The Impact of Plumbing on Health and the Environment Modern-day marvels like cellphones and driverless cars are incredible, however, it’s an invention from 1700 BC that’s made the biggest impact on our modern-day living. We’ve come a long way from that first flush toilet in the Roman Empire province of Crete, to the Roman aqueducts that carried 1.2 billion liters of water every day, to our current day low flow toilets and energy efficient Energy Star-rated plumbing appliances. We may take for granted our ability to have flushing toilets and hot showers inside our home, however t...