Above is the front-cover graphic of the publication Scientific American, Dec. 12, 1885. The accompanying article appearing on page 373 is titled, “A great sewer built by an improved method of tunneling, in Brooklyn, NY” and describes work on the Knickerbocker Avenue Extension Sewer. The entire cover is available as a sewer history poster by contacting Jon Schladweiler. (See side story) Other posters in the series include Manhole Covers Through the Ages and Cloacina, Goddess of the Sewers.

Sewer History Web Site Rich With Information and Lore

by Joe Gelt

Those who view history as a grand pageant of the rise and fall of civilizations risks overlooking the bricks and mortar of history, the unsung, barely acknowledged details of the everyday workings of nations and empires. And what is more unsung, barely acknowledged and brick-and-mortar than sewers?
Sewers are getting their historical due from Jon Schladweiler, historian of the Arizona Water & Pollution Control Association, who for 15 years has researched varied topics and collected a wide assortment of materials that tell the world sewer story over the past 5,500 years.

The results of his labors are displayed in a sewer history web site. (www.sewerhistory.org) Its intent is to acknowledge the role of sewer operators, engineers, and builders in making our environment, homes and communities better and healthier places to live. Jan McDonald is webmaster.

Many and varied are the topics covered: flush tanks, gates and other flushing mechanisms; manhole covers, their history and early designs; pipes; pumps; odor control design; construction; sewer cleaning equipment - sewer rods and other methods; sewer flushing; maintenance and safety; public baths and latrines from ancient and modern times; toilets, earth closet, and house plumbing; sewage treatment; sewer history by region and era; disasters; sewers in culture and much, much more. Text, photos and graphics are provided.
If the topic is sewers the web site covers the ground — or rather the underground.

Nor is literature neglected. Included is a poem by seventeenth-century British poet Ben Jonson titled “On the Famous Voyage” that recounts the journey of two men in a boat down London’s Fleet River, adrift in raw sewage, animal carcasses, and filth. The poem offers a graphic view of the unsanitary waterways of London in the 1600s and is said to be “among the filthiest, the most deliberately and insistently disgusting poems in the language.”

A web site visitor will discover that the historical significance of sewers is not confined to sanitation, that sewers have played a significant role in other kinds of historic events. For example, the web site tells of the Warsaw Uprising during World War II when the Polish underground fought to liberate the city. The sewers served as a evacuation route for partisans and civilians and for courier traffic. One particular exodus involved 5,300 people.

This website is an educational, non-profit project sponsored by Pima County Wastewater Management Department; Arizona Water & Pollution Control Association; and Collection Systems Committee of the Water Environment Federation.
Schladweiler has developed an exhibit documenting sanitary sewage conveyance activities from the 1870s through the 1950s which includes collection system photos, artifacts and articles. The exhibit is available for display at conferences or other events. Schladweiler also is available as a speaker to discuss the evolution and development of sanitary sewers over 5500 years. He can be contacted at 520-297-7904;
jcschlad@msn.com

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