Let’s celebrate clean water

Today’s the 200th anniversary of the birth of John Snow, a British physician who could reasonably be called the father of the science behind clean water. It seems obvious in retrospect, but it was Snow’s 19th century work linking sewage discharged into the Thames (and found contaminating London drinking water wells) and the devastation of cholera.

Storytelling about Snow’s work revolves around the Broad Street pump, a well in London used in the neighborhood north of Piccadilly Circus. Snow famously removed the pump’s handle to prevent people from using it, and cholera cases in the neighborhood quickly dropped off. As a card-carrying water nerd, I made a pilgrimage to see the pump on vacation last year (there’s a replica, sans handle, on what has been renamed Broadwick Street and a pub named after Snow).

We have learned a great deal from Snow and those who followed him, and while concerns about water quality continue globally, in the rich wold that we inhabit the kind of water-related health problems that drove Snow’s work are largely gone. My thanks to Peter Gleick for pointing out that today’s the anniversary of Snow’s birth, and for a nice summary of his work.

Much more fascinating information on Snow from the folks at the UCLA school of public health.