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Joseph William Bazalgette, English Civil Engineer

Caricature of Bazalgatte as a sewer-serpent. Joseph William Bazalgette (March 28, 1819 - March 15, 1891) was an English civil engineer. His major achievement was the creation (in response to the Great Stink of 1858) of a sewer network for central London. At the time, the Thames was little more than an open sewer, devoid of any fish or other wildlife, and an obvious health hazard to Londoners. Bazalgette's solution was to construct 82 miles of underground brick main sewers to intercept sewage outflows, and 1,100 miles of street sewers, to intercept the raw sewage which up until then flowed freely through the streets and thoroughfares of London. The basic premise of this expensive project, that miasma spread cholera infection, was wrong. However, instead of causing the project to fail, the new sewers succeeded in virtually eliminating the disease by removing the contamination. His sewers also decreased the incidence of typhus and typhoid epidemics. He died in 1891 at the age of 71.
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Title:
Joseph William Bazalgette, English Civil Engineer
Caption:
Caricature of Bazalgatte as a sewer-serpent. Joseph William Bazalgette (March 28, 1819 - March 15, 1891) was an English civil engineer. His major achievement was the creation (in response to the Great Stink of 1858) of a sewer network for central London. At the time, the Thames was little more than an open sewer, devoid of any fish or other wildlife, and an obvious health hazard to Londoners. Bazalgette's solution was to construct 82 miles of underground brick main sewers to intercept sewage outflows, and 1,100 miles of street sewers, to intercept the raw sewage which up until then flowed freely through the streets and thoroughfares of London. The basic premise of this expensive project, that miasma spread cholera infection, was wrong. However, instead of causing the project to fail, the new sewers succeeded in virtually eliminating the disease by removing the contamination. His sewers also decreased the incidence of typhus and typhoid epidemics. He died in 1891 at the age of 71.
Credit:
Album / NYPL/Science Source
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Image size:
3184 x 4350 px | 39.6 MB
Print size:
27.0 x 36.8 cm | 10.6 x 14.5 in (300 dpi)
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