User:LeoAHearl/Sanitary engineering

= Sanitation in the 1900's = During the 1900s, the activated sludge process was invented. The activated sludge process is a form of water purification that uses bacteria to consume human feces. Chlorine is used in the process to kill off the bacteria. In the 1950's, the public health reports provided plans for supplying clean water for the public by first looking at potential hazards. The organization looked carefully at water contamination as well as how drinking water was being treated. They also prioritized finding methods that were effective, yet not too costly. Sanitation cost is the main issue for many foreign (not the United States) countries. The average cost of home water and sanitation systems start at $50 a month, when many citizens don't make enough money to use on non-necessities.

Harm Huizenga
Prior to modern forms of sanitation in neighborhoods and cities, people would simply leave their trash on the street. In 1892, it was such an issue, that a man named Harm Huizenga volunteered to clean up the mess by himself. The Dutch man went around the streets in his wagon, picking up the garbage of the city of Chicago. Little efforts like that were present throughout the early 1900's, until around 1968. Huizenga's grandson, Wayne Huizenga, made his grandfather's idea into a business, Waste Management. By the seventies, waste management as a whole was seen as a necessary practice by the public.

= Sanitation in the United States =

California/Counties
In the early 1940's, many counties in the state had problems with their disposal of waste, especially in the Lake Tahoe area. Citizens of these towns feared that their city's poor sewage systems would cause outbreaks in illnesses, like poliomyelitis, cholera, and hepatitis, to name a few. Cholera in particular is the biggest health risk attached to waste management. The illness is caused by bacteria, especially when a person ingests food or water that contain the bacteria. In poorer areas, this is extremely likely due to the cross contamination of waste and drinking water.

Counties:

 * El Dorado county has numerous garbage collection facilities, some private companies. In residential areas, the main source of waste is oil. Since then, many waste management facilities have been built in El Dorado county, reducing the risk of these illnesses. Since the fifties, the county has been utilizing the contacts from the companies to provide a low-cost and successful method of keeping the towns clean. Today, there are 7 franchises assigned to the county with different areas of pickup, such as El Dorado Disposal and American River Disposal.


 * San Joaquin valley is very recycling focused. The website for the San Joaquin county's waste management shows many tips for how to recycle all recyclable items, in hopes that their county will comply. One of the tips is to verify that all items in the recycling bins are recyclable, because the load might not get recycled at all. The website is very helpful for the public for to help with waste management in residential areas.