I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the processes that led to the creation of the Boston we know today. The land under our feet and the sewage systems that we utilize on a daily basis are typically taken for granted. The Main Drainage Works source we read from 1888, describes both the early sewer structure and conditions of Boston, as well as the steps that the city took to reform and modernize these systems.
The early sewer systems were a mess. There were no detailed maps and many had no man holes or other above ground indicators. Often, older sewers were discovered in the process of developing new ones, either side by side or on top of eachother. This effectively created a lattice of unstandardized, innefficienct sewers that, when combined with the force of the incoming tide, barely carried any waste away from the city.
In the reform section of this piece, the author reports the proposed cost of creating a new main sewer system being $6,551,064. Using an inflation calculator, I was able to calculate that this figure is worth around $189,200,000 in today’s value. This figure is obviously much more striking and really provides us with an idea of the scale of this undertaking.
Personally, I could not imagine living in a city with this poor of a sewage system. Just the idea of of having this waste removed from houses only to wash right back up and collect on the shores surrounding the city is revolting. Especially in the summer.