Comparing developments in water supply, sanitation and environmental health in four South African cities, 1840-1920

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Periodical article

Title:	Comparing developments in water supply, sanitation and environmental health in four South African cities, 1840-1920
Author:	Mäki, Harri
Year:	2010
Periodical:	Historia: amptelike orgaan (ISSN 0018-229X)
Volume:	55
Issue:	1
Pages:	90-109
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	water supply sanitation urban environment municipal government public health history 1850-1899
Abstract:	The field of environmental health addresses all human health-related aspects of both the natural environment and the built environment. This paper focuses on the issues of safe water and sanitation in four cities in South Africa - Cape Town, Grahamstown, Durban and Johannesburg - in the period 1840-1920. At the time the introduction and augmentation of water supply and sanitary reform were among the most important municipal issues to be addressed. The paper pays attention to the links between health, racial segregation and differences in the provision of municipal services, and also shows that in conducting their work, local officials, together with the colonial authorities, set up a framework for local administration that was similar to governance structures in the UK, where environmental health had its modern-day roots. Ref., sum. in English and Afrikaans. [Journal abstract]