“The water facility is expected to be our salvation” The Construction of a Water Facility and Sewerage System in Kolozsvár in the Age of Dualism

Abstract

In this study, I propose to outline those processes and events that led to the construction of a modern water and sewerage network in Kolozsvár. First, I am going to examine the sanitation of the city. Here I am mainly interested in how demographic changes taking place in the second half of the century affected the sanitation of Kolozsvár and to what extent they influenced the implementation of the water and sewerage system. After that, I am going to examine the economic aspects of the project, more specifically whether the city’s economic operators supported the establishment of a reliable water supply and sewerage system, if they were indifferent or actively opposed it. Furthermore, I will also examine what role the 1872 establishment of the university played in the establishment of the city’s first waterworks. Finally, I will outline the consequences of the 1893 cholera epidemic, which, although it was the last and least virulent epidemic in Kolozsvár, had a major impact on the construction of the sanitation system.