London got its sewers because Parliament could smell the river.
In the hot July of 1858 the Thames fermented with raw sewage right outside Westminster. Decades of debate had changed nothing – now Parliament took 18 days: the law passed on 2 August. From 1859 Joseph Bazalgette built roughly 1,800 kilometres of street sewers and 130 kilometres of main interceptors.
Useful: Politics often moves only once a problem reaches the decision-makers themselves.
Source: en.wikipedia.org