The sanitary city : environmental services in urban America from colonial times to the present / Martin V. Melosi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Melosi, Martin V., author.

Series:

History of the urban environment.

History of the Urban Environment

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Refuse and refuse disposal--United States--History.

Refuse and refuse disposal.

Sanitary engineering--United States--History.

Sanitary engineering.

Municipal water supply--United States--History.

Municipal water supply.

United States.

Genre:

History

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (369 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

Abridged edition.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008.

Summary:

Immersed in their on-demand, highly consumptive, and disposable lifestyles, most urban Americans take for granted the technologies that provide them with potable water, remove their trash, and process their wastewater. These vital services, however, are the byproduct of many decades of development by engineers, sanitarians, and civic planners. In The Sanitary City, Martin V. Melosi assembles a comprehensive, thoroughly researched and referenced history of sanitary services in urban America. He examines the evolution of water supply, sewage systems, and solid waste disposal during three distinct eras: The Age of Miasmas (pre-1880); The Bacteriological Revolution (1880-1945); and The New Ecology (1945 to present-day). Originally published in 2000, this abridged edition includes updated text and bibliographic materials. The Sanitary City is an essential resource for those interested in environmental history, environmental engineering, science and technology, urban studies, and public health.

Contents:

pt. I. The age of miasmas : from colonial times to 1880

1. Sanitation practices in pre-Chadwickian America

2. Bringing the serpent's tail into the serpent's mouth : Edwin Chadwick and the sanitary idea" in England

3. The "sanitary idea" crosses the Atlantic

4. Pure and plentiful : from protosystems to modern waterworks, 1830-1880

5. Subterranean networks : wastewater systems as works in progress, 1830-1880

pt. II . The bacteriological revolution, 1880-1945

6. On the cusp of the new public health : bacteriology, environmental sanitation, and the quest for permanence, 1880-1920

7. Water supply as a municipal enterprise, 1880-1920

8. Battles at both ends of the pipe : sewerage systems and the new health paradigm, 1880-1920

9. The third pillar of sanitary services : the rise of public refuse management, 1880-1920

10. The Great Depression, World War II, and public works, 1920-1945

11. Water supply as a national issue : the federal government, expansion of service, and the threat of pollution, 1920-1945

12. Sewerage, treatment, and the "broadening viewpoint," 1920-1945

13. The "orphan child of sanitary engineering" : refuse collection and disposal, 1920-1945

pt. III . The new ecology, 1945-2000s

14. The challenge of suburban sprawl and the "urban crisis" in the age of ecology, 1945-1970

15. A time of unease : the "water crisis" in an effluent society, 1945-1970

16. Beyond their limits : decaying sewers, overflows, and foaming plants, 1945-1970

17. Solid waste as "third pollution," 1945-1970

18. From Earth Day to infrastructure crisis : forces shaping the new sanitary city

19. Beyond broken pipes and tired treatment plants : water supply, wastewater, and pollution since 1970

20. Out of state, out of mind : the garbage crisis in America

Epilogue.

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed on May 16, 2014).

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 333-342) and index.

ISBN:

9780822973379

0822973375

OCLC:

880457254