In the mid-19th century, the City of Brooklyn made a serious effort to tackle its sewage and waste problems. As with the rest of the United States, Brooklyn (as did Manhattan) lacked underground sewage systems. With the outbreak of cholera and other infectious diseases circa 1830, combined with an ever-rising population, the City of Brooklyn established a Board of Sewer Commissioners in 1857 to deal with its formidable sewage disposal problems. Still, sewage disposal consisted mostly of drainage, and it wasn't until the last quarter of the 19th century that the construction of underground sewage systems began in Brooklyn. With the consolidation of Flatbush and the other municipalities of Kings County into the borough of Brooklyn in the late 1800s, the expansion of the sewer system continued well into the twentieth century.
From the guide to the Brooklyn, N.Y., Bureau of Sewers records, Bulk, 1880-1960, circa 1853 to 1988, (Brooklyn Historical Society)
