Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal

The Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal was established by the British government in 1898 to report on:

(1) What method or methods of treating and disposing of sewage (including any liquid from any factory, or manufacturing process) may properly be adopted,consistently with due regard for the requirements of the existing law, for the protection of the public health, and for the economical and efficient discharge of the duties of local, authorities ; and

(2) If more than one method may be so adopted, by what rules, in relation

The commission convened and re-convened eight times under three different reigns, Victoria, Edward VII and King George V, and remained active until 1912 and in that period published nine reports.

The findings of the commission were to be used to enact legislation to control sewage and manufacturing pollution of water that continued in force up until the enactment of the Water Act 1974. It was the eighth report of the commission that established the 30:20 standard for sewage effluent that remained the most widely used standard in many parts of the world up till the present.

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