Class Project: Cholera Epidemic in London...One life-changing pump.

So once upon a time, there was an old city called London. It was very old and very very over populated. This city drank lots of water from its very large pump system. Because the city was old, it didn't actually have a sewage system. Instead, what people did was dump their poo waste in holes they dug in the ground or through their basement and then covered them up. This probably led to a stinky city with lots of germs and stuff that people back then didn't know about. Anyway, one day, a certain family living near a centralized pump that took water from the well beneath it, had a little girl who was sick with cholera. Cholera was, and still is a very dangerous bacteria that can kill people if it goes untreated. Well this little girl with cholera had soiled clothing that was dumped near the pump in one of the poo holes. Unfortunately, the well had a slight crack in it which allowed just enough cholera germs from the soiled clothing in the poo hole to actually infect the entire well.

Soon enough, people started dying all over the place. Nobody could figure out what the problem was and why everyone was dying. Remember that London was horribly overpopulated (even moreso than it is now) and people could catch diseases very easily. Eventually, a smart man finally figured out that the only thing in common of all the people in London dying was that they all drank water from that well. Very quickly, they sealed up the well and within a couple weeks, people stopped dying from cholera. However, the damage was done and many people had died. Less than 10 households in a square mile of the pump did not suffer any fatalities. This is a very sad story but ironically enough, the pump still exists to this day.

Thats where we come in. After learning about this historically significant story about cholera, Dr. Lenox was gracious enough to offer the math class extra credit if we could find this pump and take a picture with it, and with the John Snow Pub right next to the pump, and then mention the story in our blog. So, viola! Here is the story, the pictures, and the blog. :)

Cheers!