Plumbing History

When you need to get your bathroom fitting installed or let's assume that you have to fix your pipe or if there is some leakage in the pipe, what would you do? The answer is simple; you'll call such a guy who is expert in doing such a job. The guy who deals with all the queries of these sanitary related problems is a plumber and the process itself is called plumbing.
Plumbing, in other words is also referred to a system of pipes and fixtures installed in a building for the distribution of potable water and the removal of waterborne wastes. The whole process that is linked with sanitary is called plumbing. Plumbing is usually distinguished from water and sewage systems, in that a plumbing system serves one building, while water and sewage systems serve a group of buildings or a city. This is a common difference between the two. When it is limited to just one house or building it stays within the premises of plumbing.

A short history about plumbing, it was extremely rare until the growth of modern cities in the 19th century. With the advancement of these cities came the need of plumbing. At the same time public health authorities began pressing for better waste disposal systems to be installed. This was the time when World Health Organization raised questions about proper disposal of waste.
Earlier, the waste disposal system merely consisted of collecting waste and dumping it on ground or into a river. Standardized earthen plumbing pipes with broad flanges making use of asphalt for preventing leakages appeared in the urban settlements of the Indus Valley Civilization. Plumbing originated during the ancient civilizations such as the Greek, Roman, Persian, Indian and Chinese civilizations as they developed public baths and needed to provide potable water, and drainage of wastes. When the public baths were introduced there were major concerns about the disposal of waste. The Romans used lead pipe inscriptions to prevent water theft. Improvement in plumbing systems was very slow with virtually no progress made from the time of the Roman system of aqueducts and lead pipes until the 19th century. Eventually the development of separate, underground water and sewage systems eliminated open sewage ditches. This created a better atmosphere and cleanliness was also kept in mind.
Most large cities today pipe solid wastes to treatment plants in order to separate and partly purify the water before emptying into streams or other bodies of water. The use of lead for potable water declined sharply after World War II because of the dangers of lead poisoning. At this time, copper piping was introduced as a better and safer alternative to lead pipes. Another material used for plumbing pipes, particularly water main, was hollowed wooden logs wrapped in steel banding. Logs used for water distribution were used in England close to 500 years ago. They use wooden logs for the making of plumbing pipe with the mixture of steel. This was how the proper plumbing originally started.



More Drees History Articles