit or cesspools.

In 1847-48, Parliament adopted a sanitary code that applied to all of England and Wales -- but not including London. The sewer commissioners heard about attributes of the sewerage systems developed by their ancestors on the Isle of Crete and in Greece; those systems served as examples for the designers of the new sewers soon to come in the London area. In 1855, a nuisance-removal law was enacted for all of England. The series of cholera epidemics (which caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people) awakened the need for sanitation (and for the construction of good sewage conveyance systems).

1858-59: years of the "Big Stink" in London. The Thames River received wastes of thousands of people who lived upstream of Parliament. Many of the sewers tributary to the Thames River could only physically drain during low

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tide. The problem was that at low tide, the river did not have enough flow to carry the waste downstream and out to sea. The incoming tide pushed the waste upstream. This cycle resulted in the river becoming virtually a wide-open-to-the-sunlight cesspool for the excrement of nearly three million people! Parliament had to shut down often in summer months. This situation created an even greater problem: the Thames was also the source of water for a large portion of London!

During these years, various ways to minimize sewer odors were tried, including the addition to the sewers (especially in warm weather) of large quantities of lime or chloride of lime. Sometimes this helped. At times the draperies in the Parliament Building were treated with chloride of lime to help filter out odors when odoriferous breezes came into the building through the open windows. That didn't work all that well either!

Large new sewers were installed to deliver wastes to the Thames River -- but this time, to a discharge point downstream of the Parliament Buildings! Queen Victoria was so excited about the new larger sewer tunnels that she ordered a small rail line to be installed therein to transport people through the sewer. Gas lights and walkways were installed along with booths to sell souvenirs to those who chose to walk (or ride) through the tunnel "under the river"!

For London's new sewers, egg-shaped (or oval) sewers were determined to be the best cross-section for the larger "combined" sewers, while clay pipe was deemed best for sanitary-sewage-only mains. It was realized that smooth interior surfaces in the pipe, and adequate gradient on the pipe, were essential to achieving good sewage flow (and velocity) through the pipe.

1866 was the year of the last cholera epidemic in the London area. Again, early sewers were created to convey storm runoff; later on sanitary

sewage was added ... the result was a "combined" system.

Hamburg, Germany - The Change Begins

In the 1840s, the older half of the city burned. When that area was rebuilt, a totally new sewer system was designed (by W. Lindley, a distinguished English engineer) and built. It was vented to/through the roof drains of the connected buildings, and a flushing system was created (once per week utilizing tide water) to clean the new main line sewers. This new design philosophy for the sewering of a major metropolitan area was soon recognized as the model, and, thereafter, was utilized by other cities (in Europe and the United States). Construction/installation of the new system started in 1842. Twenty-five years after the new system was placed in service, the sewers were found to be clean and almost free of objectionable odors.

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In hindsight, Hamburg's new system may not have been solely an indication of a new-found understanding of sanitation, but rather, was also an indication of the city/businesspeople's desire for ... by supporting (and funding) the development of a different type of drainage system ... taking advantage of a unique a more user-friendly (i.e., less odor, better drainage, etc.) sewage conveyance system.

THE NEW AMERICAN "ROOTS"

Early sewer systems in the United States were developed on an as-needed basis -- for a variety of reasons ranging from resolving private property sewering needs on an individual basis, to sewering small areas/towns. The primary motivation was to get sewage (human wastes) away from the sources of water (private wells). Most of these systems were designed and built by common sense, with little or no guidance from trained "professionals," for there were few such trained people in existence in those times (colonial days through the 1840-50s). In early times, "conveniences" were few and far between. The human activities took place outside in the woods, or, at best, inside utilizing chamber pots (a.k.a. thunder mug, jordan, slop jar, peggy, badger, or just plain jug). Later on, people began to use privies (called a "Handsome House of Office" by the more well-to-do, and by others the "outhouse" -- a.k.a. One-holer, Lou, Ajax, Throne, Willie, Oklahoma Potty, etc.). Another approach -- the "earth closet" (inventor: an Englishman, the Reverend Henry Moule) -- also came into use to some degree.

In the early 1800s, new community sewers were initially (and primarily) installed to take care of storm water; privies and "leaching" cesspools were used for human wastes. Still, a lot of human wastes from the early residents of the larger towns (following the model of their European forefathers) were unofficially put into the sewers -- those wastes were either thrown out (from chamber pots) into the streets, leaked onto the ground from poorly designed/maintained privies/cesspools, or were directly deposited on the ground; wastes were then conveyed by storm water into the streets and on into the sewers.

One of the problems to be dealt with during the mid-1800s was that many sewers were initially designed, built, owned, and (supposedly) maintained by private individuals or companies. Sooner or later, they wanted the involved/adjacent cities to take them over, which most of them willingly did. An example, from a report done by Rogers, Chesbrough and Parrott for the City of Boston in 1850, is as follows:

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"As the law now stands, any proprietor of land may lay out streets at such level as he may deem to be for his immediate interest, without municipal interference; and when they have been covered with houses and a large population are suffering the deplorable consequences of defective sewerage, the Board of Health is called upon to accept them and assume the responsibility of applying a remedy."

Many of these early sewers basically provided an underground path for sewage to be conveyed from its point of origin to nearby rivers, creeks, etc. Most of them were of unique materials; some were of constant size; some had no grade (or, worse yet, reverse grade). For example, a sewer was built in 1857 in Charleston, S.C., with no slope. It was 2.6 miles long, 3.5 ft. wide, and 4.5 feet high, constructed of wood plank bottom, with brick sides and top arch. Its unique feature was that it had tide gates at both ends to provide a source of water for flushing. It was evident that cities/towns (not individuals) had to play an ever-increasing role in the design and construction of sewers instead of leaving that role up to individuals. Thus, the need for civil or sanitary engineers was beginning to become evident.

Philadelphia realized in the 1850s that its sewerage system was receiving both storm water and human wastes -- all basically through the sewerage conveyance system's catch basins. That entrance point for human waste was causing odor and maintenance problems. In 1857, Strickland Kreass, Chief Engineer of the Department of Sewerage for Philadelphia, made the following statement:

"There should be a culvert on every street, and every house should be obliged to deliver into it, by underground channels, all ordure or refuse that is susceptible of being diluted. The great advantage in the introduction of lateral culverts is not only that underground drainage from adjacent houses should be generally adopted, but that by the construction of frequent inlets, our gutters would cease to be reservoirs of filth and garbage, breeding disease and contagion in our very midst."

Thus was born the American version of the "house lateral," "house connection sewer" (HCS), "building lateral," etc.

Many of the earlier and more comprehensive sewage conveyance systems were designed (sized) based on very little (and very unreliable) information. The result was that years later -- after more streets were surfaced, more buildings built, and more people moved into the service area... and overflows, sewage backed up into basements, etc, occurred -- it was learned that more and better designs were needed. Again, the need for not only reliable design standards but also trained engineers was becoming all too evident. Many of these "engineers" came up through the "school of hard knocks" to become good designers of sewerage systems; their acquired wisdom

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(often gotten by trial and error) was then passed on to others, often through published papers via organizations such as the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Some Early Examples of How Certain American Cities Addressed Their Sewerage Needs

Boston, Massachusetts

Prior to the 1700s, many homes were sewered to the nearest streams -- via hollowed logs. In 1647, the first "water pollution control" regulation was put into effect in the British colony of Massachusetts.

In the early to mid-1700s, the need for a collector sewer system was recognized and it was installed.

