A forgotten milestone of sanitation in Brazil: The water and sewage system of Ouro Preto (1887-1890)

Abstract

This article resurrects, contextualizes and characterizes the water and sewage system of Ouro Preto, created at the end of the 1880's in response to sanitary problems and the need to modernize the old capital of the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais. Based on documentary research undertaken in public archives, bibliographical reviews, interviews and field inspections, the text corrects mistakes regarding the authorship and construction date of the system. The need to restore the hundred year old sewage treatment station is emphasized, given its relevance in the history of Brazilian sanitation. Today, in contrast with the past, the city of Ouro Preto discharges its sewage in natura into the streams that gave it gold.