environmental works infrastructureinfrastructure that provides
cities and towns with water supply, waste disposal, and
pollution control services. They include extensive networks of
aqueducts, reservoirs, pipelines, treatment systems, pumping
stations, and waste disposal facilitieswater distribution pipes,
sewer pipes, and pumping stations; treatment systems such as
sedimentation tanks and aeration tanks, filters, septic tanks,
desalination plants, and incinerators; and waste disposal
facilities such as sanitary landfills and secure hazardous-waste
storage impoundments. These municipal works serve two important
purposes: they protect human health and safeguard environmental
quality. Treatment of drinking water helps to prevent the spread
of waterborne diseases such as cholera, dysentery, and typhoid
fever, and proper waste treatment and disposal practices prevent
degradation of ecosystems and neighbourhoods. Similarly,
cleaning the air of pollutant gases and particles as they are
generated prevents adverse ef