9780774812917
Distributed for University of British Columbia Press
The Culture of Flushing
A Social and Legal History of Sewage
The flush of a toilet is routine. It is safe, efficient, necessary, nonpolitical, and utterly unremarkable. Yet Jamie Benidickson’s examination of the social and legal history of sewage in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom demonstrates that the uncontroversial reputation of flushing is deceptive. The Culture of Flushing investigates and clarifies the murky evolution of waste treatment. It is particularly relevant in a time when community water quality can no longer be taken for granted.
Table of Contents
Foreword: Risk and Responsibility in a Waste-Full World / Graeme Wynn
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 The Advantage of a Flow of Water
2 Navigating Aquatic Priorities
3 A Source of Civic Pride
4 The Water Closet Revolution
5 Municipal Evacuation
6 Learning to Live Downstream
7 The Bacterial Assault on Local Government
8 The Dilutionary Impulse at Chicago
9 Separating Water from the Waterways
10 Streams Are Nature’s Sewers
11 Riparian Resurrection
12 Governing Water
Conclusion
Notes
Suggested Reading
Index