Municipal water treatment

Municipal water treatment (1804)

Thom brings clean water to the masses.

The need for drinking water is as old as life on earth. For much of human evolution, sprongs, stream,rivers,and lakes provided a ready source of water, and early towns and cities eventually grew up around such important supplies. But as towns and cities got bigger, the difficulty of ensuring a clean supply increased because of greater pollution and more thirsty mouths to sate.

            

          Methods of purifying water have been around for centuries. Sand filteration was first described as a means to remove impurities in the seventeenth century and used a  method borrowed from nature. The technique was adopted by individuals,but not set up as a municipal services until 1804.

    

         In that year, civil engineer Robert Thom(1774-1847) created the first water treatment plant in paisley, Scotland. The water was slowly filtered through sand and gravel before being transported by horse and cart. Three years later,thi t rather inefficient system was improved when Glasgow began piping water to residents. (With the increasing popularity of bottled water today, transported by road again, it is curious to reflect how we appear to have come full circle.)