Sewerage

About: Sewerage is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2181 publications have been published within this topic receiving 19513 citations. The topic is also known as: sanitary sewer.

The Sanitary City: Urban Infrastructure in America from Colonial Times to the Present

Abstract: By MARTIN V. MELOSI. xii and 578 pp.; maps, diagrs., ills., bibliog., index. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. $59.95 (cloth), ISBN 0801861527. The title Sanitary City summons images of Gotham's street sweepers dressed in spotless white coats. In his massive history of urban sanitation services, Martin Melosi certainly introduces us to New York City's turn-of-the-century uniformed street-cleaning corps, but he focuses on the unsanitary rather than the sanitary. Such is the enigma of the title. The impurity of drinking water prompted massive efforts to find and deliver a potable product; the threat of disease from sewage forced cities to export this foul by-product; and the offensive qualities of refuse led to searches for healthy solutions. Melosi's task is to present the continual struggle to make the unsanitary city sanitary. In his own words, he seeks to provide "a comprehensive history of water supply, wastewater, and solid-waste disposal systems in American cities from colonial times to the year 2000, with an analysis of their development, an assessment of their influence on urban growth, and an evaluation of their impact on the environment" (p. 2). In this respect, his title is highly appropriate. Melosi, who has a pedigree in political history and an extensive record as an urban and environmental historian, divides the book into three sections, based principally on the paradigms that guided sanitation practice: "Age of Miasmas" (1700s-1880), "Bacteriological Revolution" (1880-1945), and "New Ecology" (1945-2000). This apt organizational scheme is further refined in chapters that explore key developments in sanitation technology coupled with urbanization. Melosi's objective was sweeping, and his accomplishment encompasses the complete vista. Melosi emphasizes the successive waves of "crises" that coursed through the municipal-sanitation profession. Environmental historians often argue that massive tragedies are necessary to initiate major policy changes. But in the public works arena, Melosi suggests, it was not death or destruction that prompted actions but a perceived crisis in water quantity or quality. Drinking water attracted attention most immediately and typically received substantial public support. Sewerage, a less obvious need, lagged behind clean water as a municipal concern, while garbage constantly lurked in the background. Whether in the age of miasmas or the time of the new ecology, crises were essential to spur efforts to meet public expectations of the day. I often wonder why more geographers have not investigated sanitation infrastructure; perhaps it is because such hidden service delivery is not a part of the visible landscape. The Sanitary City points out the significance of these buried systems for urban growth. Increasing population density and sewage production degraded private wells and stimulated municipal searches for new water supplies. Extension of water supplies, and to a lesser extent, sewerage lines, has helped shape urban expansion. Garbage collection, Melosi informs us, functions best through "economies of density," becoming less efficient with urban sprawl. Such insights into the buried landscape exhibit the author's ability to examine the multiple and evolving relationships of public works with local politics, public finance, national environmental policies, and sanitary technologies. …

The Relation Between the Rainfall and the Discharge of Sewers in Populous Districts

Abstract: The most important question which arises in the construction of a sewerage system whose function is also the removal of the surface drainage, is with regard to the amount of storm water that will f...

Water Supply and Sewerage

Abstract: Quantity of Water and Sewage Hydraulics Rainfall and Runoff Groundwater Aquaducts and Water Pipes Collection and Distribution of Water Quality of Water Supplies Clarification of Water Filtration of Water Miscellaneous Water Treatment Techniques Sewerage - General Considerations Storm Water Flow Sewer Materials Sewer Appurtenances Design of Sewer Systems Sewer Construction and Maintenance Characteristics of Sewage Sewerage Disposal Preliminary Treatment Systems Secondary Treatment Systems Sludge Treatment and Disposal Advanced Wastewater Treatment Miscellaneous Wastewater Treatment Techniques Financial Considerations

The impact of privatization and regulation on the water and sewerage industry in England and Wales: a translog cost function model

Abstract: After the ten Regional Water Authorities (RWAs) of England and Wales were privatized in November 1989, the successor Water and Sewerage Companies (WASCs) faced a new regulatory regime that was designed to promote economic efficiency while simultaneously improving drinking water and environmental quality. As legally mandated quality improvements necessitated a costly capital investment programme, the industry's economic regulator, the Office of Water Services (Ofwat), implemented a retail price index (RPI)+K pricing system, which was designed to compensate the WASCs for their capital investment programme while also encouraging gains in economic efficiency. In order to analyse jointly the impact of privatization, as well as the impact of increasingly stringent economic and environmental regulation on the WASCs' economic performance, this paper estimates a translog multiple output cost function model for the period 1985–1999. Given the significant costs associated with water quality improvements, the model is augmented to include the impact of drinking water quality and environmental quality on total costs. The model is then employed to determine the extent of scale and scope economies in the water and sewerage industry, as well as the impact of privatization and economic regulation on economic efficiency.