The Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal was established by the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

 in 1898 to report on:

(1) What method or methods of treating and disposing of sewage (including any liquid from any factory, or manufacturing process) may properly be adopted,consistently with due regard for the requirements of the existing law, for the protection of the public health, and for the economical and efficient discharge of the duties of local, authorities ; and

(2) If more than one method may be so adopted, by what rules, in relation
to the nature or volume of sewage, or the population to be served, or other varying circumstances or requirements, should the particular method of treatment and disposal to be adopted be determined

The commission convened and re-convened eight times under three different reigns, Victoria, Edward VII and King George V, and remained active until 1912 and in that period published nine reports.

• The first report was an interim report setting out the initial findings of the commission.
  
• The second report was an appendix of scientific papers to the first report.
  
• The third report dealt with the relationship between Local Authorities and manufacturers that disposed of their waste into rivers and tidal waters and pointed out the great inconsistencies in the way that local authorities operated to control pollution
  Water pollution
  Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies . Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds....
  
  .
  
• The fourth report dealt specifically with the discharge of waste into tidal waters
  
• The fifth report dealt with the merits of different ways of treating domestic sewage
  Sewage treatment
  Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants...
  
  .
  
• The sixth report dealt with the methods of dealing with brewery
  Brewery
  A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
  
   waste. The Commission had established a piece of practical research into this problem and reported on its outcome.
  
• The seventh report dealt with the proliferation of green seaweed
  Seaweed
  Seaweed is a loose, colloquial term encompassing macroscopic, multicellular, benthic marine algae. The term includes some members of the red, brown and green algae...
  
   in polluted estuaries and in particular Belfast Lough
  Belfast Lough
  Belfast Lough is a large, natural intertidal sea lough at the mouth of the River Lagan on the east coast of Northern Ireland. The inner part of the lough comprises a series of mudflats and lagoons. The outer lough is restricted to mainly rocky shores with some small sandy bays...
  
  .
• The eight report dealt with the standards that should apply to sewage discharges to rivers and tidal waters and specified concentrations of constituents that should not be exceeded.
  
• The ninth report made similar recommendations with regard to manufacturing waste by type. Also within this report further recommendations were made including provisions for giving powers of entry, general changes to the law and for the discharge of waste waters from mines.
  
• The 10th and final report in 1912 summarised the findings of the previous made proposals for the establishment of River Boards across England and Wales to complement the three already in existence.

The findings of the commission were to be used to enact legislation to control sewage and manufacturing pollution of water that continued in force up until the enactment of the Water Act 1974. It was the eighth report of the commission that established the 30:20 standard for sewage effluent that remained the most widely used standard in many parts of the world up till the present.