The initial phase of potable water in Boston wasn't because of germ
theory but rather about the temperance movement. Also, water
infrastructure was used to support fire departments in cities in the US.
Our cities tended to experience a lot of conflagrations. Rich people had
access to piped water infrastructure way ahead of poor people in Boston
for sure. It was a doctor who led Boston to provide universal access to
clean, potable water in the name of public health. There are a lot of
books written by trained historians on this - no need to for us to
guess.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperance_movement#:~:text=People%20were%20instructed%20to%20only,had%20gained%201.5%20million%20members.
Teetotalism (1830s)
See also: Blue ribbon badge
As a response to rising social problems in urbanized areas, a stricter
form of temperance emerged called teetotalism, which promoted the
complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages, this time including wine
and beer, not just ardent spirits. The term teetotaler came from the
capital "T"s that were written next to the names of people who pledged
complete abstinence from alcohol. People were instructed to only drink
pure water and the teetotalists were known as the "pure-water army". In
the US, the American Temperance Union advocated total abstinence from
distilled and fermented liquors. By 1835, they had gained 1.5 million
members.
Bob
I have not had much time to write anything long form, but I enjoy
reading long, thoughtful pieces on Sundays, and this one might
ultimately yield analogies for internet infrastructure also.
https://comment.org/care-at-scale/
"In the late nineteenth century, the wealthy taxpayers of Boston were
convinced to build out water and sewage systems by a straightforward
logic: every person in the city, rich or poor, needed clean water to
drink every day. Without it, they would be at risk of contracting
water-borne diseases like cholera. And with so many people in
proximity, wealth alone couldn’t provide protection from contagious
disease."
While otherwise a wonderful read - go read it!! -
Me being me, I disagree that "the wealthy taxpayers of boston
recognized the need for common water infrastructure" because the germ
theory of disease was not well accepted, and the organism behind the
epidemic was first described in 1854 and not again until 1884. I
imagine there was great - AGW-esq - sturm und drang - and attempts to
shift the blame for cholera to merely "being poor", or "foreign", or
"the will of the gods", or rats - and attempts to shift the costs
onto various other parties before safer water distribution systems
were built, but! I freely admit, I have not done the research into the
controversies that IMHO, must have existed back then. I think that
practical problems, like enough city water in the first place to
support the population density therein, also were a factor.
The need for sound water and septic systems was recognized by many
cities two millenia prior to this... and not by many others. I
remember when the Delaware river and Boston Harbor were sewers, and
have lived many places around the world where that was still the case
for many rivers.
From some history (that I already knew) see this:
https://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/firstdiscoveredcholera.html
(It is remarkable how many expired SSL certificates there are in the
world, also.)
The Boston river caught fire many times before 1969, and until then,
no-body cared:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/cuyahoga-river-caught-fire-least-dozen-times-no-one-cared-until-1969-180972444/
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