The History of Plumbing: A Recap

Today we thought we'd look at the progress made in the field of plumbing in the United Kingdom. We are fast approaching the thirteenth year of the third millennium since that chap was born who caused all the fuss, and we at the Privy Counsel thought our readers would appreciate an update on recent advances. But first, let us review the groundbreaking inventions of the past 200-300 years:

The advent of indoor plumbing, along with other technical advances, was toyed with in Europe as an idea in the 16th century, slowly developed during the 17th and 18th centuries, and really took off in the 19th, leading to the abandonment, in most households, of servants, and a more equal society. Any man, woman or child can now have a bath or do a load of washing without forcing some oppressed dogsbody to boil huge quantities of water and carry it up the stairs. Hygiene has improved massively: human waste products are swiftly flushed away and treated, rather than festering near sources of drinking water. Running water, first cold, then also hot, ensures that handwashing, that essential cornerstone of disease prevention, is easy. Really, the 19th and early 20th centuries produced some marvellous technological advances in the fields of plumbing and hygiene.

But what of more recent times - what technological advances have there been in the British Isles? Well, they are easily summed up by this diagram, supplied to us by a friend:

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