The Sanitary City by Martin Melosi, Johns Hopkins University Press,
拢46.50/$59.95, ISBN 0801861527
A CENTURY ago, you wouldn鈥檛 have wanted to drink a glass of water in
Massachusetts. Its smell was so bad that, 鈥渋t would be almost impossible to take
it as far as the mouth to taste it. Horses refused it at the street
watering-troughs, and the dogs fled from it鈥�.
Most American cities sit on the coast or beside rivers and lakes, and for
much of the 19th century they poured raw sewage and rubbish straight into those
great bodies of water. Rapid urbanisation turned them into open sewers.
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Martin Melosi鈥檚 wonderfully detailed The Sanitary City relates the
fascinating story of how cities tackled these problems.
In the mid-19th century, the notion that disease arose from
foulness鈥攖he miasmatic theory鈥攑rompted sanitary reformers to
organise the rapid removal of ordure from city streets and drains. They also
wanted an ample, though not necessarily pure, water supply for people to wash
in. But a greater understanding of bacteriology and waterborne disease raised
the ante: water had to be wholesome, too.
From the 1880s, placing sewer outfalls near water extraction points became
increasingly unacceptable. Somehow, sewage had to be treated before it reached
the river. At first, it was spread over farmland, a method that had obvious
appeal in the arid parts of the US, where sewage irrigated and fertilised the
soil.
But the big cities produced far too much liquid sewage for farms to absorb.
Filter beds, often in conjunction with industrial-scale septic tanks, were one
answer. Then bacteria were added to sewage sludge, a still more rapid and
efficient treatment.
It wasn鈥檛 only sewage disposal and clean water that cities needed. Rubbish
clogged the streets. The consumer boom of the 20th century amplified the
problem. City managers tried everything from getting householders to separate
their domestic refuse and rudimentary forms of recycling to refuse incinerators,
some of which even generated power. But like the lakes and rivers, the land
seemed inexhaustible, and dumping refuse in landfills still goes on.
Consumers continued to push for improved water supplies, but now quantity
became the issue. Water shortages in the 1940s and 1950s were exacerbated by the
use of dishwashers, lawn sprinklers and private swimming pools. This led to a
huge dam-building programme linked to hydroelectric generation, demonstrating
how politically sensitive Americans were to any suggestion that limited
resources should restrict their demands.
The Sanitary City is a seminal history of urban sanitation in the
US. Melosi not only charts the technology of sanitation, but also the decision
making and political tensions behind its implementation.
Nowadays, drinking water may be more palatable than it was a hundred years
ago, but sustainable solutions to refuse and sewage disposal remain as elusive
as ever.