A Brief History of Sanitation
Today, we know that sanitation makes a tremendous contribution to
preventing disease and keeping people healthy.
But is wasn't always that way. Throughout most of our history,
sanitation practices were practically nonexistent. Yet the history
of sanitation dates back at least 7.000 years, to the Babylonians,
Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans.
7,000 YEARS AGO
The Babylonians discovered that contaminated water could cause disease.
They brought in fresh water every day.
2,000 YEARS AGO
The physician Hippocrates discovered that cleansing could prevent
infection.
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Made great progress in the area of sanitation.
Built aqueducts to bring in fresh water, and built sewer systems
and public baths.
However, with the fall of the Roman Empire, much of the knowledge
the Romans developed
was lost, and was not passed on.
MEDIEVAL TIMES
Were truly the Dark Ages as far as sanitation was concerned.
Towns were dirty and crowded, and disease and epidemics spread unchecked
because of the lack of sanitation.
Water was contaminated, and personal hygiene was virtually unknown.
Tuberculosis, cholera, diphtheria, smallpox, yellow fever, all were
rampant.
As many children died as lived, and the average life span was under
30 years.
The worst epidemic during this period was the Black Death, from
1438-1441, which spread to such proportions that 60 million people
died, which at the time was one-fourth the population of the world.
19TH. CENTURY
In New York City, living conditions were as nearly as filthy as
in the middle ages, and yearly
epidemics swept through populations, killing many.
The average life span was less than age 40.
But during the mid 1800’s, it was discovered between germs
and disease was proven.
Soaps, disinfectants, and pharmaceuticals began to be developed,
and it was first recognized that disease could be controlled.
This began the Sanitation Revolution, and public health practices
such as garbage collection,
water treatment, public health departments and regulations, as well
as personal bathing, became part of the culture.
The death rate in children dropped, and the average life span increased
over the years, to age 74.
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