Wastewater In The 1800s

360 Words2 Pages
Treating wastewater is extremely vital to the health and well-being of eco-systems all around the world. The treatment of wastewater is a fairly modern concept, though collection systems to remove foul-smelling water were common in ancient Rome, it was not until the 19th century that urbanized areas began to realize that removing the pollutants from the water that they were discharging into the environment was extremely important. (1) The reason that this became so relevant was a direct result of populations becoming so concentrated by the late 1800’s that outbreaks of life-threatening illnesses were being linked to bacteria found in the polluted water. (1) As a result of this, the practice of wastewater collection and treatment was developed