Civilization and its Management of Sewage

The proliferation of the human race from becoming civilized was a direct result of agricultural mastery. Centralized populations around croplands both benefited and modified settlement patterns. To ensure his survival he had to devise systems of sanitation for the ever-increasing quantities of excreta. Two major waste handling strategies developed from the inception of sedentary life. One was to return it to his fields as an amendment for crops. The other was to contain and then drain wastes away with a variety of systems, often with deadly consequences. The majority of damage to the world's potable watersheds over the last several thousand years is the result of implementation of this latter belief.