1.1 Introduction
Despite the evident need for universal access to safe water and sanitation and a sustainable and resilient infrastructure, water tends to be a low priority amongst politicians and policy makers. As water is, to quote Karen Bakker, an “uncooperative commodity”, it is both capital intensive and revenue scarce. In addition, water spending and standards are increasingly vulnerable to pressure from populist viewpoints. Collectivist-left viewpoints include water services being ‘free’ and viewing utilities more as providers of employment than as providers of services. Liberationist-right viewpoints range from lowering public health (water) and environmental (sewage) standards to climate change denial. For these approaches to be addressed, it is necessary to develop in some detail an evidence-based case for prioritising water and sewerage spending.
1.2 A Brief History of Water and Sewerage Infrastructure
While effective forms of large-scale water and sewage treatment are a relatively recent development, organised water provision and sewerage were widely adopted several millennia ago, typically falling into disuse until their gradual re-adoption over the past three to four hundred years. These time scales and the obstacles encountered, especially regarding sanitation and sewage treatment, are a useful reminder of the challenges facing us when seeking the universal adoption of these services.
The settlement at Skara Brae, in the Orkney Islands, UK, had household water and sanitation networks from 3500 to 3000 BC, the earliest such systems as yet identified.
1.2.1 Bulk Water and Water Treatment
Bulk water transfer schemes are a feature of major urban settlements where local needs outstrip resources. Examples range from Rome (Solomon 2010) where the aqueduct system developed since 312 BC provided the city with 700–900 litres per capita per day to the reservoir and canal network developed in Sri Lanka from 300 BC to 1186 AD (De Silva 1988).
Slow sand filtration was first used by the Egyptians, and small-scale units were in use in early modern Europe. The first large-scale water treatment plant was in Paisley, Scotland, in 1804 (Huismann and Wood 1974). Raw water was passed through a settling basin to take out solids and then through six feet of gravel followed by six feet of sand before use. Water not used at a textile bleaching plant was carted to customers and sold at half a penny per gallon. Chlorine was first used to treat mains water in 1897 although in 1845 John Snow used chlorine to control a cholera outbreak in London (WHO 2003).
1.2.2 Water Carriers and Household Connections
The management of post-Roman London’s water started in 1236 when the Corporation of London acquired abstraction rights for the Tyburn stream in the City and a conduit was built to serve Cheapside in 1285. A Brotherhood of St Cristofer of the Waterbearers was formed in 1496 to regulate the carting of water around the City, with 4000 members a century later (Barty-King 1992).
Household connections to piped water networks are related to customers being able and willing to pay for water for washing and lavatory flushing as well as for cooking and drinking. In many cases, these services were developed by entrepreneurs. In London, the Corporation appointed Hugh Myddleton to oversee a bulk water transfer scheme in 1605 which was built between 1609 and 1613. Such was the scale of the New River Company’s transfer that it still provides 8% of Thames Water’s input (Barty-King 1992). New River water was piped directly to customer pipes. Similarly, JP Morgan Chase, the American bank, was founded in 1799 to provide water to 2000 customers in Lower Manhattan (JP Morgan Chase 2008). Other early examples include the Waterworks for Newcastle and Gateshead (founded in 1697); the first water distribution franchise in Paris was awarded in 1782 while the York Water Company has served York County, Pennsylvania, since 1816.
By 1700, there were 20 private suppliers or conduits in operation, serving people along the banks of the Thames. River pollution obliged most to relocate to Kew, where the river water remained relatively clean. The Chelsea Waterworks Company was incorporated in 1723 to serve Chelsea and Pimlico opened a slow sand filter to improve its water in 1829, providing 85,000–115,000 litres of water a day (Simpson 1838). The Metropolis Act of 1852 made water filtration compulsory for all water extracted from the Thames within five miles of St Paul’s Cathedral and from 1855 companies were prohibited from extracting water from the tidal river, which extends 30 km upriver from London Bridge.
1.2.3 Sanitation and Sewerage
Planned sanitation was widely adopted in early cities. Knossos, a palace-city in Minoan Crete (2800–1100 BC), had two conduits: one for rainwater and the other for foul water (Gray 1940). The Babylonian cities of Ur and Babylon had vaulted sewers for household wastes and gutters and drains for surface runoff (Jones 1967; Maner 1966). Sewerage was adopted by Indus Valley culture (from 3300 BC), with houses connected to open channels running down the centre of the streets. Wastew...