escargot
Disciple of Marduk
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2001
- Messages
- 46,790
- Location
- Tending the grave of Mad Carew
I've often wondered how rural areas in America manage their fresh water supply, rubbish disposal and sewage output.
Here in the UK we had the Public Health Act of 1875 which obliged local authorities to organise these matters to put an end to problems such as repeated outbreaks of cholera. No homes could be built without provision.
However, in remoter areas or when when a property was not yet connected to the main sewage system there were legal compromises such as the continuation of the use of 'earth closets' which had to be emptied regularly by local authority employees.*
Low-maintenance septic tanks are now in use where properties are not connected to the main sewage system. Used water is filtered and allowed to soak away safely.
New housing is built with full provision, entailing major traffic disruption while drains are laid. When people grumble about holdups I think 'So you'd prefer parasites and cholera then?'
My assumption was that all this must apply in America too. Seems I was wrong.
*This process was still in action at least up to the early 1980s. The former Mr Snail worked for the local council waste disposal department in his university vacations and spent a happy summer touring the villages on the bucket.
In the 1960s I lived in a house with full fresh water and sewage provision, though we had only the kitchen tap and one outside flushing toilet.
Friends in nearby streets still had earth closets emptied by the Night Soil crews.
Residents were rehoused and the area was flattened in the late '60s which may have been partly because of the antique sewage system.
Here in the UK we had the Public Health Act of 1875 which obliged local authorities to organise these matters to put an end to problems such as repeated outbreaks of cholera. No homes could be built without provision.
However, in remoter areas or when when a property was not yet connected to the main sewage system there were legal compromises such as the continuation of the use of 'earth closets' which had to be emptied regularly by local authority employees.*
Low-maintenance septic tanks are now in use where properties are not connected to the main sewage system. Used water is filtered and allowed to soak away safely.
New housing is built with full provision, entailing major traffic disruption while drains are laid. When people grumble about holdups I think 'So you'd prefer parasites and cholera then?'
My assumption was that all this must apply in America too. Seems I was wrong.
*This process was still in action at least up to the early 1980s. The former Mr Snail worked for the local council waste disposal department in his university vacations and spent a happy summer touring the villages on the bucket.

In the 1960s I lived in a house with full fresh water and sewage provision, though we had only the kitchen tap and one outside flushing toilet.
Friends in nearby streets still had earth closets emptied by the Night Soil crews.
Residents were rehoused and the area was flattened in the late '60s which may have been partly because of the antique sewage system.