tracking down the roots chronology

10/15/2014 Tracking Down the Roots Chronology

http://www.sewerhistory.org/chronos/middle_ages.htm 1/7

TRACKING DOWN THE ROOTS OF OUR SANITARY SEWERS

THE MIDDLE AGES "ROOTS"

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

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 yourweapons; and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it, and turn backand cover up your excrement." This is thought by many to be the first recordedinstruction 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 forskill in combat. There also evolved a creed that uncleanliness was next to godliness. Assuch, bathing/sanitation became quite uncommon; homes, towns, and streams becamefilthy.Diseases were commonplace; epidemics decimated towns and villages. Twenty-fivepercent (or more) of the ancient European population died of disease (cholera, plague,etc.). The major transmitter of the plague was rats (actually bacteria conveyed fromrats to people via flea bites). The rat population thrived amongst the mess and stenchcommonplace in medieval times.The reawakening was slow.During the 1500s, the Reformation slowed progress.

Bodily functions were performed anywhere/anytime! The Britishroyal 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 asif you had not seen them!Larger European cities: dreadful filth and stench were evident almost everywhere.



Certain castles had garderobes (a.k.a. latrines, gongs, or jakes) installed; they drainedinto cesspits beneath the castle, or directly -- via "free-fall" or by masonry shafts -- intothe moats.Cesspools for human wastes were frequently placed under the floors (often made ofwood) of castles. In 1183, when the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire held a Diet inthe Palace of Efurt, the floor of the main hall broke; many of the dinner guests fell intothe cesspool and drowned; luckily, the Emperor survived. A similar event occurred inEngland in 1326: Richard the Raker had just been seated for a meal when the woodfloor gave way -- drowning him.Certain more well-to-do people used chamber pots (a.k.a. jordans) and kept them insmall cupboards (called close-stools) padded with velvet and/or decorated withgold/silver. Some people had servants (called "Grooms of the Stool") whose job was toclean/maintain the chamber pots.

Berlin, Germany

In the 1670s piles of garbage were accumulating -- a new law was enacted whichrequired 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 systembecame 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 drainswere structurally covered -- the earliest one in 1370. Early on, these sewers were usedprimarily 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 fromParis' north slope area (i.e., that area lying on the right bank of the Seine River). It wascalled the "Great Drain" (grand ègout or ègout de ceinture).Chamber pots were emptied into streets.New courtesies evolved: gentlemen, when escorting ladies, positioned themselvesclosest to the street! -- thereby positioning themselves (rather than the ladies) nearer towhere the sewage would hit the ground after being thrown out of second-storywindows.Prior to the wide use of cesspools in Paris, cesspits (ones that percolate) were widelyused. Their use in combination with the large growing population, however, resulted inthe subsoil of Paris becoming putrid. Cesspools, instead, were then encouraged.However, they required periodic/routine cleaning, which the city couldn't adequatelyprovide. Another stinky mess arose.Privies were encouraged; poor maintenance resulted."Nite Soil" program started to facilitate the collection and disposal (elsewhere) of thewastes (in community cesspools, rivers, vegetable gardens). The problem was that all

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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 publiclatrines 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 biggersewers (called "Les egouts" [pronounced lay-ZAY-goo]) began to be constructed in the1840s-1890s. They became the pride of Paris. The design father of the complex systemof sewers under Paris was Eugéne Belguard. The construction of this newer/largersystem started in 1850, on borrowed money. By 1870, over 500 km of new sewerswere 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 givenby the "sewermen" on weekends. Some of the sludge found in the sewers was removedthrough manholes. Most of it was moved downstream via boats (with "wings") to thedischarge 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.

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 allowpeople to walk the sewers standing up to clean them. These sewers were designed toconvey 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 thetop of the sewer was widened out to provide a place for the water mains (i.e., like theletter "P" in shape). The water mains were placed in the sewer so leaks could easily be

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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 ofParis' residents. There was a concern that the sewers might leak and foul thegroundwater.Again, the early sewers were created for storm water runoff; later on, sanitary sewagewas added ... the result was a "combined" system.

London

In the early years (as early as 1290), running water was used to carry away wasteswhen it was available -- at castles or at a few public latrines -- but such instances wereindeed in the minority.The earliest recognized mention of English sewers comes from a 14th century recordtelling that the wastes from the King's kitchen had run in an open trough through theGreat Hall; the odors were frightful. It was ordered that an underground conduit bebuilt to convey the wastes to the Thames River.London's early sewers were basically open ditches sloped to convey the wastes to theThames River, thence out to the sea. These ditches received everything that peoplecould throw into them. King Henry VIII decreed in the late 1500s that homeownerswere responsible for cleaning that portion of the "sewer" on which their propertyfronted.

He also created a Commission of Sewers to enforce these rules; however, it was notuntil 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 trulyand indifferently execute the authority given you by this Commissionof Sewers, without any favour, corruption, dread or malice to beborne to any manner of person or persons.

And as the case shall require, ye shall consent and endeavoryourself for your part to the best of your knowledge to the making ofsuch wholesome, just equal and indifferent laws or ordinances asshall be made and devised by the most discreet and indifferentnumber of your fellows being in Commission with you for the dueredress, reformation and amendment of all and every such things asare contained and specified in said Commission.

