Work

Water and Waste: A History Reluctant Policymaking in U.S. Cities

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: U.S. cities experienced a sanitary revolution during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The abandonment of cesspools, privy vaults for waste containment and cisterns, pumps, and shallow wells for water delivery brought about a large increase in living standards. While the gains are impressive, investments were often made reluctantly. Scientific advances clarifying the origins of waterborne illness improved, and filtration plants and universal access to water and safe sewerage offered a solution. Yet few cities made those investments. Only with chlorination, a low-cost purification solution, did rapid adoption occur. These delays came at a large human cost.

Source: Journal of Urban History

DOI: 10.1177/00961442241277170

Author: Brian Beach

Institution: Vanderbilt University

Language: English

Topic: Water management and technologies

Subfield: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

SDGs: Clean water and sanitation, Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,450