1 / 8

A History of Sewage Treatment

A History of Sewage Treatment. DZ05 11/14/2005. Evolution of Driving Issues. Smell Infectious Disease Chronic Health Risks Environmental Concerns. Source: http://www.cet.nau.edu/Projects/WDP/resources/History/History.htm. Strategies from the Distant Past.

pravat
Download Presentation

A History of Sewage Treatment

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. A History of Sewage Treatment DZ05 11/14/2005

  2. Evolution of Driving Issues • Smell • Infectious Disease • Chronic Health Risks • Environmental Concerns Source: http://www.cet.nau.edu/Projects/WDP/resources/History/History.htm

  3. Strategies from the Distant Past • 10,000 BC – Nomadic Tribes: just move away • 3500 BC – City of Ur (Iraq): • sweep waste into the streets • => street level rises • => raise the doors • 2100 BC – City of Herakopolis (Egypt) • Like Ur • but rich & religious people put waste into RIVERS

  4. Sewage: The Classical Period • 1700-1500 BC – Minoan Culture (Crete): Plumbing, flush toilets, sewers • 500 to 300 BC – Athens (Greece): • Dumps: expenses for waste removal covered by levees on landowners • 600 BC to 400 AD – Roman Republic: • Aqueducts (mostly underground) • Sewers • Waste => Rivers (Tiber, Rome) • Public baths • Flush Toilets (not seen again until ~1600)

  5. Middle Ages • 500-1500 AD – Europe: Back to Ur • Outhouses, open trenches, chamber pots • Problem: waste pits => wells => contaminated drinking water • [READING] • Renaissance • Development of the cesspool (pit that allows liquid to seep away) • Henry VI & VII (England) laws about polluting streams • Some awareness of the link between sanitation and human health

  6. 19th Century • 1860 Louis Moureas invents the septic tank • Allows solids to settle out before liquid is discharged to the nearest stream or river • Used for communities • People also experimented with sand filters • [READING]

  7. New York City: Early 19th Century • Early 1800’s: water from wells and cisterns • Private waste disposal (privies for temporary storage) “vault and haul” • Belief: running water purifies effluent • Potential for water pollution not recognized

  8. New York City: Late 19th Century • Sewers initially developed for storm water (this created problems later!) • Limited water supply made water-based disposal unworkable (no water to flush toilets) • This changed when water arrived via aqueduct • 1860’s Physicians and Engineers employed by the City • Croton Aqueduct Department building sewers to handle new influx created by more domestic use • Connecting all houses to sewers took a long time • Connections achieved by public funding pushed by public health concerns

More Related