Netherlands. Population Growth

Population Growth. The prosperity of these times attracted many people to Holland, and the fast-growing population was difficult to accommodate in a hygienic way. In several towns a kind of waste-removal system developed to clean up at least the worst filth. Rich people escaped the towns, preferably in summer, when odors were worst. They had country seats where they could breathe fresh air and where pleasure gardens rendered life agreeable. Of course, these amenities of country life were reserved for a happy few.

During the second half of the eighteenth century people developed an interest in fighting air pollution— which was, in fact, fighting stench. Research was done into the kinds of trees and shrubs that would absorb bad air and into the way towns should be planned to stimulate the movement of air or to prevent air from becoming stagnant.

The growing concern for public health during that age led to a greater awareness of the sanitary conditions of communities. A striking example is the Rapporten .. . betrekkelijk de aanstelling eener Commissie van Geneeskundig Toevoorzicht, te Amsterdam (Reports ... Concerning the Appointment of a Committee of Health in Amsterdam), published in 1798. The Reports contained many cases of polluted and unhygienic places and circumstances in Amsterdam. The height of the houses, the broadness of the streets, the form and size of trees, and the walls surrounding the city affected the quality of the air.

The health conditions were worsened by how people dealt with their environment and by the way of sanitation. Amsterdam was full of cess pits, which polluted the soil and the air. People polluted canals by throwing waste into them, refuse disposal was badly organized, and many injurious factories were located within the city walls.

The dredging of canals caused an enormous stench and was generally done insufficiently. Residents were forced to throw their waste into the canals because there was no system for gathering refuse. The city itself had been reluctant to enforce rules for many decades.

The situation underwent little change during the first half of the nineteenth century. During the occupation of the country by the French (1795-1813) several attempts were made to enforce hygiene laws, but after the French departed old circumstances returned. During the years 1816-1820 a medical topography (overview of hygienic and sanitary circumstances) of Amsterdam was published, and in 1827 a treatise by physician J. G. Mulder on the water and air of Amsterdam was published.

The medical topography shows that most of the problems mentioned in the Reports of 1798 still existed. Although the collecting of waste was better organized now, rubbish dumps were located within the built-up area. These dumps were looked upon as manure reservoirs and not as a hygienic provision, and thus when manure prices were low, the heaps were not removed, notwithstanding the hygienic risks such as dust or vermin.

Upon his arrival as a physician in Amsterdam, Mulder was struck by the bad smell of the canals. In his research into its causes he enumerated the waste matter in the water: Human excrement; voidance of distilleries, vinegar factories, and sugar refineries; dirt from the streets; refuse of vegetables and fish; household refuse; ashes; and garbage from stables and butcheries contributed to putrefaction. He concluded that the main reason for the canal water pollution was stagnation, and he suggested some ways to stimulate the flow of the water.

Water pollution was in part responsible for pollution of the air, but also responsible was the presence of so many people in a small area. According to Mulder, each adult consumed 850 liters of oxygen a day. In Amsterdam this led to a consumption of 170.00 cubic meters a day. This oxygen was replaced by carbon dioxide, which had a noxious effect on drinking water. To supplement the oxygen supply Mulder suggested the planting of trees.

Factories, not only by the vapors and smoke they belched, but also by their oxygen-consuming fires, were another cause of deterioration of air quality. Mulder had far-reaching ideas concerning the establishment of factories: They should prove that they were not injurious to health before they could receive permission to operate.

During the second half of the nineteenth century a general discussion of health and environment evolved. The bad state of public health and the protests of physicians persuaded the government to pass sanitary laws in 1865. For some decades there was a strong hygiene movement, and many abuses were denounced.

However, the movement met with little success, and in 1897 a state committee to investigate the pollution of public waters was established. Its report, published in 1901, was alarming: Water pollution was ubiquitous in the Netherlands. Although people were now convinced of the gravity of the situation, in the end nothing was done. There were too many diverging interests and too many administrative competences involved. For example, the committee proposed a law against water pollution. However, not until 1970 was such a law passed.

During the first half of the twentieth century the situation was not better. Water pollution decreased only during times of economic depression, when factories slowed or closed and as a consequence released less effluent. The situation grew worse after World War II. The country faced strong industrialization, especially in the chemical sector.

With little or no regulation of the pollution of air, soil, or water, factories had rather free play. After some decades and many protests on all levels of society, especially since the mid-1960s, laws were enacted to handle these problems. Since the 1980s the legislative power of the Dutch government has been diminished, and rules are issued more and more by European authorities in Brussels.