Editing Metropolitan Board of Works (section)

===Sewage===
[[File:Cholera in London 1866.gif|thumb|This map of the Metropolis, co-governed by the elected councils of these districts, shows the 1866 cholera epidemic]]
{{main|London sewerage system}}
A major problem was sewage: most of London's waste was allowed to flow into the [[Thames]] resulting in a horrendous smell in the summer months. In 1855 and 1858 there were especially bad summers with the latter being known as "[[The Great Stink]]".<ref name="Stink"/> A notable achievement of the Board was the creation of the core [[London sewerage system]], including {{convert|82|mi|km}} of main and {{convert|1100|mi|km}} of street sewers, which solved the problem.<ref>{{cite news |title=London Sewers - Seven Wonders |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/england/sevenwonders/london/sewers_mm/index.shtml |access-date=18 April 2025 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> A large part of the work of the MBW was under the charge of the Chief Engineer, [[Joseph Bazalgette]], previously engineer with the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers.<ref name="Stink">{{cite news |title=Story of cities #14: London's Great Stink heralds a wonder of the industrial world |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/04/story-cities-14-london-great-stink-river-thames-joseph-bazalgette-sewage-system |access-date=18 April 2025 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> William Dibdin, chief chemist for the MBW, conceived the biological [[Sewage treatment#History|treatment of sewage]] to oxidize the waste.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hamlin |first1=Christopher |title=William Dibdin and the Idea of Biological Sewage Treatment |journal=Technology and Culture|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |date=1988 |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=189-218 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/889247}}</ref>