Rome's Water Distribution System

            

Diagram of the Roman's Water Distribution System
(https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/g201411/aqueducts-roman-engineering/)

          As creatures of a modern first world country, we think little more about the water than how much our monthly bill is going to be. The long journey and various treatment stages that water has to go through to come out of our taps is rarely a thought that crosses people minds, and yet it is so important to our society that when some something happens to it all havoc breaks loose. If you asked most people, I’m sure they would think the whole system is relatively new to us – after all indoor plumbing really wasn’t a thing until our great-great-great-great-great grandparents time. But, maybe surprisingly (or maybe not, these are the Romans after all), ancient Rome had a water distribution system that wouldn’t be surpassed until the nineteenth century.

            It all begins with a reservoir far outside the city. This could be either an above ground source, such as a river or lake, or a below ground source such as an aquifer. This water is transferred from the source to the city via gently (but accurately) sloped brick and concrete channels called aqueducts. These were mostly underground, because being buried protected them from attacks and most extreme weather phenomena that wreak other buildings. Occasionally they would be forced to leave the ground and travel on bridges to span valleys or other gaps of land.

            Once it reached the outskirts of the city, it entered into the settling tanks – called piscinae. It is here that the water is filtered through a series of dropping chambers that allowed for the silt in the water to exit, and produce cleaner, more desirable water. Frontinus states in his book Of Aqueducts that this is especially important for aqueducts from above ground sources, as they were more easily contaminated with physical impurities than the protected underground reservoirs.

Exposed Lead Fistula in Pompeii
(Photo by Author)

            The water then traveled from the piscinae to the castellum, a.k.a. the distribution tank. It used a three section system to divide water up for public, private, and imperial use – but more importantly acted as a reservoir for the city. From here the water was transported to it’s destination by lead fistulae pipes that were buried under the ground.

Unfortunately, due to the inability to excavate properly and discover archaeological remains, as well as the extensive damage to them from modern pipes and power lines and such, the castellum and anything past it is uncertain. There could be other steps in this process that we are unaware of at the moment, but this brief description is currently our best understanding of Rome’s water distribution system. To do this, historians and archaeologists use not only the remains in Rome itself, but also those in Ostia and Pompeii. It is important to note though, that like many aspects of Roman life, the water distribution system was not a set-in-stone step-by-step network, and that there was adaptation to each city to fit its individual needs.  

Bibliography

Evans, Harry B. Water Distribution in Ancient Rome: The Evidence of Frontinus. Ann 

            Arbor:University of Michigan Press, 1994.

Kleijn, Gerda De. The Water Supply of Ancient Rome: City Area, Water, and Population.

Amsterdam: Gieben, 2001.