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Paeff, Colleen

The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London's Poop Pollution Problem

40 pp. | McElderry | August, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-5344-4929-9 $17.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-5344-4930-5 $10.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. "In the summer of 1858, London's River Thames STANK." Why? "The river was full of poop." Increased population in the early 1800s had led to an excess of human waste being disposed of in the city's sewers, which were meant only to carry rainwater to the river. After three cholera outbreaks mistakenly linked to bad smells, and then a heat wave that caused the river to emit a "Great Stink" throughout London, the city's chief sewer engineer, Joseph Bazalgette, devised and built a system using "gigantic sewer pipes along both sides of the Thames" to carry the waste far from the city before being pumped back into the river. A fourth, contained cholera outbreak proved what really caused the epidemics (bad drinking water), and Bazalgette was later knighted for saving lives. Paeff clearly explains the causes and effects of "poop pollution," citing how human error exacerbated the stinky problem for a long time--even noting Bazalgette's own shortcomings. She also describes how his sewers worked and cites figures--such as "there's enough poop flowing into the Thames to fill one hundred thirty-six Olympic-size swimming pools"--to help young readers understand the scope of the situation. Carpenter's playful, detailed watercolor-and-ink illustrations skillfully depict the situations above- and belowground as people hold their noses at the bad smell, fully dressed skeletons (representing dead people) walk the streets during the outbreaks, and Bazalgette energetically explores sewer pipes. An afterword about "Poop Pollution Today" worldwide, a timeline, an author's note, further reading, and a bibliography are appended.
Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

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