How do you think ancient civilizations started to think that they need sewerage systems?

Question

I mean why did they first started to build sewerage systems, drainage systems, plumbings, etc. what inspired them?

Answer 1

out of a need for proper sanitation i presume. the minoans had some of the firsr sewage systems in europe and the first flushing toilets.

Answer 2

The smell and excrement piles under bedroom windows in cities and towns probably gave someone the idea they had to devise some method of getting rid of it all.Since most farmers used the poo piles in their fields , it had to be "aired' first.  The smell of pee is still strong and all the refuse water had to be dumped too. I would think that some one dug a sloping ditch into a large depression in the ground  and that became the first sewage lagoon.

We say necessity is the mother of invention, or is it father? So , problems  arose, irritated  man enough to find a solution.

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Answer 3

I believe that would be the nasty stink and sickness

Answer 4

dont you wish to be as far away from the odor of sewage and refuse as possible?  ancient people were not stupid, just ancient.  didnt the minoans invent the first known plumbing?  i know they had an extensive system to take care of their sewage.  i think they also had the first postal system.

if you stop and look back at what was accomplished by the ancients, well, it really is rather stunning.  just fascinating!

Answer 5

That would be when we started to create villages and everyone had to p**p...and pee...every day....more than once....can you smell it yet?.... ;-)

Answer 6

Of course, If you are including the Roman civilization as an ancient one.  They had a very efficient and elaborate sewerage  collection system.  Other ancient civilizations such as the Greek also had a for collecting sewage.   What they didn't have were a way of recycling the sewerage into byproducts that could be used safely. That is what modern waste water treatment plants do.

Answer 7

I would imagine that a number of factors led to various innovations over time that finally culminated in very sophisticated and effective drainage and sewers. Once people began to live in more and more heavily populated areas, pollution became a very big problem. Most folks only associate pollution with modern industry, fossil fuels, and chemical fertilizers. But in truth, early cities were hugely polluted places, filthy with trash, soot and smoke from fires, pollutants from manufacturing and metallurgy, and human and animal waste. I imagine that pretty early on people realized that when all kinds of waste built up where people lived close together, people got sick more often, vermin were more prevalent, and life got pretty nasty in general from stench and filth. Different types of waste removal emerged, but finally population grew to a point in certain areas and engineering became sophisticated enough and sewers were built to efficiently remove waste from heavily populated areas. Of course, people didn't wake up one day and think "Man, I think we need to engineer a waste removal system because it sure is getting nasty around here!". It was much more gradual and innovative.

Answer 8

Understand that even in late Europe in the early 1800's there were no sewer systems and to date in many villages in China people still just squat on the street and excrete.  Drainage systems were first begun by chamber toilets, later on with advancement tanks began to flush water with gravity.  Many people don't know why, but the tradition of a man walking on the outside of a woman comes from the fact that all over Europe peple just tossed their waste out of the window on to the dirt streets.  Men walking with women walked thru that while women stayed on the cleaner inside of the street.  Their was historically little attention given to septic concerns and health and hygiene.  For practical purposes, smell and flies began the concern of better disposals but it took centuries to get it right.