Jul 1, 2013 | Atlanta GA Plumber, Blog, Plumbing History
Plumbing was and is one of the most valuable skills for the development of cities, homes, and entire civilizations. People based their entire lives around where the closest major water source was. Plumbers developed methods to harness the most precious resources in the world to irrigate crops. The success or fall of any one civilization often depended on their access to and control of a water source. One way leaders showed their control was through extravagant displays that everyone would recognize. For example, reports show that Sargon the Great had six toilets in his privy, and his seat was higher than the rest. However, they were quite different from modern toilets in that they had no water to fill the toilet or wash away the waste. We took one major concept from these ancient privies: sewers and cesspools, which provided the blueprints for the sewers used in Atlanta, GA. One of the greatest advances for sewers was the ability to reduce the smell because early cesspools and sewers had no ventilation and stank up the houses they were under. Thankfully, outhouses went from rudimentary structures to more complicated structures, and some became symbols of distinction, as would bathrooms of the well-to-do. Someone even developed a two-story model for when heavy snowfall blocked the entrance to the lower level. Thomas Jefferson devised an indoor privy at his Monticello home by rigging up a system of pulleys that servants used to haul away chamber pots. By 1845, the installation of sanitary sewers began to pay off. When plumbers developed an outlet for waste water, indoor plumbing and working water became possible....
