By JPB Fellow Marccus D. Hendricks
Past studies in public health have demonstrated an association between disease and poor sanitation, such as illnesses from exposure to sewage-laden waters. Modern sanitary infrastructures were an innovation that transformed how we mitigate waterborne risks.
However, failure to maintain and rehabilitate these systems over the years, as well as changing environmental conditions, have created some pre-modern circumstances in cities across the world including Baltimore, which has frequent sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) due to an aged and declining system and more frequent and intense rainfall events further overwhelming the system. Read more.