History of sewage management

Indoor plumbing in 8000 B.C.
Flush toilets first used circa 3000 B.C.
Castle wastes channeled

Evidence of indoor plumbing dates as far back as 8000 B.C.

The history of the toilet may not be everyone's idea of a good topic for a luncheon presentation, but then not everyone is a member of the Public Works Historical Society (PWHS).

During the PWHS annual meeting at the Public Works Congress, Jon Schladweiler, deputy director of Pima County (Arizona) Wastewater Management Department, told some fascinating tales about the early development of modern day toilets, sewer systems, and wastewater treatment methods.

Incredibly, the first signs of plumbing, he said, date back as far as 8000 B.C. in Scotland where evidence has been found of indoor plumbing pipes or troughs that carried water and wastes out to a nearby creek.

Approximately 4000 years later in Iraq, man was using the percolation system of drainage of waste as evidenced by what appeared to be round, vertical cesspits under the homes, 30 to 40 feet deep, lined with perforated brick.

By 3000 to 2000 B.C., the inhabitants of Mohenjo-Daro (in modern-day Pakistan) began assigning a separate room in the house to be a latrine room. Here drains were connected to a sewer in the street; ultimately the wastes went to either the Indus River or to large cesspits.

Flush toilets first used circa 3000 B.C.

About the same time on the Isle of Crete, flush toilets, with overhead reservoirs filled and flushed by servants or slaves, were used.

And if you think modern-day sewer projects take time, consider that in Rome work began on a sewer system - the Cloaca Maxima - in 735 B.C. and was not finished until 225 years later. But also consider, that same sewer is still being put to some beneficial use today, Schladweiler said.

Following the Middle Ages and the Fall of Rome, infrastructure building came to a near halt and was not resurrected for hundreds of years. People ceased the recreational bathing they once enjoyed, and it became popularly known that baptism was about the only total immersion many endured during their lifetimes.

Wastes were thrown into the streets, out doors, and from overhead windows. It was this habit, according to Schladweiler, that led to the Dejecti Efflusive Act in Rome, which allowed one to collect damages from being hit by wastes. It was also during this practice that, Schladweiler believed, it became polite for the gentleman to walk on the outside of a lady when walking down a street. This way, the gentleman would be more in the line of fire from wastes being thrown from overhead. "Many people think this custom was to protect a lady from being splashed by a passing carriage," he said, "but I believe that etiquette dates further back and actually derives from the waste throwing."

Up until the 1500s, Schladweiler said, people were fairly careless and uncouth about where they deposited their bodily wastes. "Stairways, closets, corners were often fouled," he said. "People became accustomed to the stench." In Erasmus' writings on etiquette, he declared it was most rude to observe as one relieved himself. Such was the commonness of public elimination that it was necessary to determine a protocol. Around the late 1596, Schladweiler continued, a gentleman seeking the queen's favor in England designed a toilet complete with a seal around the seat and cesspool into which it emptied. Still it did not become a popular notion.

Castle wastes channeled to moats and cesspits

Castles of the time did develop some form of discharge of wastes into surrounding moats or into large cesspools beneath the castle. It was particularly advantageous to build a portion of a castle out over water-the perennial solution to the ridding of wastes. Unfortunately, in some areas of the world, not a lot has changed.

Solid wastes began to become a problem along with the human wastes. In some of the larger cities where populations were dense, major health and aesthetic problems developed. In Berlin, a solution was sought with a law requiring every peasant that came into town to sell wares to carry a measure of garbage out with him when he left.

In Paris, landfills were developed for human wastes and remains and underground sewers began to be built. So accustomed to the stench and proud of their sewers were the French that they conducted weekend tours for the citizenry. Ladies and gentlemen in their Sunday best went for a cruise down the sewer pipe. The boats had wings that projected from each side which cleaned the sides as they went down the pipe. On weekends, these same boats carried the touring citizens.

Across the channel, in London, storm water and sewage were diverted into the Thames River to such an extent it became a dead river. In 1857 the stench from the river was so great that the English Parliament could not meet. Heavy curtains soaked in lime were hung over the windows to prevent the odor from permeating the building; often times, even that was not sufficient.

In Germany, a primitive flushing of the sanitary sewers was accomplished by the ebb and flow of the river tides. Wastes were literally flushed out with the tide.

When the immigrants journeyed to the New World, they tried to do things better by learning from the past. Progress was slow, but it continued as the larger cities devised systems to carry their wastes to the nearest body of water. In the mid-1800s, Boston was the site of the first "interceptor" system in the country. Early pipes, some of which still exist today, were made of clay, brick and hollowed logs. Washington, D.C. became the first city to use concrete for its sanitary sewers.

As the population began to link the spread of disease with their waste disposal methods, more and more innovative ideas were developed. Homes were located near creeks with privies linked by a foot bridge extending out over the water so that the wastes were dropped into the water and carried off. Schladweiler did not comment on what happened during dry season.

Excerpt from article, "1998 Congress Recap" by Joyce Everhart Jungclaus, published in the APWA Reporter. Used by permission. For more information call APWA, 816-472-6100.