The same laws and ordinances to your cunning wit and power, yeshall 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) thatafforded 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 ofLondon. By 1850, London contained only 5% of the metro area's homes. Eachcommunity evolved its own drainage system -- with no thought (physically orcooperatively) to interconnecting with an adjacent community's drainage system.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; poorseals caused odors to still be a problem. [NOTE: Modern-day flush toilets have threebasic elements: a valve at the bottom of the water tank, a wash-down system, and afloat valve to fill the tank in preparation for the next flush. Harrington invented the firsttwo. It wasn't until the late 1800s that a plumber by the name of Thomas Crapper wasable to enhance Harrington's idea -- and that of Alexander Cummings (1775) -- withthe then-available industrial-age manufacturing technology to produce, on a widerscale, the forerunner of the modern-day toilet, all in an age (the late 1800s) when theconnection between human wastes and disease finally began to be understood.]

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

A familiar rhyme -- "Ring a ring of rosy, a pocket full of posies. Atchoo, atchoo - allfall down" -- actually describes the symptoms of the Great Plague of 1665, whichkilled over 60,000 people in six months. "Ring of rosy" refers to red-ringed spots; "apocket full of posies" describes the bouquets of herbs carried by people of that time toward off bad air. Congestion/sneezing often preceded death. Most Londoners "felldown" from disease/sickness in the heat waves of 1665.By the early 1700s, nearly every home in London had a cesspit beneath it -- and thecommensurate foul (and often deadly) odors. The odors were especially bad duringquiet nights.The London Bridge was structurally so immense that houses were actually built (andoccupied) upon the bridge; sanitary facilities were quite available: a straight drop intothe Thames River!Cholera epidemics (1830s, 1840s, and 1850s) awakened the need for sewers. London'soldest "sewer," known as the Ludgate Hill Sewer, was constructed in 1668. (Initially, itwas an open channel fed by springs, big enough to be used by boats. It was covered in1732.) Early sewers (initially, natural watercourses that had been covered) started inthe 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 oftenexplosions/fires ... and death. In the 1840s it was learned that sewers must be cleanedcontinually; many of the early sewers were too small for people to enter to do thecleaning work. It was then decided that no new sewers should be constructed thatwould 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 compellandlords/property owners to connect the building to the sewer. That changed in 1847following several outbreaks of cholera. A well at 40 Broad Street was found to becontaminated with sewage from a nearby overloaded/flowing privy; the well wasremoved 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 riverdifficult at best!In 1854, Dr. Snow made the connection between human wastes (from over-loadedprivies) 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 ofa toilet that had a "trap" (utilizing water as the seal) for keeping odors from comingback 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 cabinetmakernamed Joseph Bramah. During this same time period, the "earth closet" wasdeveloped. Instead of water, earth was used as the "flushing" medium. Later "panclosets" came into being; they were operated like some cigarette ash trays -- the bottomhad a trap door which was opened to allow the wastes to fall through into a cesspit orcesspools.In 1847-48, Parliament adopted a sanitary code that applied to all of England andWales -- but not including London. The sewer commissioners heard about attributes ofthe 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 inthe London area. In 1855, a nuisance-removal law was enacted for all of England. Theseries 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 conveyancesystems).1858-59: years of the "Big Stink" in London. The Thames River received wastes ofthousands of people who lived upstream of Parliament. Many of the sewers tributary tothe Thames River could only physically drain during low tide. The problem was that atlow tide, the river did not have enough flow to carry the waste downstream and out tosea. The incoming tide pushed the waste upstream. This cycle resulted in the riverbecoming virtually a wide-open-to-the-sunlight cesspool for the excrement of nearlythree million people! Parliament had to shut down often in summer months. Thissituation created an even greater problem: the Thames was also the source of water fora large portion of London!During these years, various ways to minimize sewer odors were tried, including theaddition to the sewers (especially in warm weather) of large quantities of lime orchloride of lime. Sometimes this helped. At times the draperies in the ParliamentBuilding were treated with chloride of lime to help filter out odors when odoriferousbreezes came into the building through the open windows. That didn't work all thatwell 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 soexcited about the new larger sewer tunnels that she ordered a small rail line to beinstalled therein to transport people through the sewer. Gas lights and walkways wereinstalled 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 bestcross-section for the larger "combined" sewers, while clay pipe was deemed best forsanitary-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 (andvelocity) 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 wasadded ... 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 newsewer system was designed (by W. Lindley, a distinguished English engineer) andbuilt. It was vented to/through the roof drains of the connected buildings, and aflushing system was created (once per week utilizing tide water) to clean the new mainline sewers. This new design philosophy for the sewering of a major metropolitan areawas soon recognized as the model, and, thereafter, was utilized by other cities (inEurope and the United States). Construction/installation of the new system started in1842. Twenty-five years after the new system was placed in service, the sewers werefound to be clean and almost free of objectionable odors.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 thecity/businesspeople's desire for ... by supporting (and funding) the development of adifferent type of drainage system ... taking advantage of a unique a more user-friendly(i.e., less odor, better drainage, etc.) sewage conveyance system.

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