By the 1870s, sewers were too small; an "interceptor" was needed. The first "combined" interceptor (in the U.S.) was authorized in 1876. Materials were mostly brick. The new "main drain" (combined sewer) system was designed by Joseph P. Davis and resembled (to a certain degree) the London plan of sewage interception. One sewer design utilized wood for the invert, brick for vertical sidewalls, and slate for the crown.

One of the earliest sewage pumping systems (steam driven) was put into service in Boston's "main drainage works" in 1884.

Boston used one system of wood log water pipes from 1652 to 1786; the city then replaced those pipes with another set of wood log pipes which stayed in service until 1848.

Chicago, Illinois

First sewers installed were hollowed-out logs; they drained by gravity to Lake Michigan.

In the mid-1800s, it was recognized that the city must have a better way to dispose of its wastewater. The prevalent use of privies and drainage swales was no longer adequate.

In 1850, a plan to build a comprehensive system of "combined" sewers (see Design Choicesfor explanation of "separate" and "combined" sewer systems) and to drain them to the Chicago River (which, in turn, led to Lake Michigan, the main source of water for Chicago!) was chosen as the then best

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available choice. Due to topography limits, the level of the city had to be raised from 10'-15' vertically to allow the sewers to freely drain by gravity to the river. An ambitious project, Chicago's system was later recognized as the first comprehensivesewerage system to be built in the United States.

In 1885, a particularly heavy storm event caused the sewage in the Chicago river (and the "near-land" areas of the lake) to be flushed out to (and beyond) the drinking water intake points. The resulting typhoid and cholera outbreaks killed approximately 11-13% of the city's population.

Later, with the construction of what later became known as The Sanitary and Ship Canal, the direction of flow of the Chicago River was reversed; thereafter, the city’s sewage continued to be discharged into the (now westerly flowing) Chicago River, on down the Des Plaines River to the Illinois River, and into the Mississippi River ... away from Lake Michigan, the city's ongoing source of drinking water.

The Sanitary and Ship Canal was a system of three canals built between 1892 and 1922 (built at an estimated overall cost of $70 million); the first was finished in 1900 ... a 28-mile, 24-foot deep and 160-foot wide canal. Two other canals, the North Shore Channel and the Cal-Sag Channel were also completed before 1922. The Sanitary & Ship Canal was cut through a low point in the "regional" continental devide, which separated the watershed drained by the north and east flowing Chicago River, from the basin drained by the south and east flowing system of the Des Plaines and Illinois Rivers. The canals served to not only help resolve sanitation (sewage disposal) issues, but also provided better access to the city for water-carried shipping.

This reversal of the Chicago River was the largest municipal earth-moving project ever done at that time. The earth-moving techniques learned during its construction helped make the construction of the Panama Canal possible.

Water from Lake Michigan was used for many years to "flush" Chicago's sewer out periodically -- to the Chicago River and (after 1900) on downgradient to the Mississippi River.

[NOTE: four years after the flow of the Chicago River was reversed and the city's sewage sent down the Illinois River to the Mississippi, the State of Missouri (whose city, St. Louis, was located just 30 miles downstream along the Mississippi from its juncture with the Illinois River) was pursuing litigation against the Sanitary District of Chicago. Why? Because it was felt that the pollution levels in the Mississippi had risen to a very high level, and the river was one of St. Louis’ prime sources of water. The distance from Chicago to St.

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Louis (by river flow) was 350 miles; it was then estimated that it took only 2½ weeks for that distance to be traversed. The practice of discharging sewage into a river, and the resultant negative impact that it could have on a downstream neighbor, was rapidly becoming an important issue -- even if the "neighboring" city was 350 miles downstream!]

Baltimore, MA

Cesspools were the primary mechanisms utilized for receiving human wastes. Baltimore was one of the last American cities to ban their use; there were

80,000 of them in use in the city in 1879. Many of the cesspools had overflow pipes which led (illegally) to the city "storm water" sewers!

It was estimated that the annual cost to properly clean the cesspools (assumed frequency: once per year) was $96,000.

In 1906, Dr. Rudolph Hering and others prepared a general plan for sewering the city; this plan was adopted and used to guide the installation of a new sewerage system -- including disposal works.

Baltimore: Recognized by many as one of the last (and largest) American cities to install (beginning in 1915) a comprehensive sewage collection system.

Washington, D.C.

The first city in the United States to install sewer mains made of concrete (as the primary material for the sewers' walls) was Washington, D.C., in 1885. However, those concrete sewers were fully lined with brick or clay tile. Shortly thereafter, only the inverts of the new concrete sewers were lined with brick or clay tile. (It would take another 75-80 years for people to figure out that unlined concrete pipe was not always the best choice for conveying sanitary sewage.)

The White House in Washington, D.C. -- as the President's residence -- was modified frequently during its early years:

o 1801: A water closet was installed.o 1812: The British burned the original White House.o 1833: During Andrew Jackson's presidency, water was piped throughout

the newly-rebuilt White House using drilled-out logs.o 1840: A hot-air furnace was installed.o 1848: Gas lights were installed.

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o 1853: A hot water system went into service.o 1866: A telegraph office was created.o 1877: Telephone installed.

Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City is positioned on the easterly slope of the Great Salt Lake basin, and is comprised of varying types of topography.

The Jordan River is the dominant natural drainage feature (flowing south to north) through the westerly portion of the city.

The area's population in 1890 was 45,000. No sewers then existed. The first planned sewers were built in 1890-91 and conveyed sewage from the

Fifth South Street area westerly to the Jordan River area, where the sewage entered a pump station and was pumped further west to a canal, which in turn drained to the Great Salt Lake. Odors became a problem.

Later, a new masonry (concrete invert, with brick arch) sewer was built to deliver the sewage instead to a sewer farm (initially, 120 acres) located north and west of the city. The main new interceptor sewer was comprised of 38" and 42" diameter sewers with manholes at 800-foot intervals. The outlying sewer farm concept had to be re-aligned because only one potential farmer bid on the sewage and the one bidder wanted to be paid to take it! (The city also ran short of monies to build the long outfall sewer.) So an alternative concept for a smaller city-operated sewer farm was formed -- a farm located closer to the city near the Jordan River.

In 1907:o Population of Salt Lake City was 80,000.o Total area of city was 47 square miles.o Portion of area sewered was 3.4 square miles.o Number of miles of sewers was 78 miles.o Disposal: a portion was used for broad irrigation; the balance was

discharged to the Jordan River.

San Diego (proper), California

San Diego was one of the few communities in the United States that installed sewers (a "separate" sanitary sewage system; 6" diameter thru 30" diameter) from the start, while a planned city layout was implemented.

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The first sewers were started in 1885 when the city's population was about 11,000. Upon completion of the first phase of street/infrastructure improvements, the city had 38.67 miles of streets, 38.1 miles of sewer, and 14.7 miles of "house branches."

Unique features:o Flush tanks at upstream ends of lateral runs (some utilizing sea water).o A "flush tank," using sewage as the flushing medium, was installed at

the upstream end of a siphon crossing of a river. When the sewage was discharged from the flush tank, sufficient velocity in the 8" diameter siphon barrel along the sewer’s route was achieved.

The City of San Diego was incorporated on March 27, 1850; it became a charter city on April 7, 1931.

The goal was to connect every home/building, thereby abandoning the previous privies, cesspools, and other miscellaneous drains that were used.

