"How Much Water Reached Rome?"

[Marcus Minucius Audens]

Article Report -- "How Much Water Reached Rome?", Author  Jason Urbanus
Archaeology, Nov. / Dec. 2015

This is a short article, but perhaps interesting to those who may have an interest in archaeological architecture. Rome’s supply of water has usually been exaggerated over the years, and so a team of archaeologists including Duncan Keenan-Jones of the University of Glasgow set out to try to determine the amount of water that actually got to the city over the some 50 miles of aqueducts that had been constructed for that purpose.

The team set to measuring the residual amounts of mineral deposits in the Anio Novus Aqueduct (picture of structure included with the article) to more accurately estimate the flow rate and depth of water in the aqueduct’s water channel. By analyzing the travertine (lime deposit) in the aqueduct’s waterway the team calculated that a flow rate of 1.4 meters per second or between 100,000 and 150,000 cubic meters (25-40 million gallons) per day, was moved to the city. This is significantly lower than the traditional estimates. When this figure is compared to the earlier capacity estimates it is apparent that while Rome received a lot of water from the Aqueduct supplies, but much less than had been formerly claimed, made it to the Eternal City.

Respectfully Submitted;

Marcus Audens