I visited Pompeii as a kid and one of the things that stuck with me the most (after the Priapus wall art and prostitution menu and comment section graffiti) was the elevated sidewalks and giant stepping stones for pedestrians to cross the street. I think it was the tour guide that noted that this was designed so that citizens could cross the street without stepping into the river of liquid shit flowing through the streets. Is that generally accurate?

If “dumping the bucket in the street every morning” was the extent of urban waste removal 2000 years ago, was it common for cities to be designed around always having streets flowing downhill and preventing intersections at a low point that would turn into a shitpond? Was part of the reason that men used to wear heels was to help keep their feet and clothes out of the shitrivers? Would the property values in the city be determined by proximity to major shitcanal, with the worst parts of the city being the lowest? Would there be a designated shitstreet where everyone collectively agreed to limit their waste removal to?