The word “Sewer” is derived from the term “seaward” in Old English, as in ditches and ravines slightly sloped to run waste water from land to sea.
From an 1857 story in the Commercial Pacific Advertiser it appears that the first sewer facility to be constructed on Oʻahu was a storm drain located at Queen Street at the foot of Kaʻahumanu Street opposite Pier 11. (ASCE)
What about before that?
“The kapus which were established by the priests for the disposal of body wastes had a double concern: the protection of the mana, the spiritual power, of the person from whom the wastes were derived; and respect for the mana of all of the gods …”
“Out of respect for the gods, the Hawaiian refrained from polluting their abodes. Out of fear for himself, he was most careful to keep his body’s parts, or its wastes, and his personal possessions from falling into the hands of the dreaded sorcerer, the kahuna ana‘ana, or into the keeping of an enemy who would give them to the sorcerer to use in his fell ritual.”
“When a man needed to relieve himself he went off into the bush or into the wasteland, apart from the others of his household or village; and there, as a Jew was enjoined to do by the Mosaic Laws …”
“… he dug a hole and buried in it the portions of himself that were so indubitably his, together with the leaves or small stones or wisps of grass with which he cleaned himself when he was done.”
“(H)e carefully covered the cat-hole he had dug and all traces of his visit, in order to hide its secrets from the searching eyes of the kahuna ana‘ana.”
“Others of his personal wastes were not casually thrown away; they were buried, as carefully as was his excrement, or they were burned. Nor were they cast into the sea, or into streams, pools, swamps, taro-patches, or other accumulations of fresh water.” (Bushnell)
Following Western contact, “Having no inside lavatories, our ancestors had to contrive acceptable indoor facilities. Bedrooms were equipped with a corner washstand holding soap and water.”
“The toilet problem was solved by the use of a large covered chamber pot that was usually kept under the bed. Most well-to-do homes in the eighteenth century had servants who emptied the chamber pot daily …”
“The formal washstands of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries took several shapes. Some were rectangular but the corner stand was the most popular because it was a space saver”
“A hole was cut in the top of the stand so that a basin could fit into the top, thereby lessening the danger of spilling …” (Kovel; Mission Houses)
“As we know them today, there were no bathrooms in the homes of our forefathers … Some distance beyond the houses (for obvious reasons) were the ‘Necessary Houses’ (or ‘outhouses’), usually secreted behind or enclosed within pleasing plant screening …”
“In the homes of long ago, there were the ‘chamber pots’, so called perhaps because they were located generally in the bedchamber where there was little concern to hide them …” (Wise; Mission Houses) A chamber pot was sometimes referred to as a potty. (Tung)
“’The language of the toilet is indeed an etymologlsts’s nightmare: chamber comes by way of chamber pot to mean the pot itself; the adjective privy (private) comes by way of privy chamber, to mean the chamber or room itself.”
“Closet (small room) comes by way of water closet to mean the apparatus, not the room. Lavatory (washing place) comes to mean the water-closet …” (Wright; Mission Houses)
“Toilet paper was unbleached pearl-colored pure manila hemp paper made in 1857 by Joseph C. Gayetty of New York City, whose name was watermarked on each sheet.”
“It sold at five-hundred sheets for fifty cents and was known as ‘Gayetty’s Medicated Paper – a perfectly pure article for the toilet and for the prevention of piles’.” (Kane; Mission Houses)
In 1879, Walter Murray Gibson, Chair of the Legislature’s Sanitary Committee, wrote Sanitary Instructions for Hawaiians. It is a collation of “a series of sanitary instructions, deemed suitable to the conditions of Hawaiians, and have the compilation translated into the Hawaiian lang