The Cairo bulletin., 1914-03-05
AQuEDUcTs OF ROME
EMPIRE HAD MAGNIFICENT sYS-
TEN OF WATERWoRKs.
Daily Supply for the Ancient City
Was 400 Gallons Per Capita. Much
More Than Used by Any
Modern Community.

Win IL surprise the citizens Of New
York. in the year 1914. TO learn, III
they did not know it before, that the
citizens of Imperial Rome in the year
A. d. 300. or thereabouts, were IA
vored with supply daily OF some
what over 400 gallons of water per
capita, as against supply daily or
about 100 gallons per capita which is
available at the present writing In
this city?
Manhattan and the Bronx. with q
population of about 5000, 600, receive
daily from the Croton watershed about
200 100000 gallons: but Imperial Rome
brought in by aqueduct, chiefly from
the distant hills that eneircle the
Campagna, over 400,000,000 gallons of
water per day-and this, by the way
is four-ffths Of the total supply which
will be led from the CatskilI noun
tains to this city, when the new aque-
duct is completed-and New York, be
IL remembered in respect of its water
supply ranks high among the capital
cities that are the boast of our mod
ern civilization.
The Romans had a full appreciation
Of the value of an abundant supply
of pure water. as ministeTing TO the
health, the pastimes and the artistic
delight OF city Of 100000 souls.
The Romans of Imperial days had a
passion for cleanliness of body. and
the stupendous public baths such as
those of Trajan Diocletian and Con-
stantine, were capable of accommo.
dating at one time from 500 to $500
bathers
The water in Rome was the proper.
ty Of the crown, and it was led to the
private houses by thousands of pipes,
which ran in every direction and un-
der every street. and were stamped
with the name of the "concessionaire'
TO whom It was brought from the
nearest crown reservoir,
The Roman was nothing If he was
not artistic, and huge drafts were
made upon the city supply for the
magnificent series of public fountains
which graced the public squares and
plazas. and were to be found casting
forth the mountain waters from every
point Of vantage.
To the engineer and artist alike,
the most attractive feature Of the
water supply of Rome is the aque-
duets, the remains of which, in many
a mile of picturesque ruins, radiate
across the desolate and solitary waste
of the once fertile Campagna In the
direction Of the distant hills.
OF these aqueducts there were IL,
or II we include the tributaries, II
in all. Their total length was $50
miles, and Of this S04 miles were be-
low ground and So miles were carried
on monumental arcades of masonry,
much Of which has survived practical
ly intact for upward of 1000 years.
The answer is that the Romans had
no cast iron or other suitable mate
rial TO construct the strong piping
which would have been necessary to
Withstand pressures. They were ac-
quainted with the principles of the
siphon indeed they built many not
able specimens.
Let it be understood. Furthermore,
that the Romans did not merely di-
vert the water from the river beds
into their aQueducts, thereby exposing
the supply to contamination by the
mud and silt Of the river foods. On
the contrary, they thoroughly under
stood. and practiced on grand scale,
the art Of impounding the supply by
means OF artificial dams. Also, the
Roman engineers understood all about
tunnel construction; and in one case,
between Tivoli and S. Gericomio, a
tunnel some three miles in length was
driven through the mountain simply
for the conveyance of the water.
All of which reads very much like
some Of those descriptions which
were published recently of the great
water supply systems of Los Angeles
and New York.-Scientific American.