Sewage drained to a sewage reservoir (capacity: 1.5 mg) located offshore in the harbor -- in what would today be the westerly extension of Broadway. From there, the untreated sewage drained out (during high tide) through a 600 linear foot, 30" diameter iron pipe outfall into a deep channel in the San Diego Bay. Over time, another nine outfalls were installed to deliver raw sewage to the bay; another fifteen were built to deliver sewage to the Pacific Ocean.

This practice continued for the next 50 years -- until the pollution level in the bay became a health hazard, and also began causing severe paint damage to the metal hulls of the Navy ships.

In 1940, San Diego had 525 miles of sanitary sewer serving a population of 200,000 people.

In 1941, funding was approved for a new system of trunk and interceptor sewers and a 15 mgd (adwf) primary treatment plant (an Imhoff tank), which was expanded to 40 mgd in 1950 -- by then, the ADWF was 38 mgd, serving a tributary population of 485,000. The plant was located near 18th Street and Harbor Drive next to the bay; the outfall for the effluent continued to go to San Diego Bay.

By 1950, the conveyance system for San Diego included 11 trunk sewer systems and 34 pumping stations, with gravity pipe ranging in size from 8" diameter to 60" diameter.

Sacramento, California

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In 1940, the City of Sacramento encompassed nearly 14 square miles, had 250 miles of "combined" sewer, and had a population of approximately 121,000.

EARLY SEWAGE CONVEYANCE SYSTEMS

Manholes: In the very early collection systems (especially for "separate" sanitary sewage systems), only lamp-holes were installed. It was soon learned that the lamp-holes were good for seeing (with a source of light) if the sewer in the main was indeed flowing, but they were almost useless as a maintenance access point. Consequently, the placement of manholes in gravity sewer systems soon became common (and essential).

Lamp-hole DesignsSource: The Designing, Construction, and Maintenance of Sewerage Systems,

by H. Prescott Folwell, 1901.

The main purpose of manholes was (and is) to give admittance to the sewers for inspection and cleaning. To do so, it is imperative that they be big enough to allow people of average size to enter into them and to work.

A second purpose of manholes was to serve as points of ventilation for the gravity sewers. It was recognized early on that sewers need to "breathe," both in and out. Vented manhole covers could facilitate that need. Also, it was understood early that it

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was better to vent the system through the manhole covers than (as an alternative scenario) to vent the sewers through the plumbing systems of the connected homes. (Interior plumbing systems in those days didn't have water-filled traps to keep odors out of the rooms of the connected buildings.)

In the early larger sewers in Europe, the manholes were built off to the side of the sewer (proper) and connected to the sewer via an interconnecting underground passage. This approach was thought to be better for accessing the sewer and for avoiding having manhole rim/cover assemblies in the streets (proper). The drawback realized was that this approach was very expensive, and the passageway was a constant collector of filth/debris.

The size of the manhole opening was chosen early on to be 24" diameter -- the exact reason remains unknown -- with the diameter of the structure increasing to 4' to 5' at the sewer, thus allowing sufficient room for the sewer maintenance people to do their work. Early on, descent down into a manhole was made by use of a ladder or a rope; however, it soon became common to build steps into the manhole structure, sometimes via protruding bricks or stones, or wrought iron/cast-iron steps (wrought iron being better).

The walls of the early manholes were made of bricks mortared together (often with a coating of plastic on the outside). Soon concrete also came to be used for the construction of the risers.

The top of the manholes was "capped" with an iron casting (a.k.a. "rim and cover" or "frame and cover") deep enough (8" to 12") to permit the laying of brick or stone paving up to it. The early covers were made to contain as many ventilation holes as possible.

When the rim and cover assemblies (a.k.a. "manhole heads") of manholes were placed in unpaved areas, it was soon learned that a lot of sand/dirt would get into the sewer through the vent holes in the covers. Early on, a bucket was designed for suspension under the cover to catch the sand/dirt; it was sized smaller than the overall diameter of the casting assembly (nominally, 24" in diameter) so as to allow air to pass by the bucket—thus allowing the sewer to continue to breathe.

Samples of Definitions of Terms Used in Sewerage and Sewage Disposal PracticeSource: Originally created in 1915 by the American Public Health Association. Later,

The American Society of Civil Engineers worked with the APHA to finalize and publish these definitions in 1928.

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"Sewer - A pipe or conduit, generally closed, but normally not flowing full, for carrying sewage and other wastes."

"Flush Tank - A chamber in which water, or sewage, is accumulated and discharged at intervals for flushing a sewer."

"Lamp-hole - A small vertical pipe or shaft leading from the surface of the ground to a sewer, for admitting a light for purposes of inspection."

"Manhole - A shaft, or chamber, from the surface of the ground to a sewer, large enough to enable a person to have access for the purpose of inspections or cleaning."

"Manhole Head - The cast iron fixture surmounting a manhole. It is made up of two parts: A 'Frame' which rests on the masonry of the shaft, and a removable 'Cover.' Frames are either 'Fixed' or 'Adjusted' in height. Covers are 'Tight,' 'Ventilated,' or 'Anti rattling.' "

"Sanitary Sewer - A sewer which carries sewage and excludes storm, surfaces and ground water."

Manholes covers: covers started off as slabs of stone, maybe pieces of wood -- which they remained from 3500 BC through the 1750s-1850s CE. For the last 200+ years, iron works in the United States have made cast-iron manhole covers, some weighing as much as 300 lbs. each, some rectangular, some square, but for the most part, round. The oldest available foundry catalog for manhole covers dates back to 1860.

The phrase "manhole" -- even though some people today want to change it for gender-sensitivity reasons -- was first used to describe the access holes between the decks of old, all-male, sailing ships. The word "manhole" (initially) had nothing to do with sewers.

It wasn't until later that the term was used to describe the structure through which access to sewers (initially, to new "separate" sewers) for maintenance could be achieved. Perhaps the name was adopted because it was, in essence, a hole into which a person (man) would go to do maintenance,or it was adopted from one level (street level) to another level (the sewer beneath the street). We'll probably never know for sure.

In fact, some believe the word "sewer" is derived from the term "seaward" in Old English. Early sewers in the London area were open ditches which led to the Thames River, and from there on down to the sea ("seaward").

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As you can see, not a whole lot has changed in the years between the 1870s and now relative to the philosophy of manhole design, definitions, etc.; mainly materials and installation techniques have changed. The early designers had an amazingly good sense of what was needed.

Sewer pipe: In the very early years of sewers in the United States, hollowed-out logs were utilized to convey sewage from a single dwelling to the nearest stream or, sometimes, as a part of a larger conveyance "system" for a small town. Some larger "combined" systems utilized brick, sometimes cut stone, slate, or even wood (mostly, for the inverts); many combinations of materials were utilized depending on the types of materials available locally. The size/shapes of the sewers varied in almost direct proportion to the number of designers involved.

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"Sewerage as a Beverage"

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Source: Plate 7 of Sewers: Ancient & Modern, by Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr.From the Collections of the Cayuga County Historical Society, 5 (1887).

In the early years, the joints of the sewer pipe were not sealed. It was thought then that allowing groundwater in through these joints would not only help drain the soil but would also "bring in" water to help convey the solids in the sewage on down through the sewer. No concern was felt (then) for the possibility of sewage leaking out into the ground water.

By the time the more systematic sewering of towns/communities became needed, the industrialization of the United States resulted in a much wider variety of pipe materials being available. The joints of these new pipe materials were still suspect, but via trial-and-error, ways to more effectively seal the joints came into being.

Sometime in the 1820s in Europe, the concept of building oval-shaped sewers evolved (as opposed to the previous flat-bottom, rectangular cross-sectional sewers), supposedly to help diminish the possibility of the sedimentation of solids/sand via the provision of higher (scour) velocities at low flows.

