Beginning sometime around 6500 BC during Neolithic times humans began digging water wells to store water they later would transport by hand. For the first time in the history of civilization it was acceptable to live far away from a river. Irrigation follows in the wake of wells and as a result civilization began to bud and blossom. But it was not until the great Roman Empire that underground plumbing took its roots.

Romans and Greeks

Much like anything in ancient history that’s noteworthy, the Greeks and the Romans planted the germ that blossomed into advance civilization. In Crete, often called the Minoan civilization the Greeks utilized the first underground plumbing system by burring an elaborate system of clay pipes for the purpose of sanitation and water supply. Also, the first flushable toilet was created by the Greeks. Some even claim they invented the first flushable toilet and pressurized shower. The romans were of course more complicated and advanced with their indoor plumbing. Some even claim that their elaborate system of aqueducts and sewers were responsible for the success of the empire. Indeed, the flow of civilization hinges on indoor plumbing.

The Bubonic Plague and the Brits

Looking back at the dark ages, it is clear that an absence of indoor plumbing caused the largest epidemic this side of paradise has ever known. The bubonic plague was caused by throwing chamber pots out the window into the streets where rats ingested the contents and developed bacterial diseases which were later passed on to people. The bubonic plague killed off a third of the entire earth’s population.

Modern Plumbing

Things look much better than they did in the dark ages. We are no longer in it too deep. At Albuquerque plumbing we hold our heads high everyday knowing how important our job is to the flow of civilization.