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In the late 1800s, Ashland, Wisconsin drew its drinking water from Lake Superior, the same bay that received the city’s untreated sewage. With no filtration, no wastewater treatment, and no plumbing standards, typhoid fever repeatedly swept through the community.

After the death of Lars Green in 1897, his widow sued the water company and won — only to have the verdict overturned in 1898 by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Green v. Ashland Water Co., ruling the danger of the water was a “known risk.”

Trapped with unsafe water and no legal remedy, Ashland’s disaster helped ignite the public health movement that would soon change plumbing forever.

Released near the anniversary of the Ashland ruling, this episode tells the story of Wisconsin before the code, and what it cost to build the protections plumbers defend today.

References

Green v. Ashland Water Co. (1898):

https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/green-v-ashland-water-892207608?utm

Wisconsin Water Law:

https://www3.uwsp.edu/cnr-ap/UWEXLakes/Documents/resources/bookstore/Wisconsin%20Water%20Law-Edition2-G3622.pdf?utm

CDC – Typhoid & Waterborne Disease History:

https://www.cdc.gov/healthy-water-data/waterborne-disease-in-us/index.html

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