The smaller sewers built after the 1850s in the United States were generally made of vitrified clay or of cement mortar; brick was used for the larger-sized conduits. The older parts of New York City employed a lot of wood stave pipe for their sewers. Starting in Washington, D.C., concrete was used for large diameter mains; St. Louis, Kansas City, Detroit, and Philadelphia soon followed. Soon clay tiles were used to line the concrete pipe in order to minimize the impact of internal corrosion. Early sewer main installation procedures utilized trenches dug by hand. Bucket machines (steam driven) came into use via the Boston main drainage works project. Steam shovels came later.

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Advertisement for Redwood (Stave) PipeManufacturer: California Redwood Pipe Company (Los Angeles, CA).

Source: 1924 Classified Buyer's Guide of the City of Monrovia, CA.

For sewers to be made of brick, certain features had to be respected; more specifically:

Due to the inherent rough surface of the resulting wall, the sewers had to be larger to offset the inherent larger roughness co-efficient.

To physically construct brick sewers, structural forming was needed -- again, adding somewhat to the resulting sewer's size.

As experience was gained, it was recognized that the mortar between the bricks was the weak link; i.e., the mortar was subject to erosion and softening by corrosive acids.

As the pros/cons of brick sewers were understood, the impetus for other newer and longer-lasting pipe materials arose.

By the 1880s-1900s, vitrified clay pipe (with a salt glazing applied to both the pipe's interior and exterior surfaces—a "carry-over" process from Europe) was the material of choice for a lot of the sewers up to 30" I.D. Cast iron also became available and was especially useful in "structural" situations.

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The larger scale production of clay pipe in the United States was started in 1849 by the firm of Hill, Merrill and Company in Middlesbury, Ohio (not far from Akron). Their first product was hexagonal water pipe. Soon they began making round clay sewer pipe. Early on, the bell & spigot joints were added/formed manually onto the cylindrial shafts formed from mechanical presses. During the next 20-25 years, the overall process became almost fully mechanized. Clay pipe was very heavy by nature. Delivering it required the availability of either rail or water transport. Until those systems developed, clay pipe plants were created in many towns -- wherever there was a need and an adequate supply of clay.

In the early industrial-age years of clay pipe manufacturing in the United States, two types of clay pipe were made:

salt-glazed vitrified clay pipe, and slip-glazed pipe.

"Salt glazing" was accomplished by throwing salt into the kiln at the proper time; the vapors produced a vitreous coating as the exposed surface of the pipe. The Akron Sewer Pipe Company of Akron, Ohio, was the largest factory for glazed vitrified clay pipe in the 1890s in the U.S.; they employed the noted glazing process. The maker of salt-glazed pipe said it could only be made from clay that will vitrify -- that is one that will become hard and not porous when subjected to high heat.

"Slip glazing" was accomplished by dipping the unburnt pipe into a mixture of "slip clay" (a.k.a. "Albany earth") and water. This produced a glazing when the wetted pipe was subjected to high heat in the kiln. This process was utilized when the clays were of a type that would not vitrify, i.e., the pipe's surface remained open/porous.

A quote from Colonel George E. Waring (1880s):

"Any roughness of surface, as in even the best made cement pipes, tends to catch hair and lint, and thus to form nucki from accumulating obstructions, sometimes so hard they can be removed only by forcible, mechanical means .... The material of the pipe should be a hard vitreous substance -- not porous, since this would lead to the absorptions of the impure contents of the drain; would have less actual strength to resist pressure; would be more affected by frost or by the formation of crystals in connection with certain chemical combinations, or would be susceptible to the chemical action of the constituents of the sewage .... Much experience with cement sewer pipe seems to demonstrate that they are not sufficiently uniform in quality, nor sufficiently strong and durable, to be used with confidence in any important work, whether public or private. Sewer pipes should be salt-glazed, as this requires them to

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be subjected to a much more intense heat than is needed for "slip" glazing, and thus secures a harder material."

The laying lengths were generally 2' long; in addition, in the early years, care had to be taken not to overload (structurally) or damage the pipe during its installation and/or backfill.

Pre-cast concrete pipe (not poured in place) began to be competitive in the early 1900s; however, it often weighed almost twice as much as the clay pipe and was almost always more expensive.

The joints of clay pipe were generally of the bell-and-spigot type, with the sealing material being cement mortar. Other materials for the seals were tried, such as the Stanford preparation—a tar  and sulphur combination. Asphalt was tried (with and without a mineral filter); sulphur and sand (a "rigid" combination), coal tar, and a mixture of pine tar and cement kneaded together were also tried -- but most favored cement mortar as a joint sealant (even for glazed clay pipe -- with which special care had to be taken to affect a good seal with the mortar). [One of the big worries early on was that if a lot of the sewage leaked out through poorly sealed joints, there wouldn't be enough sewage left in the main to provide decent cleansing velocities! On the other hand, if a lot of groundwater did "happen" to get into the sewer, that was okay because the velocity of sewage flow (in the pipe) would improve!!]

As the industry improved, and it was realized that fewer joints (especially if they weren't always well sealed) were better, the industry responded with 3' laying lengths of pipe.

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"The Manufacture of Drain Pipe"(Clay Pipe)

Source: The Manufacturer and Builder, April 1881, p. 82.

Cast-iron pipe began to become available in the mid-1700s for municipal water service. The first large-scale use of cast-iron pipe for distribution of water occurred in 1664 at Versaille, France. A 15-mile cast-iron main was installed from Marley-on-Seina to the palace at Versailles; the system is still in service today. The bell-and-spigot joint was developed by Sir Thomas Simpson in 1785 (London) for cast-iron pipe and has been in use ever since. The early versions used "butt" joints sealed with metal bands.

The first cast-iron pipe manufactured in the United States was produced in a foundry in Weymouth, New Jersey, in the early 1800s. The city of Philadelphia began installing cast-iron pipe in its water distribution system (approximately 1804-1810) to replace some deteriorated old spruce log wood pipe (reinforced at the ends with bands

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of wrought iron). In fact, Philadelphia was the first American city to use cast-iron pipe exclusively -- due to its greater longevity and the fact that water pressure that could be maintained with it was higher than wood pipe could handle. For years, the higher quality cast-iron pipe made was cast with a "P", indicating that the pipe met the rigorous standards of Philadelphia's water system.

[NOTE: When Philadelphia began using cast-iron pipe, it physically removed a lot of the wood log pipe. It was still in such good shape after being in the earth for 50-60 years that it was sold to the City of Burlington, N.J., in 1804 and was reinstalled there. That same wood pipe remained in service until 1887, when it was replaced with larger pipe.]

By 1898, there were 71 foundries (in 17 states) in the United States making cast-iron pipe -- both pressure pipe and soil pipe (coated inside and out with coal tar). By the late 1800s, several foundries were devoted to making soil pipe, often used for plumbing systems within/under buildings. Cast-iron pipe began to be more widely used for sanitary sewers, especially in "structural" situations.

NOTE: One of the more unique types of pipe that began to evolve in the 1890s was one whose wall was made of cellulose (wood) fibres, impregnated with coal-tar pitch. The first known use of "fibre" pipe was for water transmission: a 1.5-mile pipeline in the Boston area, which stayed in service for 60+ years (1865-1927). Production of the conduit started in 1893 by the Fibre Conduit Company of Orangeburg, New York.

