An addition to the drinking water issue

[NorthernRaider]

An addition to the drinking water issue

We have discussed in depth most of the issues revolving around water the essence of life, finding, pumping, filtering, treating, storage etc but there is one little offshoot we have not yet fully explored.

Back in the early part of the industrial revolution when SD was opening his first Arkwright mill, Barneyboy was still a trainee Luddite and Scythe was still just a pruning knife the size of the mill towns, coal towns etc boomed as people flocked to them seeking work. Many places saw the population rise from a few hundred yokels harvesting mangel-wurzel’s to towns numbering thousands of workers within 50 years. But the social infrastructure had not kept pace with the booming economic output and the local water supplies were overwhelmed as the locals, washed, bathed, drank, cooked and defecated in and from the same water sources. Outbreaks of Typhus and Cholera were rampant as the polluted water supply was often the ONLY water supply for a community.

But it became noticed oddly enough by some god fearing tea totallers that many of the beer and ale consuming sinners never got ill but bible worshipping water drinking types were dropping like flies.

Anyway cutting away the rest of the history it became common knowledge before the advent of micro biology etc that if people drank ale and beer instead of water that they did not get cholera or typhus…….

So in many cases communities started brewing weak ales and beers for consumption with every meal, so people had clean safe liquid refreshments without getting dangerous bladdered.

So looking back at history perhaps we should also look at the various home brewing methods as extra sources of safe drinking liquids and its barter commodity value??