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Waste has always been generated by humans. In areas with low population density waste generation may have been negligible. In higher population areas even largely biodegradable waste had to be dealt with. Sometimes this was released back into the groundwater with environmental impact like Nor Loch. The Maya of Central America had a fixed monthly ritual, in which the people of the village would gather together and burn their garbage in large dumps.
The first known wastewater management system is located in present day Syria (El Kowm). Located in the Fertile Crescent, the Mesopotamian "oasis" shows evidence of wastewater management beginning around 6500 BCE. The area is about 120 km northeast of the ancient city of Palmyra. [1] The site of El Kowm had vast urban planning centered around domestic wastewater drainage. [2] There is a sophisticated gutter system within residences, as well as the connection of these gutter/drainage systems to larger systems within the city. The fluids were transported through these gutter systems from residences into ditches in the streets of the city. [3] Additionally, there are other planned systems in the cities in surrounding areas, suggesting that there was diffusion of waste management techniques throughout the region. [4] Many of these systems include settling chambers to mitigate the blockages that often occur in sewage systems. [5] These chambers provide space for sediment deposits to build up without interfering with the flow of the sewer. In addition to these systems in Syria, there is also evidence of sophisticated waste management systems within other societies in the past.
The Ancient Roman Empire used sophisticated aqueduct and waste removal systems throughout their empire. [6] Utilizing the Cloaca Maxima, the engineers of Ancient Rome created a vast network of sewers. [7] The Cloaca Maxima emptied into the Tiber River, resulting in extreme pollution. This pollution led to the contamination of the drinking water used by the Romans (taken from the Tiber). The need for fresh water ultimately resulted in the development of the aqueduct technology. [8] The broader span of aqueducts generally utilized pipes made out of lead, while the pipes within the cities themselves were often made of ceramic, wood, and leather. There were distinct differences in quality of waste management practices between the socioeconomic classes. Access to the sewer systems, as well as having plumbing and other water-based luxuries, was seen as a sign of status in Roman society. Access was only granted to those who paid for it. Additionally, archaeological sites and ancient texts show evidence of the first European waste management labor force. [6] Duties performed by this force include collecting stored waste from houses not connected to the sewer system, and selling the waste to farmers for profit. The households utilizing these services were also required to pay. Compared to the systems utilized by the Fertile Crescent civilizations, the waste management systems of the Ancient Roman Empire were largely socially stratified, depending heavily on the socioeconomic status of the civilians. This stratification within waste management systems can also be viewed in Ancient Egypt. [9] [10] Another unique form of water/waste management was within the Aztec Empire. [ citation needed ]
Following the onset of industrialization and the sustained urban growth of large population centres in England, the buildup of waste in the cities caused a rapid deterioration in levels of sanitation and the general quality of urban life. The streets became choked with filth due to the lack of waste clearance regulations. [11] Calls for the establishment of a municipal authority with waste removal powers were mooted as early as 1751 by Corbyn Morris in London, who proposed that "...as the preservation of the health of the people is of great importance, it is proposed that the cleaning of this city, should be put under one uniform public management, and all the filth be...conveyed by the Thames to proper distance in the country". [12]
The first occurrence of organised solid waste management system appeared in London in the late 18th century. [13] A waste collection and resource recovery system was established around the 'dust-yards'. Main constituent of municipal waste was the coal ash (‘dust’) which had a market value for brick-making and as a soil improver. Such profitability encouraged dust-contractors to recover effectively 100% of the residual wastes remaining after readily saleable items and materials had been removed by the informal sector in the streets ('rag-and-bone men'). Therefore, this was an early example of organised, municipal-wide solid waste management. The dust-yard system had been working successfully up to middle 1850s, when the market value of ‘dust’ collapsed. It was important in facilitating a relatively smooth transition to an institutionalised, municipally-run solid waste management system in England. [13]
In the mid-19th century, spurred by increasingly devastating cholera outbreaks and the emergence of a public health debate that the first consolidated legislation on the issue emerged. Highly influential in this new focus was the report The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population in 1842 [14] of the social reformer, Edwin Chadwick, in which he argued for the importance of adequate waste removal and management facilities to improve the health and wellbeing of the city's population. Chadwick's proposals were based on the miasmatic theory of disease transmission, which was proven to be false following the turn of the 1900s.
