Sanitary Sewer - History

History

As an outgrowth of the Industrial Revolution, many cities in Europe and North America grew in the 19th century, frequently leading to crowding and increasing concerns about public health. As part of a trend of municipal sanitation programs in the late 19th and 20th centuries, many cities constructed extensive sewer systems to help control outbreaks of disease such as typhoid and cholera. Initially these systems discharged sewage directly to surface waters without treatment. As pollution of water bodies became a concern, cities added sewage treatment plants to their systems. Most cities in the United States underwent their sanitary revolutions between 1900 and 1935, by adding more expensive sewer systems and other technology to rid themselves of bad bacteria by chlorinating water and filtering water and sewage. In areas where there was surface pollution near the shore, such as Cleveland, extended intake systems were put out into the water to reduce contamination in drinking water. In cities during this period, there were reductions in diseases, such as typhoid fever which went from 35 per 10,000 to less than 5 per 10,000 in the population. These early sewer systems can be accredited with a rise in population in cities because life expectancy increased and disease went down.