During the following forty years, the fibre conduit business (its use for sewage conveyance still many years off then) flourished. Many building used the 5-foot laying length conduit (formed in a "flattened" cross-section) for running electrical lines throughout the floors/walls of new structures -- including the Empire State Building.

The name of the Fibre Conduit Company was changed to the "Orangeburg Manufacturing Company" in 1948. The post-war housing building boom was now underway; the types of pipe then available for sewer and drains were limited. Aheavier walled version of the fibre conduit was developed, manufactured under ASTM D 1861-73 and D 1862-73, and sold as "Orangeburg Pipe" -- in sizes ranging from 3" to 8" I.D. -- for sewer and drain applications (including a perforated version for leach fields). The joints were made with couplings of similar material, utilizing no gaskets, joint sealant, etc., just simple compression, thus making the pipe potentially susceptible to I/I and/or root intrusion. The pipe was lightweight (but brittle), and it could be cut by hand with carpenter saws. (This type of pipe was also manufactured by other companies, including Bermico, American, and J - M Fibre Conduit.)

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It is interesting to note that it was recognized early on that Orangeburg pipe had a tendency to deform when subjected to concentrated pressures over long periods of time. Thus, the manufacturer emphasized the need to properly "bed" the pipe (i.e., achieve good compaction all through the entire pipe zone) using soil free of rocks/debris. This is a method strongly similar to how modern-day "flexible" pipe, such as PVC, is bedded.

Demand for fibre sewer pipe skyrocketed in the 1950s and 1960s! The plant at Orangeburg was expanded several times. Three other companies (including the Line Material Company of Barton, WI, and the Brown Company of Berlin, NH) also made a similar pipe, but Orangeburg was by far the largest manufacturer. 500 tons per week were shipped out to users throughout the US during the 1950s and 1960s.

Then, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, PVC pipe began to come into its own. The "end" PVC sewer pipe product was cheaper for sewer/drain applications. The Orangeburg, New York, plant closed in the fall of 1972.

The proper ventilation of sewers began to receive more (and proper) attention, although not as much as it should have received. The English custom of disconnecting house sewers from street sewers (as opposed to the continental custom of ventilating the latter through the former) is still the prevalent one in our country. A change, however, began to take place, starting in approximately 1890. The city of Newton, Mass., began ventilating its street sewers through the house sewers with very beneficial results. A number of other cities began to do the same, and, as a result, avoided much of the odor sometimes rising from the manhole cover perforations. Much more attention was now being given than before to details such as proper forming of sewer junctions to prevent deposits, smoothness of the wetted perimeter to prevent retention of solids, the hydraulic grade vs. invert grade when proportioning for rain water capacity, and creating a straight mainline alignment by which all sewers could be inspected throughout their length. Progress was also being made in the use of better materials for construction. The requirement for smoothness demanded the use of a better class of brick and more truly formed pipes than were formerly utilized, and the use of concrete for construction began to claim the advantage.

DISPOSAL OF SANITARY SEWAGE

In ancient times, human wastes were sometimes (in certain civilizations) placed into storm sewers to be conveyed to either large cesspits (for percolation) or into nearby rivers. For the most part, sewage was disposed of wherever and however: via privies, “behind the bush,” cesspits, cesspools, pipes or troughs away from the homes, etc. These approaches worked for a long time in the new United States -- until, in certain

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cases, the density of the involved cities and towns evolved to the point that the sewage disposal locations were getting too close to (and/or negatively impacting the taste, odor and quality of) the area’s drinking water supplies.

It is known that some farms were irrigated with sewage in Athens, Greece; in France, some of the most sought after vegetables were grown in gardens watered/enriched at times with human sewage (sometimes with just the solids; other times, with the liquid version). Sewage farming wasreintroduced by its use in Bunzlau, Germany, in the early 1600s.

One of the earliest large (and documented) community sewage farming efforts was in England, serving the town of Edinburgh. It was about 400 acres in size and served the town for nearly 100 years during the 1750-1850 era. As England’s cities grew (example: the London area), the countryside’s relatively small streams -- but also including the bigger Thames River -- could no longer bear the burden of all the sanitary sewage. The cholera epidemics of the 1840s-60s began to highlight the need to find another point of disposal. In England, two methods of disposing of the collected sewage evolved:

The irrigation of land with raw sewage -- where local conditions and availability of suitable land so allowed.

The precipitation of solids (and some of the dissolved matter) by chemical treatment, and subsequent sedimentation (and, in certain instances for sea coast towns, discharge of the sewage into the sea [or estuary] at a point below the low water level -- they had learned a significant lesson regarding the discharge of large quantities of raw sewage into rivers via the “London/Thames River Incident” in the mid-1800s.)

The general lack of suitable acreage for sewage farming, and/or filtration/sedimentation basins, led, in succeeding years, to the use of septic tanks and trickling filters in England.

The need for advanced methods of treatment/disposal did not exist early on in the United States -- i.e., not until the late 1800s/early 1900s, primarily because of the higher/closer availability of larger rivers and streams to receive and acclimate the sewage, and (in later years, when the “sewage discharge” issue versus the “water source” connection was more fully recognized) the larger areas of land available for sewage farming and/or filtration beds.

Irrigation (in areas where there was a year-round need for water) and filtration were utilized in several areas of the United States, but not to any great extent, until the

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Blackstone River in Massachusetts was recognized as having been fouled from the introduction of sanitary sewage from the Worcester area. To mitigate the situation, the first extensive treatment plant utilizing chemical precipitation was built in Worcester in 1889-90. This plant served as a model for others in succeeding years.

Disposal of sanitary sewage by dilution (i.e., discharging it into rivers, streams, lakes, or the ocean) continued to be the method utilized by American cities; the ready availability of larger bodies of water facilitated the use of this method. The large rivers in our country made the dilution process of disposal a very common and effective one. It was used by Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington; by the cities situated along the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi rivers; and by many others. On our Great Lakes, dilution in the quietly moving waters was also practiced by all of the large cities except Chicago (starting in the late 1890s-early 1900s). The first comprehensive study of the subject (advisability of “dilution” as the “solution to pollution”) was begun by Dr. Rudolph Hering for Chicago in 1887; the results of this study -- that this method still had its applicability -- led to the construction of a drainage canal (to dilute the sewage with water from Lake Michigan) that eventually delivered sewage to the DesPlaines River, which in turn flowed into the Illinois River and on into the Mississippi River.

Gravity Sanitary Sewer Being Installed in a Stone Aqueduct across a Natural Drainage Pattern

(Superior, Wisconsin: 1938)Source: Courtesy of Dan Romans, City of Superior, WI, Public Works Department

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Sea coast towns/cities seldom utilized sewage disposal methods (in the 1850s-early/mid 1900s) other than dilution, i.e., discharge of the raw sewage to the ocean. However, the location of outlets soon became more important in order to help minimize pollution of beaches. In the case of the Boston main drainage works, special attention was paid to the positioning of the outlets and the temporary storage of the sewage and its release -- only at ebb tide. Later on, the protection of shell fisheries became important too; then, the use of primary treatment (followed by disinfection) began.

“Dilution-as-the-Solution-to-Pollution” really didn’t come under considerable criticism until the 1910-20s. Even then, most engineers/sanitarians still agreed that it was less expensive to obtain good drinking water by filtering sewage-laden river water than it was to treat the sewage (prior to discharge) to the degree that there was no danger of it degrading the receiving water into which it was being discharged. Some sanitarians, however, began to claim that they did not consider it reliable to depend on the continuous/proper operation of a water filtration plant for a continuous supply of good healthful drinking water; it was also necessary (and prudent) to properly treat the sewage prior to its discharge to the receiving body of water. Some feared that if the sanitarians had their way, the towns/cities would be faced with insurmountable fiscal hurdles to pay for the sewage treatment plants that would be required in addition to the water filtration plants.

