The development of sewerage and waste water treatment

in Prague

The way we dispose of waste generated in the course of human activities is a clear sign of the cultural, social and technical levels of our society, clearer than the number of banking houses in the country or the weight of steel produced per capita. The understanding of the requirement to drain waste water developed only gradually and over a very long period.

Most cities in ancient Greece and Rome developed complex networks of sewers draining waste water into the nearest watercourse. Among the most famous ones, there is the Cloaca Maxima in Rome, which begun to be constructed during the reign of Tarquinius Superbus. According to preserved records, these ancient times witnessed first attempts to dispose of centrally drained waste water by the use of methods which we now promote as „natural treatment“ (e.g. absorbing water in porous soils used in ancient Greece).