The Nuisance Removal and Disease Prevention Act of 1846 began what was to be a steadily evolving process of the provision of regulated waste management in London. The Metropolitan Board of Works was the first citywide authority that centralized sanitation regulation for the rapidly expanding city and the Public Health Act 1875 made it compulsory for every household to deposit their weekly waste in 'moveable receptacles' for disposal - the first concept for a dust-bin. [15] In the Ashanti Empire, there existed a Public Works Department that was responsible for sanitation in Kumasi and its suburbs. They kept the streets clean daily and commanded civilians to keep their compounds clean and weeded. [16]
The dramatic increase in waste for disposal led to the creation of the first incineration plants, or, as they were then called, 'destructors'. In 1874, the first incinerator was built in Nottingham by Manlove, Alliott & Co. Ltd. to the design of Alfred Fryer. [17] However, these were met with opposition on account of the large amounts of ash they produced and which wafted over the neighbouring areas. [18]
Similar municipal systems of waste disposal sprung up at the turn of the 20th century in other large cities of Europe and North America. In 1895, New York City became the first U.S. city with public-sector garbage management. [19]
Early garbage removal trucks were simply open bodied dump trucks pulled by a team of horses. They became motorized in the early part of the 20th century and the first close body trucks to eliminate odours with a dumping lever mechanism were introduced in the 1920s in Britain. [20] These were soon equipped with 'hopper mechanisms' where the scooper was loaded at floor level and then hoisted mechanically to deposit the waste in the truck. The Garwood Load Packer was the first truck in 1938, to incorporate a hydraulic compactor.
In the 19th century, in the United States, cities often became choked with horse manure. While the odor was tolerable to 19th century sensitivities, walking through the streets without boots resulted in deplorable-appearing footwear. In many cities, lacking trash collection, pigs and dogs ran loose, consuming the trash, but excreting dung, which smelled offensively. [21] Dead animals, particularly horses, were left lying in the streets, facilitating disease. [22]
Environmental engineering is a professional engineering discipline related to environmental science. It encompasses broad scientific topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiology, and mathematics to create solutions that will protect and also improve the health of living organisms and improve the quality of the environment. Environmental engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering and chemical engineering. While on the part of civil engineering, the Environmental Engineering is focused mainly on Sanitary Engineering.
Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems aim to protect human health by providing a clean environment that will stop the transmission of disease, especially through the fecal–oral route. For example, diarrhea, a main cause of malnutrition and stunted growth in children, can be reduced through adequate sanitation. There are many other diseases which are easily transmitted in communities that have low levels of sanitation, such as ascariasis, cholera, hepatitis, polio, schistosomiasis, and trachoma, to name just a few.
Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of waste, together with monitoring and regulation of the waste management process and waste-related laws, technologies, and economic mechanisms.
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. Water pollution results when contaminants mix with these water bodies. Contaminants can come from one of four main sources: sewage discharges, industrial activities, agricultural activities, and urban runoff including stormwater. Water pollution is either surface water pollution or groundwater pollution. This form of pollution can lead to many problems, such as the degradation of aquatic ecosystems or spreading water-borne diseases when people use polluted water for drinking or irrigation. Another problem is that water pollution reduces the ecosystem services that the water resource would otherwise provide.
A sanitary sewer is an underground pipe or tunnel system for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings to a sewage treatment plant or disposal.
Wastewater treatment is a process which removes and eliminates contaminants from wastewater and converts this into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle. Once returned to the water cycle, the effluent creates an acceptable impact on the environment or is reused for various purposes. The treatment process takes place in a wastewater treatment plant. There are several kinds of wastewater which are treated at the appropriate type of wastewater treatment plant. For domestic wastewater, the treatment plant is called a Sewage Treatment. For industrial wastewater, treatment either takes place in a separate Industrial wastewater treatment, or in a sewage treatment plant. Further types of wastewater treatment plants include Agricultural wastewater treatment and leachate treatment plants.
A street sweeper or street cleaner may refer to a person's occupation or to a machine that cleans streets.
The Cloaca Maxima was one of the world's earliest sewage systems. Its name is related to that of Cloacina, a Roman goddess. Built during either the Roman Kingdom or early Roman Republic, it was constructed in Ancient Rome in order to drain local marshes and remove waste from the city. It carried effluent to the River Tiber, which ran beside the city. The sewer started at the Forum Augustum and ended at the Ponte Rotto and Ponte Palatino. It began as an open air canal, but it developed into a much larger sewer over the course of time. Agrippa renovated and reconstructed much of the sewer. This would not be the only development in the sewers. By the first century CE all eleven Roman aqueducts were connected to the sewer. After the Roman Empire fell the sewer still was used. By the 19th century, it became a tourist attraction. Some parts of the sewer are still used today. Whilst still being used, it was highly valued as a sacred symbol of Roman culture, and Roman engineering.
A garbage disposal unit (also known as a waste disposal unit, food waste disposer (FWD), in-sink macerator, garbage disposer, or garburator) is a device, usually electrically powered, installed under a kitchen sink between the sink's drain and the trap. The device shreds food waste into pieces small enough—generally less than 2 mm (0.079 in) in diameter—to pass through plumbing.
