History of SanitationCosgrove, J. J. (John Joseph)
History
History of Sanitation
Cosgrove, J. J. (John Joseph)
Sanitation -- History
prevent such growths.
[Illustration: Roman Water Pipes made of Bored-out Blocks of Stone]
Besides the principal reservoir, each aqueduct had a number of smaller
ones at different points in the sections they supplied, to provide that
neighborhood with water. It is estimated that all told there were 247
of the auxiliary public reservoirs scattered throughout the city. These
reservoirs were supplied from the principal reservoir through pipes
of lead, burned earthenware, and in some cases bored out blocks of
stone. Burned earthenware pipes were generally used not only on account
of their greater cheapness, but because the Romans were aware of the
injurious effect of lead poisoning, and looked with suspicion on water
that had been conducted through lead pipes.
When a number of individuals living in the same neighborhood had
obtained a grant of water, they clubbed together and built a private
reservoir into which the whole quantity allotted to them collectively
was transmitted from the public reservoir. The object of private
reservoirs was to facilitate the distribution of the proper amount of
water to each person and to avoid puncturing the main aqueduct in too
many places. When a supply of water from the aqueduct was first granted
for private use, each householder granted the privilege obtained his
quantity by tapping a branch supply pipe into the main aqueduct, and
conducting the branch to a domestic reservoir within his own house.
Later when the system of private reservoirs was adopted, each domestic
supply of water was obtained from the private reservoir and piped to
the domestic reservoir which was made of lead.
[Illustration: Trophies of Marius]
The façade of an aqueduct reservoir known as the "Trophies of Marius"
may be seen in the accompanying reproduction of a woodcut made in
the sixteenth century. The ground plan shows part of the internal
construction. The stream of water is first divided by the round
projecting buttress into two courses which are again sub-divided into
five minor streams that discharge into the reservoir as indicated in
the cut.
[Illustration: Old Roman Lead and Terra-cotta Pipe]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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