Blog Action Day 2010: Salisbury 1849

October 15th 2010 is Blog Action Day – an international effort to focus attention on one, single issue. The issue for 2010 is ‘water’.

‘Water’ is close to the heart of anybody with an interest in Salisbury’s history because in 1849 the Salisbury cholera epidemic killed 192 people. At the time this was roughly 1 in every 45 of the population of Salisbury.

The Times reported that

the sickness … pervades the whole city. Deaths have occurred in nearly every street.(¹)

The disease was borne by the dirty water courses that ran through the city’s streets. One of the larger water courses ran down the New Canal – hence the name.

The disease would have been easy to prevent had they had the knowledge and the political will – following heroic work by Thomas Rammel and Dr. Andrew Middleton, the city government was persuaded to fill in the water courses. This along with other sanitation work eliminated the disease within months and prevented further epidemics.

Today cholera is well understood, but the political will and the money to prevent further outbreaks in other parts of the world is lacking.

In 2005, 2272 cholera deaths were reported to the World Health Organisation, across 52 countries.

The World Health Organisation reported in 2006 that:

There is clear trend that cholera is re-emerging in parallel with the ever-increasing proportion of vulnerable populations who live in unsanitary conditions. Cholera remains a global threat and one of the key indicators of social development. While the disease no longer poses a threat to countries where minimum standards of hygiene are met, it remains a challenge in those countries where access to safe water and adequate sanitation cannot be guaranteed for all. (²)

Cholera is of course only one disease among many that is caused by poor sanitation and an inadequate supply of clean water.

I’ve written about cholera because it’s got a special relevance to Salisbury. There’s more on other problems caused by the lack of clean water at:

• Blog Action Day 2010
• Water.org
• WaterAid – water and sanitation for all – UK site

You can donate some money at any of these sites, should you feel the urge or you can sign a petition to support the UN’s efforts to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

The full sad story of the 1849 cholera epidemic is best told by Ruth Newman³ in her article ‘Salisbury in the time of Cholera’ in ‘Sarum Chronicle, Issue 6′⁴.

Footnotes

1. Sarum Chronicle, Issue 6 pages 11-19. Hobnob Press October 2006, 64-page illustrated paperback, price £4.50, ISBN10 0-946418-54-3; ISBN13 978-0-946418-54-1 [↩]
2. WEEKLY EPIDEMIOLOGICAL RECORD, NO. 31, 4 AUGUST 2006, World Health Organisation [↩]
3. Much of the material presented on this page is used by kind permission of Mrs Newman. [↩]
4. Sarum Chronicle, Issue 6. Hobnob Press October 2006, 64-page illustrated paperback, price £4.50, ISBN10 0-946418-54-3; ISBN13 978-0-946418-54-1 [↩]