The Toronto Works and Emergency Services department was responsible for a variety of services.
A combined sewer is a type of gravity sewer with a system of pipes, tunnels, pump stations etc. to transport sewage and urban runoff together to a sewage treatment plant or disposal site. This means that during rain events, the sewage gets diluted, resulting in higher flowrates at the treatment site. Uncontaminated stormwater simply dilutes sewage, but runoff may dissolve or suspend virtually anything it contacts on roofs, streets, and storage yards. As rainfall travels over roofs and the ground, it may pick up various contaminants including soil particles and other sediment, heavy metals, organic compounds, animal waste, and oil and grease. Combined sewers may also receive dry weather drainage from landscape irrigation, construction dewatering, and washing buildings and sidewalks.
Sanitation in ancient Rome, acquired from the Etruscans, was very advanced compared to other ancient cities and provided water supply and sanitation services to residents of Rome. Although there were many sewers, public latrines, baths and other sanitation infrastructure, disease was still rampant. The baths are known to symbolise the "great hygiene of Rome".
The Shrine of Venus Cloacina — the "Shrine of Venus of the Sewer" — was a small sanctuary on the Roman Forum, honoring the divinity of the Cloaca Maxima, the spirit of the "Great Drain" or Sewer of Rome. Cloacina, the Etruscan goddess associated with the entrance to the sewer system, was later identified with the Roman goddess Venus for unknown reasons, according to Pliny the Elder.
Sanitary engineering, also known as public health engineering or wastewater engineering, is the application of engineering methods to improve sanitation of human communities, primarily by providing the removal and disposal of human waste, and in addition to the supply of safe potable water. Traditionally a branch of civil engineering and now a subset of environmental engineering, in the mid-19th century, the discipline concentrated on the reduction of disease, then thought to be caused by miasma. This was accomplished mainly by the collection and segregation of sewerage flow in London specifically, and Great Britain generally. These and later regulatory improvements were reported in the United States as early as 1865.
Sewage treatment is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable to discharge to the surrounding environment or an intended reuse application, thereby preventing water pollution from raw sewage discharges. Sewage contains wastewater from households and businesses and possibly pre-treated industrial wastewater. There are a high number of sewage treatment processes to choose from. These can range from decentralized systems to large centralized systems involving a network of pipes and pump stations which convey the sewage to a treatment plant. For cities that have a combined sewer, the sewers will also carry urban runoff (stormwater) to the sewage treatment plant. Sewage treatment often involves two main stages, called primary and secondary treatment, while advanced treatment also incorporates a tertiary treatment stage with polishing processes and nutrient removal. Secondary treatment can reduce organic matter from sewage, using aerobic or anaerobic biological processes. A so-called quarternary treatment step can also be added for the removal of organic micropollutants, such as pharmaceuticals. This has been implemented in full-scale for example in Sweden.
Sewage is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residences and from commercial, institutional and public facilities that exist in the locality. Sub-types of sewage are greywater and blackwater. Sewage also contains soaps and detergents. Food waste may be present from dishwashing, and food quantities may be increased where garbage disposal units are used. In regions where toilet paper is used rather than bidets, that paper is also added to the sewage. Sewage contains macro-pollutants and micro-pollutants, and may also incorporate some municipal solid waste and pollutants from industrial wastewater.
The history of water supply and sanitation is one of a logistical challenge to provide clean water and sanitation systems since the dawn of civilization. Where water resources, infrastructure or sanitation systems were insufficient, diseases spread and people fell sick or died prematurely.
During the imperial period of Rome, disease was a devastating aspect of life. As the borders of the empire continuously expanded and the population steadily grew, cities in the Roman Empire were exposed to a multitude of diseases. There were a variety of potential causes of these diseases present in the highly dense and quickly growing society's way of living. The sewage systems, the public bathing houses, and the diet of citizens in Imperial Rome all contributed to the spread of disease.
Fecal sludge management (FSM) is the storage, collection, transport, treatment and safe end use or disposal of fecal sludge. Together, the collection, transport, treatment and end use of fecal sludge constitute the "value chain" or "service chain" of fecal sludge management. Fecal sludge is defined very broadly as what accumulates in onsite sanitation systems and specifically is not transported through a sewer. It is composed of human excreta, but also anything else that may go into an onsite containment technology, such as flushwater, cleansing materials, menstrual hygiene products, grey water, and solid waste. Fecal sludge that is removed from septic tanks is called septage.
Decentralized wastewater systems convey, treat and dispose or reuse wastewater from small and low-density communities, buildings and dwellings in remote areas, individual public or private properties. Wastewater flow is generated when appropriate water supply is available within the buildings or close to them.
