Authors
Lutz Häfner1; 1 University of Bielefeld, Germany Discussion
“Moscow eats and drinks its own excrement”. With these words, the professor of medicine, A. A. Ostroumov, characterized the hygienic conditions of the city before its sewage system was put into operation in 1898. At that time Moscow had the highest mortality rate in European metropolises. Therefore, the focus is on this city, on its drinking water supply and sewage system in the field of tension between urbanization, industrialization, water pollution, hygiene and health, in order to answer the following questions: How did man appropriate his environment, with which artifacts did he change the natural conditions, and what were the consequences of his actions? In order to satisfy the needs of the exponentially growing urban population specific water infrastructures were needed: waterworks, supply lines, sewers and, successively, sewage treatment plants. Who consumed water under what circumstances and for what purpose? Where, when, how, to what extent and at what price was water made available, how and where was the used water disposed of and by what methods was it purified? Especially in times of scarcity, the allocation of water was a question of political power. 