The following is an excerpt from Metcalf & Eddy’s 1914 text book entitled American Sewerage Practice:

“The sanitary engineer who neglects to work for the best interests of the public health falls short of the full discharge of his professional obligations, but it is wise to keep in mind a fact stated as follows by Engineering News: ‘We know of many instances in which business men distrust engineers and pin their faith to so-called “practical” men, largely because of unfortunate experience with engineers who appeared to think that the question of cost was no part of their concern.’ The legal dangers of attempting to discharge sewage into a small body of water must be considered in the design of sewerage systems. In Sammons vs. City of Gloversville, the New York Court of Appeals decided that although the city exercised a legitimate governmental power for public benefit when it built its sewers, it had no charter rights to discharge sewage into a brook in such a way as to injure the plaintiff’s lands below the point of discharge. Even where a city has statute rights to construct sewers emptying into a creek, whereby a nuisance was created, the Alabama Supreme Court held in Mayor, etc. of Birmingham vs. Land, 34 S. Rep. 613, that the owner of a

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riparian farm below the sewer outlet was entitled to damages. The Maryland Court of Appeals similarly decided the case of West Arlington Imp. Co. vs. Mount Hope Retreat, 54 Atl. Rep. 982. The fact that a water-course is already contaminated does not entitle other persons to aid in its contamination or prevent those thereby injured from recovering from them damages for the injury; Ind. Sup. Ct., West Muncie Strawboard Co. vs. Slack, 72 N. E. Rep. 879.”

“Broad Irrigation,” “sewage farming,” and “land treatment” are terms for certain operations through which sewage is applied intermittently to land at a (low) rate of flow, such that it does not interfere with the raising or harvesting of the involved crop(s). The method was first used in the United States at the State Insane Asylum near Augusta, Maine, in 1876.

For the most part, these processes were not used all that much in the eastern part of the United States (the significant rainfall in the summer/fall diminished the need for another source of water; the generally shorter growing season and the heightened possibility of the sewage leaving the farming site and making its way to stream/river caused these processes to not be used much in the East). In the West, smaller annual rainfalls, the availability of more remote farm sites, and the generally longer (almost year-round) growing season prompted the need for a steadier source of water and the higher use of these processes.

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"Pumping Sewage on Crops for Fertilizer"

Source: Harper’s Weekly, 1890, Photo IV.1; from The Search For The Ultimate Sink by Joel A. Tarr,

The University of Akron Press, 1996.

This method of “disposal”/“treatment” required a large area of suitable land; it was utilized by many municipalities in the interior United States (ones away from the oceans and large rivers) -- particularly, areas with moderate year-round climates. By the 1930s, this method (due to expanding metropolitan areas, growing citizens concerns, etc.) was losing favor.

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As of 1912, crops raised on sewer farms included peas, beans, tomatoes, corn, cabbage, alfalfa, fruit trees, etc. As people’s desire for personal hygiene/sanitation increased, their prejudices toward certain vegetables grown on sewer farms increased!

In Los Angeles, California, sewage farming was practiced until about 1905, when a new sewage outfall to the Pacific Ocean went into use (NOTE: Complaints about odors helped speed up the installation of the outfall!). Pasadena, California, had a nearly 300-acre farm in service up to about 1914, when odor complaints caused the change to “fresh” water and the sending of the sewage to the Pacific. Salt Lake City, Utah, and Fresno, California, also had extensive sewage farming activities under way in the early 1900s. But as with most such ventures, population growth, urban sprawl, and an increased concern regarding odors led to the demise of sewer farming (mostly by the 1930s).

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View higher resolution version of image here

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Population of Cities having 25,000 Inhabitants or More In 1920

Source: 1924 Monrovia City Directory

The following denotes the progress made, in the era of 1880-1930, on certain processes that evolved (in the years following the advent/use of sewer farms) to dispose/treat sewage in areas away from oceans/large bodies of water, more specifically:

Intermittent Filtration: The idea was developed in New England as a modified form of broad irrigation, known as “intermittent filtration,” in which raw or settled sewage was applied evenly to the surface of prepared areas of sand or other fine material a few feet in depth (which was underdrained by lines of tile with open joints). The goal was that during its passage through the bed, the sewage was to be purified via the removal, and changing of the organic matter into more stable substances by physical and biological processes working in conjunction with the oxygen present in the matrix of the sand. The process derived its name (basically) from the necessity to intermittently apply the sewage in order that air required for the oxidation of the organic matter could enter the voids of the sand during the dry period. In New England, where soil conditions were favorable, this method was utilized by many towns. The surface area (acreage) required was much less than that needed for sewer farms, but still greater than that needed for the later types of filters. Owing to the still larger acreage required, and the cost of operation, this method was adopted only by small towns -- where conditions were favorable.

Chemical Precipitation: Another early method of sewage treatment was “chemical precipitation”; it involved the addition of lime, lime and sulfate of iron, or other coagulants to form an inorganic floc, which absorbed and, upon settling, carried down with it particles of suspended solids, leaving a relatively clear liquid. The sludge produced was large in volume and quite offensive in character.

The earliest plants utilizing this process were located at Coney Island, New York (put in operation about 1887); at East Orange, N.J., in 1888 or 1889; and at Worcester, MA, in 1890. In 1902, other plants of this same type were built. Due to the incomplete level of purification actually achieved, the high cost of operation, and the large volume of sludge produced, chemical precipitation as a means for treating sewage didn’t stay in favor long. The City of Worcester abandoned this method of treatment in 1925 and put into operation a large Imhoff tank/trickling filter plant.

Septic Tanks: The “settling” of sewage in tanks -- without the use of chemicals -- was practiced for many years (1875-1930s). The combination of the sedimentation of

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solids and their digestion by bacteria was utilized in the septic tank, the Travis tank, and the Imhoff tank.

The early septic tank was a “sedimentation” tank designed and operated so as to facilitate the decomposition of the settled solids in the absence of oxygen. It was originally believed that nearly complete liquefaction of the suspended solids could be obtained in this manner. Experience proved, however, that the proportion thus liquefied was much less than originally thought. Early tanks were not covered; the resulting odors soon convinced everyone that they must be covered. The treated sewage was black and foul; the difficulties in operation often resulted in the accumulation of a floating mass of scum on the surface of the sewage. This approach involved principles and practices which had long been known and publicly used. Tanks were first used in America at the State Insane Asylum at Worcester in 1876 and later were adopted at other places.In later years, the use of septic tanks with leach fields became widespread in the rural areas of the United States.

Imhoff Tanks: The data learned from the use of “regular” septic tanks eventually led to the use of a two-story tank in which the processes taking place in the septic tank were “separated,” with settling of the solids occurring in an upper chamber and digestion of the solids going on in a chamber below -- separated from the one above by a sloping partition containing narrow slots through which the solids passed into the lower area.

This tank was initially developed for use in the Emscher District in Germany and was introduced into this country largely through the efforts of Mr. Rudolph Hering.

