A documentation of 400 years of improvements in public health, this work looks at the challenges faced by engineers and others to eradicate such diseases as cholera and typhoid from London and the Lea Valley. Beginning in Hertfordshire in 1609, with the digging of the New River, this book describes how local authorities and the private sector deal with waste disposal and turned unwanted vegetable matter into fuel for heating, lighting, and growing. The engaging study also charts the different uses of Low Hall Manor and grounds, from its early beginnings through pumping sewage sludge, to an isolation hospital, an elephant store, a place for Alan Cobham’s Flying Circus to perform, a cinder athletics track, and the Lea Valley Experience Museum.