Timeline of sanitation
From Timelines
This is a timeline of sanitation.
Big picture
| Time period | Development summary | More details |
|---|---|---|
| Prehistoric times | The first sanitation systems are built in the prehistoric Middle East, in the south-east of actual Iran near Zabol.[1] | |
| 3200–1100 BC | "Domestic wastewater was used for irrigation by prehistoric civilizations (e.g. Mesopotamian, Indus valley, and Minoan) since the Bronze Age (ca. 3200-1100 BC)."[2] Thereafter, wastewater was used for disposal, irrigation, and fertilization purposes by Hellenic civilizations and later by Romans in areas surrounding cities (e.g. Athens and Rome).[3] "Moreover, in China, use of human excreta for fertilizing agricultural crops has been practiced since ancient time."[4][5] | |
| The Indus Valley Civilization shows early evidence of public water supply and sanitation. | ||
| 1800s | Victorian England implements the first–ever comprehensive urban system between 1870s and 1920s as a reaction to a series of cholera pandemics during this epoch.[6] "1800s-1900s: Sewer systems were constructed in many European and US cities, initially discharging untreated sewage to waterways. When discharge of untreated sewerage became increasingly unacceptable, experimentation towards improved treatment methods resulted in sewage farming, chemical precipitation, filtration, sedimentation, chemical treatment, and activated sludge treatment using aerobic microorganisms."[7] |
Full timeline
| Year | Event type | Details | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4000 BC | The Babylonians introduce clay sewer pipes, with the earliest examples found in the Temple of Bel at Nippur and at Eshnunna, Babylonia.[1] | ||
| 2600 BC – 1100 BC | The ancient Greek civilization of Crete, known as the Minoan civilization, was the first civilization to use underground clay pipes for sanitation and water supply.[1] | ||
| 2350 BC | The Indus city of Lothal provides all houses with their own private toilet which is connected to a covered sewer network constructed of brickwork held together with a gypsum-based mortar that empties either into the surrounding water bodies or alternatively into cesspits, the latter of which are regularly emptied and cleaned.[8][9] | India | |
| 2000 BC | Descriptions of of foul water purification by boiling and filtering are written in Sanskrit.[7] | ||
| 460 BC – 377 BC | “Hygiene” becomes known as the branch of medicine dedicated to the "art of health," (as distinct from therapeutics, the treatment of disease).[7] | ||
| 300 BC - 400 AD | Romans build a system of aqueducts providing inhabitants with fresh running water, which is piped directly to homes of the wealthy, and to public fountains and baths. This system greatly improves domestic sanitation and adequate disposal of sewage.[7] | ||
| 200 Bc – 100 BC | "200-100 BC: "It is more important to prevent illness than to cure the illness when it has arisen" - from The Yellow Emperor’s Treatise on Internal Medicine (Ancient China). Clean water was known to be important in disease prevention so wells were covered, devices were used to filter water and the Chhii Shih (“sanitary police”) removed all animal and human corpses from waterways and buried all bodies found on land."[7] | China | |
| 1600s – 1700s | Japanese cities collect human waste for use as crop fertilizer. This practice minimizes human contact with waste. Sewage is not discharged to rivers so pollution of waterways is minimized.[7] | Japan | |
| 1854 | English physician Dr John Snow shows that cholera is spread by water.[7] | United Kingdom | |
| 1860 | "1860: The first septic tank was invented by Louis Moureas and used by communities to remove solids from waste before the liquid was discharged into a body of water. This design was improved by use of trickling sand filtration from 1893."[7] | ||
| 1890 | The first sewage treatment plant in the United States using chemical precipitation is built in Worcester, Massachusetts.[10]:2[11] | United States | |
| 1960s | "1960s: Garbage compactors. The first patents for residential garbage compactors were filed in the USA."[7] | United States |
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Burke, Joseph. FLUORIDATED WATER CONTROVERSY. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
- ↑ Angelakis, Andreas N.; Snyder, Shane A. (9 September 2015). "Wastewater Treatment and Reuse: Past, Present, and Future". Water. 7 (9): 4887–4895. doi:10.3390/w7094887.
- ↑ Tzanakakis, V. E.; Paranychianaki, N. V.; Angelakis, A. N. (1 March 2007). "Soil as a wastewater treatment system: historical development". Water Science and Technology: Water Supply. 7 (1): 67–75. ISSN 1606-9749. doi:10.2166/ws.2007.008.
- ↑ Shuval, H. "Wastewater recycling and reuse as a water source for Mediterranean countries: Hygienic and technological aspects". www.oieau.fr. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
- ↑ Ghneim, Azmi (2010). Wastewater reuse und management in the Middle East and North Africa a case study of Jordan ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). Berlin: Univ.-Verl. der TU. ISBN 3798322686.
- ↑ "Water History for our times" (PDF). unesco.org. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 "SNAPSHOTS OF PUBLIC SANITATION". hygieneforhealth.org.au. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ↑ Khan, Saifullah. "1 Chapter 2 Sanitation and wastewater technologies in Harappa/Indus valley civilization ( ca . 2600-1900 BC)". Academia.edu. Academia.edu. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
- ↑ "Maya plumbing: First pressurized water feature found in New World". Penn State. May 5, 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
- ↑ Metcalf, Leonard; Eddy, Harrison P. (1914). American Sewerage Practice. New York: McGraw-Hill. Vol. I: Design of Sewers.
- ↑ Burian, Steven J.; Nix, Stephan J.; Pitt, Robert E.; Durrans, S. Rocky (2000). "Urban Wastewater Management in the United States: Past, Present, and Future" (PDF). Journal of Urban Technology. London: Routledge. 7 (3). doi:10.1080/713684134.