The earliest plant in America using the Imhoff tank was put into service at Madison-Chatham, N.J., in 1911, and the first large Imhoff tanks were constructed at Atlanta, GA, in 1912. Thereafter, there were many other installations, including ones at Rochester, N.Y.; Fitchburg, Mass.; Cleveland, Ohio; and Philadelphia. The Imhoff tank was an improvement over the earlier versions of the septic process in that the treated sewage was less offensive and the solids could be digested to such a degree that the resulting sludge was “practically” free from odor and readily dewaterable on porous beds. However, in some places, difficulties were experienced due to unfavorable sludge digestion, which resulted in foaming or in excessive scum formation.

Separate Sludge Digestion: It was thought by some engineers that the processes carried out in the two-story Imhoff tanks could be accomplished better in two separate tanks: the solids being settled out in one and drawn or pumped from that basin into a

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digestion tank. In some cases, the sedimentation tanks were equipped with mechanical devices for the continuous removal of the settled solids.

The earliest attempt at separate sludge digestion (on a large scale) in America was at Baltimore in 1912. The Baltimore experience demonstrated that sludge could be digested in separate tanks. Early on, separate sludge digestion generally resulted in acid fermentation -- accompanied by offensive odors and the production of a foul-smelling sludge. Research at the New Jersey Sewage Experiment Station and at Harvard University indicated the importance of controlling the reaction of the sludge and the advantage which could be secured by maintaining a favorable temperature.

At Plainfield, N.J., experiments relating to this subject were carried out on a large scale, and at Boonton, N.J., a plant was constructed in which provisions were made for collecting and burning the gases from sludge digestion and for utilizing the heat (therefrom) for heating the glass-housed/covered sludge beds and the contents of the plant’s separate sludge digestion tanks.

Contact Beds (the forerunner of the “trickling filter”): Because of the large acreage required and the unavailability of suitable soil for sewer farms (or for intermittent filtration), the development of coarse-grained sewage filters, in the form of “contact beds,” began in England in the early 1890s; they were adopted somewhat later in America. Contact beds consisted essentially of tanks filled with broken stone, coke, or other coarse medium, which were alternately filled with settled sewage and then emptied; periods of several hours were allowed for the beds standing full with sewage andthen for the beds to remain empty.

Oxidation and nitrification are brought about by the film of microorganisms growing on the surface of the medium; the oxygen was obtained from the air entering the voids of the material in the tanks during the empty periods. Comparatively few contact beds were actually built in America; most of those were soon replaced by other forms of treatment. This short life was due to the almost concurrent development of trickling filters, which were superior to contact beds in certain respects, the main one being the much larger volume of sewage which could be treated on a unit area of trickling filter (due to continuous flow through the trickling filters).

Trickling Filters: Trickling filters, utilized in England on a large scale prior to their introduction to America, differed from contact beds in that the sewage was distributed more or less uniformly, andcontinuously, over the surface of the beds of coarse material. A trickling filter was (primarily) a bed of broken stone several feet deep, laid on a concrete floor covered with a system of under-drains. Settled sewage was applied intermittently, at relatively short intervals, to the surface of the trickling filter in the form of fine drops -- by using equally spaced spray nozzles or other devices. As the

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sewage was sprayed through the air and passed on down through the porous bed, atmospheric oxygen was absorbed and was made available to fuel the biological oxidation of the organic matter. The effluent was usually settled in order to remove humus-like solids which (periodically) escaped from the body of the trickling filter.

The first municipal trickling filter of this type was put into service at Reading, PA, in 1908. By the mid-1920s, trickling filters (and the earlier Imhoff tanks) constituted the type of treatment most generally used in America. The largest installation of such filters was then at Baltimore, where about 30 surface acres of the filters were in use.

The control of odors from/around Imhoff tanks and the trickling filters was a problem for most plants; in the 1920s, the treatment of sewage with liquid chlorine was being given its first consideration, and begat the promise of beneficial results under some conditions.

Activated Sludge: Between 1915 and 1925, the activated sludge process was adopted in a number of places in the United States, Canada, and abroad. The process was the fruit of experiments on the aeration of sewage by numerous American workers, particularly, the investigations conducted at the Lawrence Experiment Station (Massachusetts) in 1912; this led to the work, in England, of Fowler and Mumford in 1913 and of Arden and Lockett in 1914. This treatment consisted primarily of aerating sewage with a mixture of aerated or activated sludge and subsequently allowing the mixture to settle.

Beginning in 1914, the City of Milwaukee conducted what is now recognized as the most extensive large-scale experimental investigation ever carried out in the field of sewage treatment in the early years. Based on the results of those experiments, a plant -- the largest in the world in 1926 -- was constructed at Milwaukee and put into operation in 1925. At that time, there were few activated sludge plants in America; the one at San Marcos, Texas, (built in 1916) was the first. Large plants were later constructed in Houston, Texas; Indianapolis; and Chicago. In Chicago, construction began in 1926 on an activated sludge plant to treat the sewage from a then population of 800,000.

Racks, Grit Chambers, and Screens: In order to protect pumps and other mechanical equipment from clogging and damage, and to simplify and improve the efficiency of various processes of treatment, it soon became general practice to provide preliminary treatment for the removal of trash, mineral matter, and the coarser suspended organic substances. In a few cases, in the early years, equipment was installed for the removal of floating oil and grease.

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Cage racks for the interception of trash were constructed at the main drainage pumping station in Boston and put into service in 1884. Grit chambers for the removal of the heavier mineral solids were first implemented at Worcester in 1904. Stationary bar screens (manually or mechanically raked) had been in use for a long time, but only between 1905 and 1910 was there a marked development in fine, moving screens -- cleaned by brushing or flushing. The first of these in America was the Weand screen built at Reading, in 1908. This was followed by the Riensch-Wurl screen at Rochester in 1916 and later by others, such as the Dorrco and Link Belt screens. During the 1910-1925 era, such screens were also used for removing the larger and more easily visible floating and suspended matter -- where more complete treatment was not necessary (such as for “sewer farms”).

Sludge Disposal: One of the troublesome features of sewage treatment has always been the disposal of the solids removed by screening or by sedimentations. Screenings were often/early on taken away and plowed under -- in an effort to utilize their fertilizer value. To a much more limited extent, screenings were also incinerated in the early years. Sludge from septic and single-story settling tanks was generally recognized as being offensive and difficult to dry satisfactorily on beds of sand or similar material. Properly functioning two-story tanks produced sludge which was more easily dried and less offensive. Since rains and freezing weather interfered with the drying of sludge in the open air, drying beds were built with covers, like greenhouse structures, notably at Marion and Alliance, Ohio. At Houston and Indianapolis, activated sludge was lagooned.

During the early years of the treatment of sewage, attempts were made to utilize its manurial value by growing crops on the areas used for broad irrigation (sewer farms). Later, considerable effort was made to utilize the fertilizing ingredients in the sludge resulting from the “chemical precipitation” in sewage. That sludge was dewatered by a common filter press in plants at Worcester and Providence.

In the 1920s, air-dried digested sludge was sold to farmers near Baltimore, Maryland, and Rochester and Schenectady, New York. The value of those solids was small, because of their relatively high water content and resulting low ratio of fertilizing ingredients. In some localities, however, it was profitable for farmers to haul and utilize such sludge, even though a nominal price had to be paid for it.

In the case of activated sludge, the proportion of fertilizing ingredients, particularly nitrogenous compounds, was recognized as being materially greater than was existent in sludges from other processes, a factor that favored the expanded use of this process.

By far the greatest progress in this direction was demonstrated in Milwaukee, where a large plant was built (prior to 1926) for dewatering and drying activated sludge;

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thereafter, it was converted into a marketable fertilizer -- which was sold under the name of “Milorganite.” At Chicago, also, for several years during this same time era, activated sludge was dewatered, dried, and converted into fertilizer.

