history of water treatment

[BobPE]

Not really a technical question, but I was wondering if anyone has any good references as to the history of water treatment in the USA or the world? Something like a time line that tells when various treatment techniques became accepted practice, when disinfection was required, ect.

BobPE

 

[saxon]

Bobpe, The oldest known potable water reference work I'm familiar with happens to be Vitruvius's "De Architectura". Written sometime between 0-100 AD. It covers all phase's of Roman hydraulic engineering (these guys weren't just clever, they were brilliant!), it also includes determinations for potable sources and treatment.

A lot of this stuff has tie-ins into Greek, Phoenician, Eygptian engineering practice.

Hope this helps.

saxon

 

[KRSServices]

When I was in San Diego for a visit, I happened by the museum and they had some neaat references to some of the early systems. A really interesting starting point, depending on where you live, would be to visit some of the archives that exist in many large cities relative to the old plans and systems. I had a project once where I had to catalog and determine existance of water distribution blow- off installations. That search led me into the archives and some of the most interesting history of that cities water systems....we're talking wood stave pipes and open channel systems for so called potable water. It was so interesting and fascinating. I would love to see a large city's history such as Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia, New York or Los Angeles. KRS Services

http://www.krs-services.com

 

[saxon]

krs, You might want to add Chicago to that list. Some of the largest water and waste-water C.E. projects in N.A. and the world have been implemented here. Three come to mind, the reversal of flow of the Chicago River (done to keep waste waters and urban storm run-off out of Lake Michigan and reduce cholera and dysentary epidemics), raising the grade elevation of the entire city by ten feet, to minimize flooding and subsequent storm ingress loads to sewers, and currently the "deep tunnel project" used to capture and hold urban storm run-off so that it can be treated before release. In fact, our specially designed "moles" (largest in the world) are in China trying to straighten out the Yellow River problem.

Remeber, "make no little plans"!
saxon

 

[KRSServices]

saxon,

Chicago it is! That bit of history sounds absolutely fascinating as well. Is there a web or reference material that I could get hold of particularly illustrating the grade raising and reversal of the river. KRS Services

http://www.krs-services.com

 

[saxon]

KRS, Check the following website:

http://www.mwrdgc.dst.il.us./

saxon

 

[RGCook]

You might find the following helpful.

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/consumer/hist.pdf

 

[kenvlach]

Re potable water treatment history: the Introduction to the Betz handbook (8th edn.) mentions Sanskrit medical lore believed to date to 2000 BC that translates as "Impure water should be purified by being boiled over a fire, or by being heated in the sun, or by dipping a heated iron into it, or it may be purified by filtration through sand and coarse gravel, and then allowed to cool."
Other early examples are shown in Eygptian tombs ca. 15th century BC, and a biblical reference (Exodus 15:22-27).

About 8 pages are devoted to the the evolution of industrial water treatment, principally for boilers, beginning with James Watt's steam engine.

 

[amurphy]

Although this doesn't concentrate on North America, I thought this website on water history was interesting:

http://www.waterhistory.org/

 

[bimr]

Try:

The Quest for Pure Water by M.N. Baker, McGraw-Hill and AWWA 1981

Some of the preceding quotes are contained herein.

 

[oxilume]

Bob,

The water treatment bible amongst water treaters is:
"The Nalco Water Handbook." It has great references and suggested reading that will help you trace the history of water treatment.

Todd

 

[JimMetalsCeramics]

Aside from chlorination, the primary way water has been treated is to oxygenate it. This can be done by simply mixing air into it. The oxygen makes the bacteria and microorganisms grow logarithmically. They eat all the edible organic waste in the water and then wind up starving themselves to death. In lakes and rivers you then dredge to remove the dead lifeforms and all other sediment.

 

[drain]

Bob - In London, UK there was a cholera outbreak in the late 1800's due to sewage discharges into the Thames, just upstream of the raw water abstraction point, which resulted in the first (apparently) slow sand filter construction. You could search the Institution of Civil Engineers site

http://www.ice.org.uk

site, select Knowledge, Publications, Thomas Telford Journals. As I recall, an earlier article in Civil Engineering, which I think is online, had the background on it.

 

[motalot]

Go to AWT.ORG this is the water treatment association for all water treaters. They are unbiased and can help you in many ways. Some of the greatest water treatment professionals are members of this group.

 

[brianslater]

Hi Guys
I just had to respond to this
For some perverse reason I have a collection of victorian books on Sanitary engineering, with some plate of the original designs by Thomas Crapper. These date back to 1880 and include much of Londons sewage system and its redesign form the original lead waterworks from the roman period. Around 1850, the river thames basin was a real cess pit and the prevailing winds out east made the east end of london most undesirable with noxious fumes. Maybe I can turn the book into a pdf doc and put it one the web. Much of what was founded during the British empire held true to this day.

In mid victorian times, BC (before the crapper)

Night soil was collected by a man with a handcart. Better dwellings had a WC, water closet, the forerunner of the septic tank, with a brick built outhouse around it, usually at the bottom of the backyard.

Crapper, invented the indoor loo and the U bend. Many late victorian houses in London had a back addition built on to accomodate this new marvel.

Im not sure who invented the cistern flush?

The original Crapper was served by a bucket, pretty fool proof , no ball cock to go wrong and overflow

A simple system that I enjoy to this day.

Much of our former triumphs in sanitation still exist in our former colonies, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and of course yourselves

for example

http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/sbeder/sewage/history2.htm

If I had my time over again, I would have opted for Water and Sewage rather than PetroChem, less glamourous but much more stable and of growing importance. 30 years ago the world was going to run short of oil, now thats baloney, but the world is certainly going to have problems with water.

Keep the faith

 

[johnd43]

In response to the first question in this string, I can recommend a book by David G Stevenson, published 1997 by Imperial College Press (ISBN 1-86094-074-9). Dr Stevenson is now retired but was for many years the chief process scientist at Paterson Candy, the UK based water treatment specialist, where I had the privilege to meet and work with him. His book covers Water Treatment (not sewage, but that is a far more public subject as the earlier responses demonstrate) and he describes its history in the first 6 or 7 pages. It is not exhaustive but certainly is a fascinating start to a really useful book that goes on to tell the reader a tremendous lot of very useful and practical engineering. I commend it to all WT specialists, as well as those who want to learn the craft.

Regards, and good reading.