John Fletcher and The Development of Water Supply and Sanitation in Durban, 1889–1918

Abstract The introduction and augmentation of water supply and sanitary reform were amongst the primary municipal issues in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in South Africa. The most important parts of Durban's early water supply and sanitation infrastructure were built during the tenure of John Fletcher as a town engineer in 1889–1918. This article concentrates on the building of this infrastructure and the role and ideas of Fletcher during his tenure. The article goes through the augmenting of the water supply systems, the construction of Durban's waterborne sewerage system and the related sanitary and drainage issues. Attention is also paid to the development of Fletcher's ideas about water consumption and water metering. There are also some references here to the connection of racial issues and infrastructure building, but this has purposely been kept as a side issue, as the proper examination of this connection would require an article of its own. The purpose of the article is not to raise John Fletcher on a pedestal, but to focus on him as an official whose relatively long tenure may be used as a frame for illuminating processes such as urbanization and the development of city infrastructure, and the role of the municipal engineer in these processes.