Disinfection: Where treated sewage was tributary to public water supplies or where effluent was discharged into tidal waters used for oyster culture, it became customary (in the early 1900s) to disinfect the effluent with chlorine. The first plant for this purpose was at Brewster, New York, where an electrolytic plant for the production of chlorine from salt solution was built in 1892. In 1909, the efficiency of hypochlorite of lime for the disinfection of sewage was demonstrated. Thereafter, Providence soon began using that agent to disinfect the effluent from its chemical precipitation plant. Liquid chlorine was, however, used more widely.

Estimated Percentage of Area’s Total Population -- Whose Sewage Was Being Treated in January, 1940

City

Percent of the City'sThen-current Population's

Sewage That Was Being TreatedCurrent

Population

Milwaukee (a) 85 780,000

Cleveland (b) 75 1,200,000

Columbus 75 320,000

Indianapolis (c) 75 420,000

Chicago (d) 70 4,400,000

Baltimore (e) 70 750,000

Minneapolis-St. Paul 40 700,000

Washington, D.C. (f ) 35 550,000

Buffalo (g) 30 600,000

Denver 30 280,000

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Toledo 30 300,000

New York (h) 25 8,100,000

Philadelphia 15 2,000,000

Toronto 15 700,000

San Francisco ( j ) 10 780,000

Seattle (k) 10 400,000

Los Angeles ( l ) 5 1,300,000

Detroit(m) 0 1,600,000

Boston(n) 0 2,000,000

Pittsburgh ( i ) 0 750,000

Cincinnati 0 500,000

Duluth 0 115,000

Portland 0 300,000

Kansas City (o) 0 450,000

St. Louis (p) -20 950,000

a. Milwaukee: Had one activated sludge plant -- also served some outlying villages.

b. Cleveland: One activated sludge plant, one Imhoff facility and one trickling filter plant (three total).

c. Indianapolis: Operated with plain aeration plant in the winter and activated sludge in the summer.

d. Chicago: Two activated sludge plants in service (north side and southwest) -- each was (in 1940) treating more sewage than any other activated sludge plant in the world. The Southwest Treatment Works was then under construction.

e. Baltimore: Adding activated sludge process to 30-year-old trickling filter facility.

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f. Washington D.C.: Had enough “dilution” available in Potomac River to allow them to keep using their then-present clarification process.

g. Buffalo, New York: New plant with chlorination facilities -- to protect source of water supplies at Tonawanda and Niagara Falls. A lot of “dilution” available in Niagara River.

h. New York City: Was operating Wards Island and Tallman’s Island plants (both activated sludge) -- also Coney Island chemical precipitation facility. These (together) served only ¼ of the then-current 8,100,000 population.

i. Pittsburgh, PA: No treatment.j. San Francisco: Had one small activated sludge facility on-line at the Golden

Gate and a new sedimentation plant (with flocculation) at Richmond-Sunset.k. Seattle, WA: Just put new 8 mgd clarification facility into service.l. Los Angeles, CA: Had a fine-screening facility at Hyperion, with disposal in the

Pacific Ocean. The County Sanitation District (surrounding the city) had just installed clarification plants.

m. Detroit, MI: No treatment, but was nearing completion of then-largest sedimentation plant in America -- still was able to only service ¼ of its $1.6 mil potentially tributary population.

n. Boston, MA: No treatment -- but plans were in the works.o. Kansas City: No treatment.p. St. Louis: No treatment -- but the city was “grinding” its garbage before it

went into the Mississippi River; that made the pollution even higher in the river (reason for negative score).

Cloaca MaximaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the album by CMX, see Cloaca Maxima (album).

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Map of central Rome during the time of the Roman Empire, showing Cloaca Maxima in red

The Cloaca Maxima is one of the world's earliestsewage systems. Constructed in Ancient Romein order to

drain local marshes and remove the waste of one of the world's most populous cities, it carried an effluent to

the River Tiber, which ran beside the city.[1]

The name literally means Greatest Sewer. According to tradition it may have been initially constructed

around 600 BC under the orders of the king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus.[2]

This public work was largely achieved through the use of Etruscan engineers and large amounts of semi-forced

labour from the poorer classes of Roman citizens. Underground work is said to have been carried out on the

sewer by Tarquinius Superbus, Rome's seventh and last king.[3]

Although Livy describes it as being tunnelled out beneath Rome, he was writing centuries after the event. From

other writings and from the path that it takes, it seems more likely that it was originally an open drain, formed

from streams from three of the neighbouring hills, that were channelled through the main Forum and then on to

the Tiber.[2] This open drain would then have been gradually built over, as building space within the city became

more valuable. It is possible that both theories are correct, and certainly some of the main lower parts of the

system suggest that they would have been below ground level even at the time of the supposed construction.

The eleven aqueducts which supplied water to Rome by the first century AD were finally channelled into the

sewers after having supplied the many public baths such as the Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Trajan,

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the public fountains, imperial palaces and private houses.[4][5]The continuous supply of running water helped to

remove wastes and keep the sewers clear of obstructions. The best waters were reserved for potable drinking

supplies, and the second quality waters would be used by the baths, the outfalls of which connected to the

sewer network under the streets of the city. The aqueduct system was investigated by the general Frontinus at

the end of the first century AD, who published his report on its state direct to the emperor Nerva.

Contents

[hide]

1 Distribution system

2 The Empire

3 See also

4 References

5 External links

[edit]Distribution system

"The extraordinary greatness of the Roman Empire manifests itself above all in three things: the aqueducts, the paved

roads, and the construction of the drains."

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Ant. Rom. 3.67.5[6]

There were many branches off from the main sewer, but all seem to be 'official' drains that would have served

public toilets, bath-houses and other public buildings. Private residences in Rome, even of the rich, would have

relied on some sort of cess-pit arrangement for sewage.

The Cloaca Maxima was well maintained throughout the life of the Roman Empire and even today drains

rainwater and debris from the center of town, below the ancient Forum, Velabro and Foro Boario. In 33 BC it is

known to have received an inspection and overhaul from Agrippa, and archaeology reveals several building

styles and material from various ages, suggesting that the systems received regular attention. In more recent

times, the remaining passages have been connected to the modern-day sewage system, mainly to cope with

problems of backwash from the river.

The Cloaca Maxima was thought to be presided over by the goddess Cloacina.

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Outfall of Cloaca Maxima as it appears today.

The Romans are recorded — the veracity of the accounts depending on the case — to have dragged the

bodies of a number of people to the sewers rather than give them proper burial, among them the

emperor Elagabalus and Saint Sebastian: the latter scene is the subject of a well-known artwork by Lodovico

Carracci.

The outfall of the Cloaca Maxima into the River Tiber is still visible today near the bridge Ponte Rotto, and near

Ponte Palatino. There is a stairway going down to it visible next to the Basilica Julia at the Forum. (Some

pictures here, and here.) Some of it is also visible from the surface opposite the church of San Giorgio al

Velabro.

http://www.vodovodikanalizacija.rs/me/o-kanalizaciji

http://www.robertlomas.com/Orkney/skarabrae.html

http://www.localhistories.org/toilets.html

http://www.sewerhistory.org/grfx/wh_region/brit.htm

http://www.historum.com/ancient-history/27756-who-developed-idea-first-sewer-system.html

http://www.sewerhistory.org/chronos/roots.htm

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http://theseptictankshop.blogspot.com/p/history-of-sewage-treatment.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloaca_Maxima